A study on oral presentation difficulties of second year english majors of phuong dong university in the speaking lessons and solutions

Part 1: Introduction
1. Rationale
Nowadays, English is considered as an international language, which is spoken by millions of
people all over the world. In reality, large international companies often use English to
communicate between offices and subsidiaries. As for those people who are working, apart
from using the language as a tool for oral communications, they have the desire to use it for
their jobs. One of the desires is to present in English. As a matter of fact, giving an effective
presentation requires a mastery of a broad range of skills and techniques. To achieve the
objective of the presentation, the presenter is supposed to master techniques of identifying the
purpose, topic, theme, organization so that the audience can easily follow the talk. In addition
to that, the speaker’s use of intonation, articulation, stress, pacing, emphasis, etc., to get the
audience’s attention and concentration is considered essential to contribute to his/her success.
As for the intermediate and advanced Vietnamese students of English, spoken English in
general and presenting in English in particular is extremely important because they expect to
use it frequently for their future work. Unfortunately, for many years, they have been good at
recognizing the correct use of grammar and they can speak English but can hardly present in
English. When many make oral presentations, they seem to pay more attention to lexis and
grammatical structures than presentation style and presentation skills. This leads to the fact that
not few learners of English after a long time learning English find themselves unable to deliver
a presentation successfully.
Being a teacher who has taught English for more than seven years, I realize that my students,
especially the second-year English-major ones, who as part of their studies have to make oral
presentations, also share the same mandate. Many students seem to lack the skills and
confidence to make effective presentations. They know the topics and the ideas are written
down, but their presentations do not go well. This time their fellow students appear
uninterested. Another time they might lose interest before the speakers have made half of the
presentations or sometimes the speakers seem to be confused and embarrassed with the
listeners’ questions.
The above-mentioned problems is the researcher’s primary concern and also the motivation for
doing the thesis. The choice of “A Study on Oral Presentation Difficulties of Second-Year
English-Majors of Phuong Dong University in the Speaking Lessons and Solutions” as the

topic of this thesis, therefore, is not accidental.
2. Aims and objectives of the study
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The study is aimed at oral presentation difficulties encountered by the second-year major
students of English, English Department, Phuong Dong University And then some possible
solutions are given to help my students overcome those difficulties so as to make an
improvement in our teaching and learning oral presentations in general and speaking in
particular. The specific objectives of the study are:
 To investigate the students' perceptions about the importance of oral presentation skills in
their future work
 To get to know their evaluations of their success
 To identify their major difficulties when presenting in English
 To examine the causes of their difficulties
 To give possible suggestions to improve their presentation skills
3. Scope and significance of the study
This study mainly focuses on presentation skills in English in the classroom setting. It involves
the participation of 62 second-year English majors who are in their fourth semester at Phuong
Dong University. The findings and suggested solutions most appropriately applied to the
teachers of English as well as the second-year English majors of Phuong Dong University. That
is, the teachers and students will be able to find ways to improve their process of teaching and
learning oral presentation skills. Specifically, the students will be able to attain better oral
presentation skills and have quite a good preparation for the course of “Oral Presentation” in
their fifth term.
4. Methods of the study
The study has been conducted in the form of survey research with its technique of
questionnaire with informants of two classes of 62 second-year majors of English at Phuong
Dong University. In addition to the questionnaire, informal discussions with the informants and
their teachers and personal observation were also employed
5. Organization of the thesis
The thesis is organized as follows:

Part 1, introduction, presents the rationale for the study, the aims, scope, methods and
organization of the thesis.
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Part 2, development, consists of the following chapters:
Chapter 1, Literature Review, presents the theoretical background: the theories and
concepts related to speaking skills and oral presentations in English.
Chapter 2, namely “The study” describes the current situation of teaching speaking at
English Department, Phuong Dong University and reports the survey research which
was carried out at the beginning of the fourth term of the 2006-2007 academic year at
Phuong Dong University. The report includes the following information:
• Research questions
• Informants
• Questionnaire and procedure
• Data analysis and findings
• Suggested solutions
Chapter 3, implications and suggestions, offers pedagogical suggestions for teachers of
English at Phuong Dong University.
Part 3, conclusion and recommendations, summarize the study and suggest some
ideas for further study.
development
Chapter I: Literature review
In the investigation into ways to develop students’ speaking ability in general and oral
presentation skills in particular, it is believed that the study needs to present the previous and
current literature on oral presentations. Besides, it should show the relation between knowledge
and skills and then define and explore the nature of speaking, types of classroom speaking, and
some aspects of oral presentations. These issues are the focus of the chapter.
1.1. Introductory Remarks
In language teaching, a great importance has been attached to strategies of improving and
developing students' oral communication skills and enhancing their oral competence. That is
why a growing number of linguists and institutions like the University of Canberra, Ball State

University are working on this field and they have, in fact, made a substantial contribution to
the development of language learners’ presentation skills. Such titles as “Presenting in English”
by Powell (2000), “Effective Presentations” by Comfort (1995), “The Business Communication
Handbook” by Dwyer (2000), “Giving Presentations” by Ellis & O’Driscoll (1992), etc. have
so far caught a great attention from a significant number of readers.
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Undeniably, it is clear that these scholars and institutions in their books and course
descriptions, present guidelines to promote learners’ skills in giving oral presentations both in
theory and in practice but those experts just mainly focus on business contexts and other
professional situations (see O’Driscoll & Pilbeam (1987), Dwyer (2000), Reinhart (2002)).
Also, they do not touch upon the problems that language learners have when giving oral
presentations in the classroom setting and the reasons why they experience such problems. In
addition, the solutions/suggestions given from those books are not drawn from their own
research or in other words, they were not research-based. They are somehow based on the
writers’ own observations and perceptions, so the solutions tend to be applicable for some
subjects.
In Vietnam, there have been a lot of studies on oral communication skills and many of them are
presented in M.A theses. However, oral presentations have not been extensively investigated.
For example, there has been so far no study on the oral presentation problems that learners of
English might encounter For that reason, I decided to have my own research in which I tried to
have an investigation of the second-year majors' difficulties when giving oral presentations and
give possible suggestions on how to teach and learn oral presentation skills efficiently. I do
hope that what comes out of this study might contribute to the learning and teaching speaking
at our institution in general and those who share the same mandate in particular.
1.2. Knowledge and Skills
One of the basic challenges in foreign language teaching is to make learners competent in
using the language. Being a competent user of a language means having both good knowledge
and skills of using the language. The relationship between knowledge and skills is clearly and
vividly illustrated in the book entitled “Speaking” by Bygate (1997). He gives lots of examples
and explanations as follows:

Bygate begins by pointing out the fact that in order to speak a language, it is necessary for
learners to know a certain amount of grammar and vocabulary and how to assemble sentences.
However, he emphasizes, the knowledge of the language is never sufficient. It is skill that is
“the most realisable” in a speaking class and in an oral exam: “ to test whether learners can
speak, it is necessary to get them to actually say something. To do this they must act on the
knowledge of grammar and vocabulary. By giving learners “speaking practice” and “oral
exams” we recognize that there is a difference between knowledge about a foreign language,
and skill in using it”. (1987: 3). He then points out that the language teachers are supposed to
understand the difference and the interrelation among knowledge and skill. To illustrate his
point of view, he presents the example of a car driver, which I find the most convincing:
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What knowledge does a car driver need? Clearly he or she needs to know the names of the
controls; where they are; what they do and how they are operated (you move the pedals with
your feet, not with your hands). However, the driver also needs the skill to be able to use the
controls to guide the car along a road without hitting the various objects that tend to get in the
way; you have to be able to do this at a normal speed ; you have to drive smoothly and without
getting too close to any dangerous obstacles. And is not enough to drive in a straight line: the
driver also has to be able to manage the variations in road conditions safely.
Bygate gives further examples. The first one is a one-week course of cooking is conducted to a
group of five learners. On the sixth day, only two cooking apprentices are graded to be good
cooks. We do not think that the other three do not know many recipes. The second example is
that when a learner of English omits the “s” sound at the end of English words in his flow of
speech, we are not convinced that he/she does not master the rule. In fact, he knows it but as he
speaks, he fails to do something about that. Knowledge is then defined by Bygate (1991: 4) as
“what they conceive and memorize”. But what makes the three cooks in the example above
“not good” at cooking and the learner leaves the “s” sound? The answer to this question, as
Bygate argues, is a skill, that is a special ability to do something well. This is acquired only
when a lot of imitation and practice are done. For example, in the case of the learner who does
not pronounce the third person-s on the verbs, the best solution is practice. It is good to practice
because this phenomenon does not reveal that he is not rendered with that aspect of grammar.

To conclude, the knowledge of the language is only a part of the affair. We also need skill. And
skill can be gained with practice. But what skills does a learner of a foreign language need so as
to obtain good oral communication? To answer this question, it is important to take a deeper
look at speaking skills, namely the nature of speaking.
1.3. Speaking Skills
1.3.1. Nature of Speaking
Of the four skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing), speaking plays a vital role since it is
the step to identify who knows or does not know a language. Pattison (1992) confirms that
when people know or learn a language, they mean being able to speak the language. Speaking,
according to Donough and Shaw (1993), is a skill which enables people to produce utterances
when communicating to achieve a particular end. This may involve expressing wishes, ideas or
opinions, negotiating or solving problems, or establishing and maintaining social relationships.
To reach these speaking purposes, a wide range of appropriate expressions is needed to fulfill
particular purposes.
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The nature of speaking has been discussed by many scholars. Brown and Yule (1983) propose a
useful distinction between two basic language functions. These are the transactional function,
which is primarily concerned with the transfer of information, and the interactional function, in
which the primary purpose of speech is the maintenance of social relationships. They also
highlight another basic distinction when considering the development of speaking skills. They
are monologue and dialogue. The two authors state that the ability to give an uninterrupted oral
presentation (monologue) is rather different from interacting with one or more other native
speakers for transactional and interactional purposes. While all native speakers can and use
language interactionally, not all native speakers have ability to present a given subject to a
group of listeners. This explains why presentation skills generally have to be learned and
practiced carefully. They suggest that most language teaching is concerned developing skills in
short, interactional exchanges in which the learner is required to make one or two utterances at
a time. They further state that:
The teacher should realize that simply training the students to produce short turns will not
automatically yield a student who can perform satisfactorily in long turns. It is currently

fashionable in language teaching to pay a particular attention to the forms and functions of short
turns It must surely be clear that students who are only capable of producing short turns are
going to experience a lot of frustration when try to speak a foreign language.
(Brown and Yule, 1983: 19-20)
Another author examining the nature of speaking is Bygate (1987). He shows that in order to be
able to speak a foreign language, learners not only need to have micro-linguistic skills, that is,
to understand some grammar, vocabulary and the rules governing how words are put together to
form sentences but also interaction skills, which involve using knowledge and basic micro-
linguistic skills or motor-perception skills in deciding what to say and how to say it. The
reason, as he puts it, is that the motor-perception skills are not sufficient since while producing
sentences, people often have to adapt to circumstances to maintain the intended relations with
others. He then discusses the two interactional sub-skills that the speaker uses when he/she
speaks: the routine skills and negotiation skills. Routine skills are “conventional ways of
presenting information” (1987: 23). There are two kinds of routines: “information routines”
and “interactional routines”. Information routines frequently recur types of information
structures such as descriptions of people and places, comparisons, instructions, telling stories.
Interaction routines are “routines based not so much on sequences of kinds of terms occurring
in typical kinds of interactions. Routines thus can be characterized in broad terms to include the
kinds of turns typically occurring in given situations, and the order in which the components
are likely to occur” (1987: 25). So interactional routines can be found in interactions in
different specific situations like telephone conversations, or television interviews, discussions.
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Another issue concerning the ability to speak is that of fluency and accuracy. “Accuracy is the
extent to which students’ speech matches what people actually say when they use the target
language. Fluency is the extent to which speakers use the language quickly and confidently,
with few hesitations or unnatural pauses, false starts, word searches, etc.” (Nunan, D, 2003:
55). Scarcella and Oxford (1992: 156) have seen many educators who believe that in a
communicative class, “it is not necessary to teach conversational features or push students to
communicate accurately” and that “fluency can be developed by simply providing students
with lots of conversational practice”. However, Richards (1990) points out that accuracy is

important for the mastery of English. (quoted in Scarcella & Oxford, 1992: 156). As for Ur
(1996), both fluency and accuracy are taken into consideration, apart from other factors. This is
a good balance. Although it is obvious that fluency and meaning should be considered the focal
point of the speaking lesson, as communicative initiators believed, for example, Canale &
Swain (1980), Brumfit & Robert (1983), this does not mean that accuracy could be ignored.
The reason is without appropriate correction and adequate attention to accuracy, the mistakes
made by the students may fossilize. Brown (1994: 254) also shares the same idea that “both
fluency and accuracy are important goals to pursue in CLT”. While communicative classes
place emphasis on fluency, he suggests that “accuracy is achieved to some extent by allowing
students to focus on the elements of phonology, grammar, and discourse in their spoken
output”. This is a very good point to make. In our own situation, most of the second-year
majors seem to lack confidence in presenting in English. Nonetheless, what they talk about is
more important than what they achieve. Thus, the teacher’s norm of tolerance and
encouragement may help students feel safe and heighten their motivation.
In a review of theories on spoken language, Brown (1994: 257-258) comes up with the
following list of skills and knowledge that a good speaker possesses:
- Producing the sounds, stress patterns, rhythmic structures, and intonation of the language.
- Producing reduced forms of words and phrases.
- Producing fluent speech at different rates of delivery.
-Applying strategies to enhance comprehensibility, such as emphasizing key words, rephrasing,
or checking for listening comprehension.
- Using grammar structures accurately.
- Using cohesive devices in spoken discourse.
- Selecting vocabulary that is understandable and appropriate for the audience, the topic being
discussed, and the setting in which the speech acts occurs.
- Using nonverbal language, such as facial expressions, hand gestures or body language and
verbal language to convey meanings.
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- Paying attention to the success of the interaction and adjusting components of speech, such as
vocabulary, rate of speech, and complexity of grammar structures to maximize listener’s

comprehension and involvement.
1.3.2. Types of Classroom Speaking Performance
According to Brown (1994: 266-268) there are six categories of oral production that students
are expected to carry out in the classroom. They are imitative, intensive, responsive,
transactional (dialogue), interpersonal (dialogue) and extensive (monologue).
To begin with, the imitative speaking performance is carried out in the form of imitation
drills when learners listen to the teacher, or a tape and repeat what is heard. The author
confirms that “drilling is a legitimate part of the communicative language classroom” (Brown,
1994: 266). The reasons, as he believes, are that “drills offer limited practice through repetition.
They allow one to focus on one element of language in a controlled activity. They can help to
establish certain psychomotor pattern and to associate selected grammatical forms with their
appropriate context” (Brown, 1994: 266).
The second type of speaking performance, intensive speaking. is one step beyond imitative
speaking. It includes any speaking performance that is designed to practise some phonological
or grammatical aspect of language.
Next, responsive performance is understood as short replies to the teacher’s or students’
questions or comments. For example, students’ responses “Pretty good, thanks, and you?” to
the teacher’s question “How are you today?”. According to Brown (1994: 267) these replies are
usually sufficient and do not extend to dialogues, so they can be meaningful and authentic.
The fourth type, transactional (dialogue), is an extended form of responsive language. It is
carried out for the purpose of conveying or exchanging information or message. Conversations
are considered to have more of a negotiative nature than merely responsive speech.
The next type, interpersonal speaking performance, is the other form of conversation. It is
carried out more for the purpose of maintaining social relationships than for the transmission of
facts and information. These conversations are a bit challenging for learners because they can
involve some or all of the factors, namely, colloquial language, slang, ellipsis, sarcasm.
The final speaking performance, extensive (monologue) is for learners at intermediate to
advanced levels. They are required to give extended monologues in the form of oral reports,
summaries or short speeches, which can be planned or delivered without preparation.
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1.4. Oral Presentations
1.4.1. Definition and Characteristics
Ohio Wesleyan University, in their “Guidelines for Oral Presentations” define oral
presentations as “brief discussions of a focused topic delivered to a group of listeners in order
to impart knowledge or to stimulate discussion. They are similar to short papers with an
introduction, main body and conclusion. The ability to give brief presentations is a learned skill
and the one that is called on frequently in the workplace”.
According to Clark, D (see a good
presentation, firstly, has content, that is it contains information that people need. But unlike
reports, which are read at the reader’s own pace, presentations must account for how much
information the audience can absorb. Secondly, it has structure with a logical beginning,
middle, and end. It must be sequenced and paced so that the audience can understand it. While
reports have appendices and footnotes to guide the reader, the speaker must be careful not to
lose the audience when wandering from the main point of the presentation. Thirdly, a
presentation is characterized by packaging: It must be well-prepared. A report can be reread
and portions skipped over, but with a presentation, the audience has to depend on the presenter.
Finally, a good presentation has human element in it. It will be remembered much more than a
good report because it has a person attached to it.
1.4.2. The Importance of Oral Presentations
In the literature on oral presentations, there are a number of reasons why oral presentation skills
should be developed. Emden & Becker (2004: 1) hold the idea that the “ability to speak well
enough to interest, influence or persuade other people is a major asset for whatever they want to
do in the future and it may change them in ways that they did not expect”. That idea is true as
oral presentation skills can bring many benefits for the learners.
The very first reason is that oral presentations often provide practice in speaking for the
presenter and they develop the ability to speak to an audience. While making a presentation
may seem to be a more limited activity than other tasks, such as role play, information-gap
activity, it can in fact involve all the language skills. People will need to develop and use this
skill throughout their life, for example, when they attend job interviews, or present a paper to a
group of colleagues in a meeting.

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What is more, through the mastery of speech, individuals come to be fully effective in
organization, in the management and expression of ideas and arguments, especially when
theywrite a report or even write an essay. (Powell, 2003)
Finally, when people can speak clearly, concisely, and convincingly, they will gain enormous
confidence, which as Emden and Becker (2004: 2) put it “will result in an even better
presentation next time” and “the newfound confidence may affect other areas of your work”.
People are more ready to ask questions, respond to a challenge and organize themselves and
their work more effectively.
For all reasons, giving oral presentations is one of the necessary skills that students have to
acquire in learning a foreign language. In the context of Phuong Dong University, it seems to
be the most important skill to majors of English as it helps the students improve their own
academic performance, communicate, exchange information with their peers and thereby
develop personal confidence.
1.4.3. Oral Presentation Composition
According to the literature on oral presentations (see Comfort: 1995; Dwyer: 2000; Emden &
Becker: 2004, Paulson: 2000; etc.) an oral presentation consists of three main parts: the
introduction, body and conclusion.
The introduction aims to state the topic and get the audience’s attention. It gives the audience a
preview of the presentation, so it is important to stimulate their interest at this stage. Although a
well-crafted introduction should be succinct, it should provide the audience with several pieces
of information such as who you are and an accurate pronunciation of your name; background
information as needed; the purpose or goal of the presentation; a preview of the main points or
major ideas to be covered in the body. Next, comes the body of the presentation. The body is
the central part of the presentation in which the presenter informs, persuades or entertains the
audience. So the presenter can make the presentation lively and interesting by including
information, such as personal experiences, examples and illustrations, facts, and statistics. A
relevant personal story or example can make all the difference between a dry presentation and a
memorable one. Graphic illustrations and other visual aids not only help to clarify the message,
but also add color and credibility. After the body, comes the closing. To let the audience know

you are about to end the talk, use signal phrases such as “in conclusion”, “to summarize”, “in
closing”. The conclusion reinforces and summaries the information presented in the body. So, a
clear summary of the purpose and main points will help the audience get the big picture and
increase listeners’ understanding.
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To conclude, an oral presentation has three main parts. The introduction “sets the scene” and
engages the audience by motivating them to listen by relating the topic to their interests. The
body must explain, support, and defend the theme in the introduction. All main points must be
covered. The conclusion is a brief overview of the presentation. The presenter may also
conclude by inviting the audience to take some action, or by challenging them, or by asking for
their cooperation or support and thanking them for attending.
1.4.4. Types of Oral Presentations
Oral presentations are classified based on their purposes and forms or manners of delivery. The
following is an overview of several common types of presentations and their purposes given by
Randall P. Whatley (see http: // www.cs.wisc.edu/%7Emarkhill/conference-talk.html). They are
informative, instructional, arousing, persuasive, and decision-making presentations.
The first type of presentation, informative presentations, provides awareness and
understanding. They are basically descriptive. The presenter, firstly, must keep an informative
presentation brief and relevant; secondly, stick to the facts and avoid complicated information;
finally, choose one of the following organizational structures for this kind of presentation: time,
place, cause and effect, and logical order. For example, an informative presentation explains
when, where and how things should happen.
The second type, an instructional presentation, gives specific directions or orders. The
presentation will probably be a bit longer, because it has to cover the topic thoroughly. In an
instructional presentation, the listeners should come away with new knowledge or a new skill.
The next one, arousing presentations, aim to make people think about a certain problem or
situation. The presenter wants to arouse the audience's emotions and intellect so that they will
be receptive to his/her point of view. To be effective, he/she must use vivid language, visual
aids, music, etc in an arousing presentation.
Next, a persuasive presentation is to motivate a belief, an evaluation, or a specific course of

action. It is basically evaluative and prescriptive. A convincing persuasive presentation offers a
solution to a controversy, dispute, or problem. To succeed with a persuasive presentation, the
presenter must present sufficient logic, evidence, and emotion to sway the audience to his/her
viewpoint.
Finally, a decision-making presentation aims to move the audience to take the presenter’s
suggested action. A decision-making presentation presents ideas, suggestions, and arguments
strongly enough to persuade the audience to carry out the presenter’s requests. In a decision-
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making presentation, he must tell the audience what to do and how to do it. He/she should also
let them know what will happen if they do not do what he/she asks.
In terms of manners of delivery, presentations can be impromptu, extemporaneous, written or
memorized. Dwyer (2000: 198-199) offers a thorough description of five presentational forms
or speeches, as he calls them. They are the impromptu speech, the manuscript speech, the
memorized speech, the briefing and team briefings.
The impromptu speech, firstly, is unexpected and delivered without preparation. As the
occasion for this kind of speech usually takes the speaker by surprise, it is important for
him/her to think clearly and speak briefly and to the point. The speaker is advised to follow the
PREP formula, in which P stands for the main point; R stands for the reason for the speech; E
stands for the example to illustrate the main point and P stands for restating the main point.
Secondly, the manuscript speech is structured and read. It is suited to longer, more difficult
presentations. An example could be presenting a paper at a technical meeting for a colleague
who might be ill. It is also suitable for legal presentation, a press release or a speech that will be
reported. In spite of reading the manuscript, it is still important to keep and maintain eye
contact with the audience by using wide margins, large type and double spacing
Thirdly, the memorised speech is learned and recalled. It is suited to short talk. To sound
relaxed and confident, the speaker should try to memorize the introduction carefully. If he/she
tries to memorize a long talk, he/she may lose his/her place and panic.
The next type of speech, the briefing, is a short oral summary or report of a plan, event or
operation. Its aim might be to inform, propose or justify solutions, or persuade the audience.
For this type of speech, the speaker is expected to:

• prepare the briefing
• concentrate on its main purpose
• present background information; discuss alternatives
• analyze their advantages and disadvantages
• encourage audience participation, questions and suggestions
• show interest in audience response
At last, team briefings, are most often used for staff meetings, reports to supervisors and
managers on progress, results or problems. As the name suggests, team briefings refer to team
members working together for their presentation. First, the team considers the purpose of the
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presentation and the nature of the audience. Then they design the structure of the presentation
and organize it into sections. A particular section is then allocated to each speaker. So it is
important to decide which team member will be responsible for presenting the introduction;
developing the main body of the presentation; reinforcing the ideas outlined in the main body
and presenting the conclusion.
In second language classrooms, oral presentations are usually in the form of oral reports,
summaries or short speeches, which can be planned or delivered without preparation. (Brown,
1994)
1.4.5. Teaching Oral Presentation Skills
The issue of teaching oral presentations has recently been discussed by scholars, researchers
and educators. As a matter of fact, the purposes of oral presentations are to help language
learners develop their fluency and increase their confidence when speaking (Underhill, 1987,
Vo, 1994, Miller, 1994). Oral presentations can be done in the form of either home assignment
or class activity. Here, a brief description of teaching oral presentation skills will be presented.
Underhill (1987: 47) suggests that in a less formal situation, mini presentations may be a
routine part of the daily teaching schedule. Each day a learner takes turns to make an oral
presentation to the rest of the class. He/she is expected to refer to notes, but reading aloud is
strongly discouraged. The use of simple aids such as chalkboard and chalk, lined paper and
pens, pictures or handout and overhead projectors is encouraged if appropriate. At the end of
the presentation, he/she is supposed to deal with any questions raised by their friends. It is the

learner’s job to conduct the whole activity without the intervention of the teacher. The
presentation may be taped either for marking or for subsequent classroom analysis.
Underhill adds that choosing topics is very important. The topics chosen by the learners should
be interesting, appropriate to their age and level to arouse learners’ interest and create an
enjoyable classroom atmosphere. In fact, topics are not difficult to find. The important thing is
their appropriateness. He suggests that topics should be consulted with the teacher who will
help assess the level of the difficulty of the given topics in relation to the learners’ ability.
Brown (2005: 42) also shares the view that students can be asked to choose a topic to talk
about. The idea is that they should choose topics which interest them on the assumption that
this criterion of choice will maximize their involvement and motivation
Concerning teaching oral presentations, Vo (1994: 276-277) offers the following procedure for
teachers to assign oral presentations as homework:
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1. At the beginning of the term, announce to the students that they all will have an opportunity
to speak in front of the group.
2 Put up a large calendar so that students can pick up the date they prefer
3 After the break of every class session, have one student come forward and speak about the
topic he or she chose.
4 During the speech, the teacher should sit in the audience.
5. Have each student speak for about five minutes.
6 Have the other class members hold their questions and comments until the speaker has
finished. (The teacher and other students can help the speaker answer very difficult questions.)
7. After each speech, give the speaker(s) some feedback. (Psychologically, compliments
should come before criticism so as to encourage the students)
Miller (1994: 280-281) shows the procedure for oral presentations carried out as class activity
as follows:
1. At the beginning of the semester, have students organize themselves into small groups.
2. Generate topics for discussion in one of three ways:
• Have the students suggest topics.
• Prepare and suggest topics to the class.

• Have students (or yourself) research and suggest topics related to their field of study.
3. Make sure each group has a different topic, which can vary depending on the level of the
class and the interests of the students.
4. Discuss strategies for presenting topics in English and encourage group members to agree or
disagree with the ideas of other members during the upcoming discussion. Let students know
that after each group discussion, one member will be chosen to present the groups’ ideas to the
class. (It is important not to tell the group in advance who is going to speak in front of the class
so that all students take part in the group discussion.
5. Have one member of each group present the ideas to the others for a group discussion lasting
about 12-15 minutes, while you listens and circulate among groups to help with language
problems. (Try to intervene as little as possible so students are encouraged to speak freely.)
6. Once the time has expired, choose one person from each group to stand up and present the
group’s ideas to the whole class for 2-3 minutes.
7. Encourage students in the class to ask the presenter/group questions.
Besides, other researchers (Widdowson, 1996, Dwyer, 2000) suggest that before focusing
students on language for oral presentations, the teacher will need to help students to understand
what makes a presentation good. The teacher will then need to help students to refine their non-
linguistic skills as well as their linguistic skills; body language, planning and the effective use
of visual aids are all as important as language. The teacher will also need to help students to
14
avoid being “bad audience” through inattention or poor or offensive body language because
attending presentations might provide excellent opportunities for making contacts or building
rapport.
To sum up, when teaching oral presentations, the teacher has to prepare for topics, functional
lexical items, grammatical structures and teaching techniques. As speaking well requires more
than careful planning and preparing, the teacher should pay attention to his/her students’ verbal
and nonverbal messages.
Chapter II: The study
2.1. An Overview of the Current Situation of Learning and Teaching
Speaking at English Department, Phuong Dong University (PDU)

2.1.1. Introduction of English Department, Phuong Dong University
PDU, a multi-disciplinary institution, receives about 1,500 students annually, of whom 200
major in foreign languages. The English Department is the biggest section in the Faculty of
Foreign Languages, with an average of about 70 newly enrolled students each year.
With regard to the teaching staff, there are 15 teachers of English whose ages range from 22 to
56 working in the Department of English. All of them graduated from the English Department
of CFL, VNU or University of Foreign Language Studies. Five of them have got an M.A degree
and three are doing M.A. In general, the teaching staff is always eager for knowledge, energetic
and willing to apply better ways to upgrade their teaching quality.
Concerning the student population, the levels of English proficiency of the students of English
Department at PDU are generally various and not as high as those of their counterparts from
Vietnamese public universities of foreign languages. The problem results from several causes.
The first one is that their academic results at entrance examinations are lower. The second
cause is many students display a quite passive attitude in learning: they do not realize the
expectations for their learning behaviors as university students are different from those for
school pupils. Therefore, they go on adopting the pupil’s teacher-dependent learning style. In
addition, PDU majors of English are not very self-confident. This, firstly, results from their
status as being private university students with lower marks at entrance examinations; secondly,
their lack of confidence might be attributed to their place of domicile as most of them come
from rural areas with no favorable chances for learning English. For a long time they had only
focused on grammar exercises and vocabulary and they had hardly spoken English. As a result,
when they entered university, their learning strategies were not good enough to become
successful learners. The last problem here, as I believe, is the teacher-centered approach that we
have been adopting at PDU. As a matter of fact, we teachers have been confining ourselves to
15
the burden of pushing the students ahead merely with our own efforts. In so doing, we have
forgotten the decisive role of our students in their learning process and, consequently, created a
teacher-dependent learning environment for the students. This partly explains why at our
university, speaking lessons are not very effective. A variety of PDU students and teachers have
voiced their worries about the slow improvements in the learning and teaching speaking skills.

In a nutshell, the teaching and learning atmosphere at our institution are not as adequate as we
expected. Therefore, PDU is putting the focus on enhancing the effectiveness of speaking
lessons. That requires a lot of patience, guidelines and efforts from both PDU practitioners and
learners to make remarkable progress in teaching and learning English in general and speaking
in particular.
2.1.2. The Syllabus for Speaking
For the first three semesters at university, English is taught in the integrated approach. That
means, the students learn the target language with four-skill textbooks. The course books are
the Reward series (Reward Elementary, Pre-Intermediate and Intermediate). From the fourth
semester onwards, each skill (speaking, listening, reading and writing) is taught as an isolated
subject. For speaking skill, the target for second-year students is to achieve the intermediate
level, which is the ability “to handle successfully most uncomplicated communicative tasks and
social situations, and to initiate, sustain and close a general conversation with a number of
strategies appropriate to a range of circumstances and topics” (Phuong Dong University’s
Speaking Syllabus for Second-Year English Majors-2005). The total time allowed for
speaking for the fourth term for PDU majors is 45 class hours. The syllabus is theme-based, as
briefed below: (Refer to appendix 2 for the list of the topics that we worked on in the fourth
term)
• Student life (9 class hours)
• Environment (9 class hours)
• Diet and Food (9 class hours)
• Home (9 class hours)
• Cultures of the world (9 class hours)
At the beginning of the fourth term, teachers and students are handed in a list of those topics.
To prepare for the class activities, the students are encouraged to refer to the relevant theme-
based reading passages in the reading textbook entitled “Interaction-Reading’ published by
16
McGraw-Hill Education. This textbook is used as the material for teaching reading to these
groups of students.
2.2. The Study

2.2.1. The Research Questions
In order to uncover the difficulties of the second-year English majors at PDU when making oral
presentations, it is necessary to answer the following questions:
1) What are the second-year English majors perceptions of the importance of oral’
presentation skills in their future work?
2) What are students evaluations of their own presentation skills?’
3) What are the second-year English majors perceived difficulties when giving oral’
presentations in the speaking lessons?
4) What do they perceive as the causes of their difficulties?
5) What do the students think should be done so that they can improve their oral
presentations?
2.2.2. The Informants
The research was undertaken with the participation of 62 students of two classes, of which 57
were female and 5 were male. The majority were aged twenty (Only two students were aged
twenty two as they had failed in the previous university entrance examinations). Most of the
informants came from the countryside (32 students) and from towns (19 students) while 11
were from big cities like Haiphong, Thanh Hoa, Nam Dinh or Hanoi. Their different places of
domicile somehow led to greatly various experience in their language learning.
The number of years they spent on English study ranged from three to eight years. 17 students
(28%) had been learning English for two years or more, but fewer than five years. About half
of them-41 students (66%)-had spent five years or more, but fewer than ten years studying this
language. Only 4 students (7%) had experienced ten years or more learning English and none
of them had studied English for one year or more, but fewer than two years.
The learners had been studying three semesters at university. Their average marks in speaking
in the third semester varied from 5 to 9, but just centred on between marks 6 and 7. 4 students
(6%) had marks 5. 26 of them (42%) had got mark 6, and 23 students (37%) got mark 7.
Meanwhile, 8 students (13%) got mark 8. And only one student (2%) had mark 9.
17
In terms of language proficiency in the second year, they are supposed to be at intermediate
level. These students had studied English for at least three years at high schools, where

vocabulary and grammatical structures were the main focus. They used Vietnamese, their
mother tongue, to communicate in everyday conversations. Rarely did they have the chance to
use English as a means of communication, let alone making oral presentations in English.
The notable things about the two groups are, firstly, they were mixed-ability groups of English
learners with diverse personalities. The majority of the students coming from northern
provinces other than Hanoi were generally shy, introvert and hardworking. The others who were
Hanoians can be said to be more outgoing and confident. Secondly, in spite of their low English
proficiency, they showed enthusiasm in speaking, especially presenting in English. However,
many students complained to me about their presentations being met by yawning from their
fellow students. They followed the instructions by their teachers, for example, they chose
interesting topics, but their poor pronunciation, lack of confidence, monotonous voice etc. so
far failed to help them make substantial progress in giving oral presentations.
All these facts explicitly indicate the necessity of greater attention to presenting in English,
which is a very important skill for our students. Giving them the chance to get familiar with
effective presentation skills will be a useful and valuable part in the process of teaching and
learning.
2.2.3. The Questionnaire and Procedure
2.2.3.1. The Questionnaire
Basing on certain knowledge about the students’ problems gained through seven years of
experience as a teacher of English at Phuong Dong University, the investigator designed this
survey questionnaire to find out the difficulties the second-year English majors might
encounter when making oral presentations. Specifically, she studied the issues: the students’
perceptions about the importance of oral presentation skills in their future work, their
evaluations of success, difficulties they encountered and what they would like to be done to
improve the situation.
The questionnaire was written in English. However, the students were advised to use either
Vietnamese or English to give their answers to the open-ended questions (Refer to appendix1).
With the mixture of closed and opened questions, the questionnaire was organized as follows:
18
Part one was about the students’ demographic information which included the students’ age,

gender, place of domicile, the number of years they had been learning English and their
average speaking marks in the third semester.
Part two was designed to elicit the students’ evaluations of the importance of oral presentation
skills in their future work and their evaluations of their presentation skills. It comprised three
questions, one of which was opened, and the other two were closed.
Part three focused on the students’ difficulties when giving presentations, the causes of their
difficulties and their suggested solutions.
The author was aware that the survey questionnaire could not cover the specific problems that
the students might encounter in different university periods, different courses, etc. Also, within
the scope of the study, the questionnaire did not address the question whether students from
other institutions would share the same mandate. Thus, the result is believed to be tentative and
suggestive. In addition, as the questionnaire is designed for students only, the evaluations of the
students’ performance might be limited and incomplete. Further research in which
questionnaires are designed to investigate both the teachers’ and students’ problems in learning
and teaching oral presentations seem to be of great usefulness.
2.2.3.2. The Procedure
The draft questionnaire was an adaptation of a variety of sources drawn from literature on the
field of problems of learning English as a second language (see Chandrasegaran, 1981; Bock,
2000; Thuy, 2000). First, the questionnaire was given to some teachers, who have expertise in
the area for judgment and comments. After getting their feedback, the questionnaire was
adapted: some examples were added because the students might find it hard to understand
them. Then the final version was established and it was piloted on some students. Finally, the
final questionnaire was delivered to 62 students by the researcher and they were asked to
return the questionnaire within one week. Before that, the researcher had asked the other
teacher for permission to have a personal contact with the study population in order to explain
the purpose, relevance and importance of the study, as well as to clarify any questions that the
learners had.
2.3. Data Analysis and Discussion of the Findings
2.3.1. Data Analysis
19

In order to interprete the second-year majors’ scorings on the questionnaire items, the
researcher first calculated a total score (TS) for each item (see column 5) by using a four-point
scale with
• 4 points for Very Difficult (VD)
• 3 points for Difficult (D)
• 2 points for Easy (E)
• 1 point for Very Easy (VE)
Then she worked out the average scores (AS) for each item by having the total score gained by
the whole group of respondents divided by 62 (the total number of respondents). The average
score will indicate the level of difficulty to each item in the list and it is interpreted as follows:
• 3.6 - 4: Very Difficult
• 2.6 – 3.5: Difficult
• 1.6 – 2.5: Easy
• 1 – 1.5: Very Easy
2.3.2. Discussion of the Findings
2.3.2.1. The Students– Assessment of the Importance of Oral Presentation Skills in their
Future Work
Research question 1: What are the second-year English majors perceptions of the importance’
of oral presentation skills in their future work?
Overall, the students believed in the importance of oral presentation skills in their future work.
They all considered these skills indispensable as they wanted to become interpreters, teachers
of English, personal assistants, tour guides, which involved a lot of presenting in English.
According to the survey, all 62 students (100%) shared the same opinions that oral presentation
skills were important or very important for their jobs in the future. “Presentation skills are
essential in my job. No matter which company I am going to work [for], I am supposed to
make plans and report [reports] to my seniors. This is particularly true when I work for a
foreign company”. The reasons, as they believed, were that presentation skills, first of all,
could help improve some qualities such as confidence, courage and flexibility. They thought
that being able to present well meant being confident, courageous, active, well-adjusted and
knowledgeable in their jobs. Some explained: “I think they [presentation skills] are very

important. They help me more confident, active and well-adjusted or As far as I know, it is a” “
challenge for most people to deliver an oral presentation in front of a crowd. I think that being
20
able to present well means having confidence, courage and good knowledge . ” Secondly,
presentation skills could help improve and develop their logical thinking, speaking skill and
organization skill, which would be essential for their jobs. They wrote: “They [Presentation
skills] are very important to me because they improve my speaking skill”, “ In my opinion,
presentation skills play a vital role in my future job. They help me think logically and perfect
in organizing and presenting my ideas”, etc. Finally, presenting well could mean increasing
their employment options. Some of them wrote: “In the future, when I m good at giving’
presentations, I ll be very self-confident in my job and I ll be able to become a manager and’ ’
persuade my colleagues to follow my arguments” or ”Maybe I and my competitor have the
same qualifications and knowledge, but presentation skills give me competitive edge”, etc.
To sum up, all the second-year majors of English were totally aware of the importance of oral
presentation skills in their future work because these skills could develop their confidence,
flexibility, logical thinking, speaking skill and organization skill, which accordingly might
bring better career prospect.
2.3.2.2. The Students– Evaluations of their Own Presentation Skills
Research question 2: What are students evaluations of their presentation performance?’
It can be said that presenting in English is not something new to the second-year majors as
100% of them said Yes to question 3: “Have you ever made an oral presentation in the
speaking lesson?”. However, they tended to consider their success low and limited. Firstly, the
students’ rating of their own success ranged between 5 to 6 on the ten point scale with 1 being
the lowest and 10 being the highest. Details of the responses to the ten point scale are as
follows:
- Almost half of the informants-29 students (46%) thought they were 50% successful.
- 23 out of 62 informants (37%) stated that they were 60% successful.
- 6 students (9%) believed they were 70% successful.
- Only a small percentage of the informants-5 students (8%)-claimed that they were 80%
successful.

- No students affirmed that they totally succeeded in giving oral presentations.
The students, to some extent, seemed to have a negative evaluation of their oral presentation
skills. When asked to evaluate the students’ presentation performance, 5 teachers commented
that their English proficiency levels were low, which affected their presentation skills.
However, 4 other teachers still believed in their ability. They thought that the students’ English
was good enough but they did not give effective presentations because they were not confident
enough. One of them said, “I believe it [students level’ ] is adequate, but I think our students
21
don t think so. They can deliver simple presentations or much more but they aren t confident in’ ’
what they can do, so that stops them from presenting effectively”. In fact, according to the
record of the students’ weekly oral presentation performance and marks given to them, it could
be said that many of them did not make effective presentations
In conclusion, according to the students’ and teachers’ evaluations, the majority of the second-
year majors of English were somehow not really successful with presenting in English. Only a
few of them did the job quite well. The following part will focus on the difficulties that they
might encounter.
2.3.2.3. The Students– Perceived Difficulties in making Oral Presentations
Research question 3: What are the second-year English majors oral presentation difficulties’
in the speaking lessons?
Generally speaking, among four aspects (preparation, organization, delivery and evaluation)
students seemed to have most problems with delivery. For example, they rated “Delivering the
presentation clearly with good pronunciation” as the most difficult task with the average score
of 3.66. This difficulty mainly came from their low confidence and bad voice quality, such as
mispronunciation, monotonous voice and poor pronunciation. They also had problems with
“Delivering the presentation confidently”, “Handling difficult questions”, “Having almost no
grammatical errors”, “Having appropriate usage of vocabulary and structures”, “Controlling
your nerves” and “Remembering what you want to say”. The average scores for these aspects
were 3.48, 3.33, 3.24, 3.19, 3.11 and 3.04 respectively. Evaluation is the second aspect of
difficulty. Specifically, students found “learning from their presentations” difficult with the
average score of 3.16. This might be attributed to the students’ poor knowledge of English and

lack of criteria for self-evaluation. Preparation and organization, on the other hand, did not
cause the students so many difficulties. For instance, the average scores for items relating to
preparation just ranged from 2.3 to 2.5. Perhaps when the students were at home, they could
take the initiative, so preparing for the presentation was not a challenge to them. However,
when they had to deliver their presentation in front of the class, their anxiety and lack of
confidence prevented them from presenting effectively. Details of the ratings of the items in
each aspect are as follows:
A) Preparation
Table 1: The Students– Difficulties in Preparation
AREAS OF DIFFICULTIES VD D E VE TS AS
Preparation
22
1. Choosing the right topic for the
presentation
2. Memorizing your speech word for word
3. Rehearsing your speech
4. Outlining the main points
5
3
1
2
22
21
17
34
38
44
1
0
0

155
151
143
2.5
2.43
2.3
Notes: 3.6 - 4: Very Difficult, 2.6 – 3.5: Difficult, 1.6 – 2.5: Easy, 1 – 1.5: Very Easy
Generally, the students considered “Choosing the right topic for the presentation” a difficulty
task. The average score for the whole group was 2.5. When looking at individual cases, only 5
students (8%) rated this task as “very difficult”. 22 of them (35%) considered it “difficult”, and
the other 34 thought it was “easy”. Only one student rated it as “very easy”. As the students
were supposed to work in groups, they found it hard to make decisions about the topic for their
presentation. Next, the students ranked “Memorizing your speech word for word” the second
place with its average score of 2.43. No students claimed that memorizing was “very easy”, but
the average score showed in general it was considered “easy” (2.43). Finally, they considered
item 3, rehearsing your speech, to be an easy aspect for the students (2.3) because they had
time for their rehearsal at home. Yet, this item had the most contrasting viewpoints: 44 students
rated it as “easy”, but 17 considered it “difficult”. And not any students considered it “very
easy” to rehearse their speech. Finally, two students admitted that they had difficulties with
“outlining the main points", which of course was not a great challenge for the majority.
B) Organization
Table 2: The Students– Difficulties in Organization
AREAS OF DIFFICULTIES VD D E VE TS AS
Organization
1. Knowing how to highlight the development of
the presentation, for example: I ll developing ’
three main parts: First, I ll give you, Second, ’
2. Knowing how to signpost the presentation, for
example: I ll begin by My next point is /Now, ’
turning to

3. Knowing how to build arguments, for example,
There are certain advantages for However, a
major drawback is
5
4
2
34
33
31
23
25
29
0
0
0
168
165
159
2.7
2.66
2.57
Notes: 3.6 - 4: Very Difficult, 2.6 – 3.5: Difficult, 1.6 – 2.5: Easy, 1 – 1.5: Very Easy
23
Overall, the first noticeable things about this aspect is three items (Knowing how to highlight
the development of the presentation, Knowing how to signpost the presentation and Knowing
how to build arguments) as more or less difficult. Second, the average scores (2.7, 2.66 and
2.57 respectively) show that organization was pretty difficult.
For item 1, knowing how to highlight the development of the presentation, 34 students
considered this task “difficult” and 23 thought it was “easy’. Similarly, they rated item 2,
knowing how to signpost the presentation, as “difficult” with the average score of 2.66. Finally,

the students reported item 3, knowing how to build arguments, to give them fewer problems
than other aspects of organization. And no students thought that it was “very easy” to organize
their oral presentations. The causes of the difficulty with organizing oral presentations,
according to many students, were their lack of experience in giving presentations and their use
of written language for their presentations instead of spoken language.
C) Delivery
Table 3: The Students– Difficulties in Delivery
AREAS OF DIFFICULTIES VD D E VE TS AS
24
Delivery
– Getting and maintaining audience–s attention
1. Knowing where to stand
2. Keeping the speech flow/Keep talking
3. Knowing how to begin (i.e. stating the purpose,
explaining to the audience who you are, introducing
your partner(s))
4. Knowing how to end (i.e. summarizing, signaling
the end, closing)
5. Delivering the presentation with clear
pronunciation (in terms of sound, words and
sentence stress and intonation)
6. Delivering the presentation confidently
7. Using presentation aids, for example, overhead
projectors, blackboard, illustrations
8. Asking the audience questions to involve them
9. Varying your tone
10. Using examples to illustrate the points
11. Using humor
• Body language
1. Keeping eye contact with all members of the

audience
2. Maintaining a friendly facial expression
3. Making appropriate body movements
4. Using appropriate hand gestures
0
9
2
4
42
32
2
2
4
1
3
7
4
4
13
42
21
24
19
28
10
27
2
39
21
32

25
43
11
36
37
1
2
47
33
20
34
26
23
6
0
0
0
0
0
3
0
0
0
0
0
131
184
143
162
227

216
135
155
16
6
4
169
159
164
167
2.11
2.97
2.3
2.61
3.66
3.48
2.18
2.5
2.73
2.56
2.64
2.69
Notes: 3.6 - 4: Very Difficult, 2.6 – 3.5: Difficult, 1.6 – 2.5: Easy, 1 – 1.5: Very Easy
Table 3: The Students– Difficulties in Delivery (continued)
AREAS OF DIFFICULTIES VD D E VE TS AS
25