Strategies for coping with facetoface oral communication problems employed by firstyear English majored students at Thuongmai University

ABSTRACT
Economic globalization has prompted that the communicative approach
plays an important role in language teaching especially in the context where
English is a foreign language and the ultimate goal of language teaching is to
improve the communicative competence of language learners. Language
learners can significantly improve their communicative competence by
developing their ability to use communication strategies or strategies for
coping with face-to-face oral communication problems. That’s also the aim of
English Faculty students of Thuongmai University who are often preoccupied
with developing their oral communication, which is needed to improving their
academic performance, professional development, personal and social
effectiveness.
The present study discussed the challenges and complexities that mostly
first-year English major students encountered .Quantitative data from
questionnaire and informal interviews with the first year students are used to
analyze and interpret to find out the frequency of communication strategies
used by the subjects to overcome the difficulties they coped with when
performing speaking and listening tasks, from

that help provide

recommendations for English teaching and learning for communicative
competence in Faculty of English, Thuongmai University.

1

1


TABLE OF CONTENTS

2

2


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
EOCS
OCS
CS
EFL
ESL
OCSI
FLA
TMU

3

English Oral Communication Strategies
Oral Communication Strategies
Communication Strategies
English as a Foreign Language
English as a Second Language
Oral Communication Strategies Inventory
Foreign Language Anxiety
Thuongmai University

3


LIST OF FIGURES AND CHARTS

4

4


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Along my graduation journey, I have received a great deal of support,
encouragement, help and suggestions from my supervisors, classmates,
friends and family, who have all played important roles in my present
achievement.
First and foremost, I would like to send my deepest gratitude to Ms.
Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc, the supervisor of this graduation paper. Her detailed
comments and useful advice have helped me shape my ideas and realize my
aims. She has also provided me with many useful materials as well as
encouraged and created favorable conditions for me to fulfill this research.
Therefore, it is an undeniable fact that this paper would have not been
completed without her invaluable support.
Secondly, I would like to show my sincere thanks to all the lecturers of
the English Faculty whose lectures have enriched my academic knowledge of
English during the past four years. I am grateful to you for your help and
transfer of precious experience, which will prepare us for knowledge to come
into practical works and for stable basis to actualize our dream career. Also,
my particular thanks are sent to the Faculty of English for giving me a chance
to do the thesis.
In addition, I warmly thank all my friends for their encouragement and
precious assistance throughout the process of writing the thesis. Their
material and spiritual support is a great driving-force for me. Especially, I
wish to thank the majority of the first year students of Thuongmai University
school year 2020-2024 for their honest answers and individual share in the

process of completing survey questionnaires.
Last but not least, I wish to send special thanks to my beloved family
including, my parents, brother and sister for their endless love, understanding
and whole-hearted encouragement throughout my research journey and life.
Every you is an indispensable part and all are supportive that have
helped an undergraduated me finish my graduation paper smoothly. Without
all these people, the thesis would never have been successfully completed.
5


CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
This chapter is supposed to show the main reasons why the graduation
thesis has been chosen and the organization of the study as well. It provides
meaning of research subject, scope of the study and then the research
methodology to help having specific overview about the mentioned issue.
Rationale

1.1.

English has become the main factor for business and in the global
workplace. As a result, competence in English is an important requirement for
any professional, working in an international business environment. English
communication skills are the key to succeed in a career path. English
proficiency is undoubtedly vital for all Thuongmai University students,
especially those who are majoring in English.
According to annalyzing, more than a half of the students who register
for English major at Thuongmai University are from countryside and what I
mean here is that majority of local school haven’t paid much attention to
speaking skill, instead they try to fulfill the vast knowledge in grammar and
vocabulary, the teaching and learning of English is commonly grammarfocused and students’ English competence is measured by written exams. It

comes to the reason why in their first year, they have to make a lot of effort to
improve their speaking skill, in other words, it’s crucial for them to learn how
to speak correctly, smoothly and confidently since it’s the most basic thing to
be done before they start their major subject. Moreover, the wrong spelling
some times create inferiority for the students.
I myself had been very successful with the use of memorization
strategies for learning English vocabulary and grammatical structures from
textbooks written or translated by Vietnamese authors or scholars. However, I
experienced difficulty in expressing my opinion in academic contexts or
communicating orally with foreigners in social situations. Hence, face-to-face
6


oral communication (OC) is important problems for them and English oral
communication strategies (EOCS) are defined as the tools that students of
English Department use to overcome their English oral communication
problems and develop their English oral communicative competence in
academic and social practices.
Given the importance of the ability to communicate orally in English,
this study therefore discusses the challenge that first-year English students
encountered, and the strategies they applied during their school year. The
results were analyzed and interpreted to find out the frequency of
communication strategies used by the subjects to overcome the difficulties
they coped with when performing speaking and listening tasks. It is hoped
that the outcomes of the present study will help promote a more genuine
reflection on the speaking and listening proficiency of Thuongmai
University’s first-year English major students.
Therefore, I choose the topic: “ Strategies for coping with face-to-face
oral communication problems employed by first-year English majored
students at Thuongmai University ” to research. I hope that this research will

provide not only first-year students but also all students who are in curriculum
of English Department with a relatively full and detailed view about how to
improve communication skill.
Previous studies

1.2.

To complete my study in the best way I have found and read many
documents related to the topic I am currently working on. I have read lots of
related materials such as books and previous studies in both Vietnamese and
English. They are useful precious documents for me. In relation to English
Oral Communication Strategies (EOCS), there have been a large number of
researchers who have studied this field not only in our country but also over
the world. Of course, each researcher has their own direction and has a
conclusion for their own studies. The review of previous studies will show
7


remarkable data on students’ performance as using face-to-face oral
communication to finish their subjects.
1.2.1. Studies Abroad

Kongsom (2009) have confirmed that CS training in the classroom could
literally help students to communicate more effectively, raise students’
awareness of CSs, and enhance students’ confidence in speaking English.
Besides, formal training or formal discussion on CSs and the teaching of CSs
will be useful among English teachers. The reseach provide related
knowledge and most important is the useful solution in class because the
environment is the ideal and primary one for students to practice and mutual
study. After all, they could have useful advice and comments from their

teachers.
Yasuo Nakatani (June 2006) focuses on how valid information about
learner perception of strategy use during communicative tasks can be gathered
systematically from English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. The result
shows that OCS includes 8 categories of strategies for coping with speaking
problems and 7 categories for coping with listening problems during
communication.
Since Selinker’s (1972) identification of the concept of OCS, there have
been several theoretical frameworks and definitions of OCS from different
perspectives. These definitions of OCS have, to some extent, resulted in
different classifications and taxonomies of OCS. The literature reviewed
found that research studies on OCS were based on two perspectives – the
interactional and psycholinguistic, which were introduced by Tarone (1977,
1984) and Færch and Kasper (1983, 1984), respectively.
1.2.2. Studies in Vietnam

PhD. Huyen Minh Bui (June, 2016) has studied this area before with the
object Vietnamese students in Transnational Education Advanced Programs in
Vietna and concluded that Vietnamese students were active and autonomous
8


language learners in their choices of EOCS. To reach this conclusion, she laid
out the theoretical background for definition, importance, purpose, format and
some types of EOCS. Besides, she also pointed out some common obstacles
and mistakes of Vietnamese students understanding speeches or talking with
native speakers in English. Her brilliant research has provided a
comprehensive study of EOCS from the students’ perspectives and explored
how they use these strategies to deal with their English oral communication
problems and improve their English communicative competence.

Nguyen Thi Thu and Nguyen Thi Kieu Thu (2016) explored the CSs
among Vietnamese Non-majors of English at Intermediate Level has
recommended raising students’ awareness of CS use in their oral
communication along with incorporating a formal instruction on CSs in
school curriculum because by this way, students can have more chances to
expose to the use of CSs in class activities.
With the close objects to my research, “ A study on improving English
speaking skill for first-year students in English Faculty at Thuongmai
University” by Nguyen Phuong Anh (2018) examines difficulties while
speaaking English of first-year English majored students and give
recomendations for students to improve their speaking ability as well as
suggest some methods and activities for teachers to make English classes
more interesting and efficient. The reseacher shows that a majority of firstyear students at TMU have poor English speaking skill and suggests helpful
techniques to hopefully solve the problem.
With the development of time, the studies on direct communication are
more popular both for English and other fields. Almost research proved the
useful strategies of OC in academic and practical environment and the way to
improve speaking skill. However, to develop the proficiency in English
communication, the students need to understand the difficulties that they have
to face at first. From that they can handle it and improve their speaking skill.
9


Thus, this thesis will focus on the difficulties in verbal communication
pointing to first year English majored students of Thuongmai University and
then form the study: “Strategies for coping with face-to-face oral
communication problems employed by first-year English majored students
at Thuongmai University ”
Aims and objectives of the study

1.3.

Publication of the EOCS identified in this study will inform first year
English majored students in selecting strategies to improve their English oral
communication skills that are appropriate to their English proficiency and
educational and cultural backgrounds.
The study is an understanding of the students’ perspectives, on both the
benefits and difficulties of studying in English major, aims at finding the
various and functional strategies for coping face-to-face oral communication
problems. Each of idea and suggested solution is for the sake of first year
students, support them to invest more time and mentality improving the faceto-face oral communication. Following that, it has the potential to benefit
students enrolled in English Department at Thuongmai University. The study
mainly focuses on answering these 2 questions:
-

What are the difficulties in the English oral communication learning process

-

of first-year English majored students at Thuongmai University?
What are effective strategies to help first-year English majored students

improve their face-to-face oral communication?
1.4.
Research subject
Face-to-face oral communication skills are fundamental to the
development

of

literacy

and

essential

for

thinking

and learning.

Communication skills are vital for a student’s academic success and future
career prospects. Thuongmai University is famous for its commerce major
and in today’s challenging economic environment, students must not only

10


possess academic expertise, but also the requisite skills to enhance their
learning and employability prospects in the future.
The targeted subjects here are 150 Thuongmai University’s first-year
students in 2020-2024 school year who are particularly are in need of
broadening their speaking ability. All of them are supposed to take part in
answering the questionaire and 50 in those students are again accidentally
chosen to answer the private interview. I conduct this study on enhancing vital
skills of oral communication and providing potential suggestions for the
object to decide in which way they can do better and more effectively in their
effort of speaking English.
Scope of the study

1.5.

This study is focused on surveying the problems related to the face-toface oral communication of the first-year students in English Department at
Thuongmai University in order to improve their English speaking skill so the
study mainly focuses on surveying freshmen in Faculty of English at
Thuongmai University. Additionally, the research will be involved in some
certain aspects such as speaking problems of students with their classmates,
with their Vietnamese teachers, with foreign teachers or with other people.
This is on the reason that depend on different speakers, they will have
different attitude and emotion to express their speech.
1.6.
Research methodology
1.6.1. Instrument
1.6.1.1.
Questionnaire

A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of
questions (or other types of prompts) for the purpose of gathering information
from respondents. Questionnaires provide a relatively quick and efficient way
of obtaining large amounts of information from a large sample of people.
Researchers employ widely this kind of instrument to collect the primary data
and because of its huge advantages such as less pressure on respondents, not
11


under pressure of bias and straight forward analysis of answer (Gillham,
2009)
The purpose of this instrument is to finger out the students’ attitudes
towards improving English oral communication, their opinions about factors

affecting learning English speaking and methods they applied for developing
this skill.
Interview

1.6.1.2.

The second tool used was private interviews, which involved 2
Vietnamese open-ended questions to let the participants fell free to express
their thought and ideas. There were 50 random students invited to personal
interviews with the researcher in the places and at times that are convenient
for them. Each interview was recorded and might last from 15-20 minutes so
that the students could participate naturally allowing the content to be
reviewed carefully.
Also, the interviews aim to acquire information about factors the
participants think that have particular impact on English oral communication
and solutions they may suggest to enhance their speaking skills.
1.6.2. Data collection procedure

This part shows all steps to get information to find out the solutions for
the statement problems :
-

Giving instructions to the students to fill out the questionaires and explaining
each part clearly. With individual interview, I’m supposed to ask them first to

-

be able to take the record of their answers.
Collecting the students’ questionaires and recording the students’ interview
In the process of the survey, because of the limitation of direct

distribution, a questionaire link has been sent to 150 freshmen who have been
selected basing on the class they are in. For each class unit, about 20 out of 45
students were required to fill out the survey . First of all, data will be collected
in text, I will read and synthesize the related materials needed for the study.
12


These provide suggestions to help me identify the problem and form the basis
of the research. Then, I will collect data about OC of students at Thuongmai
University. Hence, it is useful for me to find out the mistakes they often made
while speaking English with their teachers, friends and foreingers.
To date, the purpose of combing questionnaire and interviews as the
study’s instruments is to overcome the limitations of each one and optimize
the research findings.
1.6.3. Data analysis method

After collecting data from the participants by using a questionnaire and
interview the data was analyzed and became percentage. The researcher will
analyze the data as follows:
-

Reading the result of the questionaire and interviews, taking note the main

-

contents collected from individual interview
Composing tables to consider students’ problems
Calculating the result and giving the conclusion based on the data analysis
In the process of analyzing, there’s supposed to raise some different
ideas about one issue and that’s when I need to combine the result and

answers from both questionaire and the interviews to come out with the most
proper analyzing idea. This figures will help me have a conclusion about the
problems in finding OCS for first year students in Thuongmai University and
complete my study.
Organization of the study

1.7.

This study is divided into four chapters:
-

Chapter 1: Overview

This chapter involves rationale, previous study, aims of study, research
subject, the scope of the study, research methodology and organization of the
study.
-

13

Chapter 2: Literature


In the second chapter, all the relevant theoretical background of the
research is presented. This chapter provides the most complete knowledge
base of OCS.
-

Chapter 3: Research finding

This chapter gives results of the research: the mistakes, difficulties and
problems in OCS employed by first year English majored students at
Thuongmai University
-

Chapter 4: Recommendations

The last chapter which summaries and presents the limitations of the
study, along with the suggestion for further studies. The recommendations and
some suggestions for coping face-to-face OC of first year English majored
students at Thuongmai University would be also given.

14


CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter explains various aspects related to the topic of
communication skills, ranging from general to specific views. It is started
with background knowledge of communication, communication skills,
listening and speaking skills.
2.1. Overview about OCS
2.1.1. Definition of OCS
To understand what the first year students in English Department have to
deal with when communicating in English, it is essential to consider the
definition given by its creator and developer. It is necessary to learn about
each specific part of the research topic: oral communication, speaking skills
and communication strategies.
2.1.1.1. Definition of Communication and Oral communication
Communication is a fundamental activity in our daily life and there are
different methods or channels by which we can communicate our messages,

such as face-to-face meetings or emails. According to Lynch (1996),
“Communication involves enabling someone else to understand what we want
to tell them, what is often referred to as our message.” The main purpose of
communication is to transmit an intended message to the listener successfully.
In so doing, communication necessarily requires the use of language (Lynch,
1996).
Communication is defined as a “mutual exchange between two or more
individuals which enhances cooperation and establishes commonality”
(Wenden & Rubin, 1987). Based on this definition, communication – both
spoken and written – is seen as a dynamic and interdependent tool that is used
in the negotiation of meaning between two or more people sharing some
knowledge of the language being used (Savignon, 1983). The term oral
communication is used to refer to communication that involves both speaking
15


and listening. Oral communication is the process of verbally transmitting
information and ideas from one individual or group to another. Being
prepared, getting organized, connecting with your audience, using visual aids
and practicing are just a few of the ways you can perfect your oral
communication skills.
2.1.1.2. Definition of Communication Strategies
The term “communication strategies” (CSs) has been defined differently
by many scholars over the past decades. For instance, as proposed by Faerch
and Kasper in “Strategies in interlanguage communication” London,
Longman 1983, it is recognized as the ways learners utilized to avoid
communication breakdown. For Canale “From communication competence to
communicative language pedagogy,” in J.C. Richards & R.W. Schmidt (Eds.),
communication strategies (CSs) are employed for an attempt to boost the
interaction effectiveness. Similarly, Bygate in “Speaking”, Oxford University

Press sees it as methods for accomplishing communication by utilizing
language in the most effective way.
2.1.1.3. Definition of Oral Communication Strategies
Developed by Nakatani in 2006 “Developing an oral communication
strategies inventory”, the Oral Communication Strategies Inventory (OCSI) is
widely used nowadays as a tool for statistical analysis to identify the learners‟
general perceptions of strategies for oral interaction. As proposed by the same
researcher, the term “oral communication strategies” is used instead of
communication strategies in order to avoid terms that might exacerbate the
confusion regarding the taxonomies. Specifically, oral communication
strategies concentrate more on “strategic behaviors that learners use when
facing communication problems during interactional tasks”. Divided into two
main sections, the first part of the OCSI includes eight strategies for coping
with speaking difficulties (32 items), while the second part comprises seven

16


factors influencing strategies used to cope with problems when performing
listening tasks (26 items).
2.1.2. The importance of OCS
In our society, communication is an important vehicle that is used by
humans to allow them to manage relationships and to “recall the past, think in
the present, and plan the future” (Emanuel, 2011). In this sense, oral
communication competence contributes to an individual’s social adjustment
and participation within interpersonal relationships because it enables
communicators to confidently show more control over their lives (Emanuel,
2011; Morreale, Osborn, & Pearson, 2000).
In education, oral language communicative competence in speaking and
listening is an important indicator of students’ academic, personal and

professional success (Morreale et al., 2000). Emanuel (2011) conducted a
study of how college students spend their time communicating academically
and found that the participants spent more than three quarters of their daily
time on oral communication activities, including listening and speaking, but
only a quarter of their time on reading and writing activities. This is an
important consideration for educators because it suggests facilitating and
encouraging more effective oral communication strategies for their students.
2.1.3. Classifications of oral communication skills in English
2.1.3.1. Listening
According to Howatt and Dakin (1974), "listening is the ability to
identify and understand what others are saying. This process involves
understanding of a speaker's accent or pronunciation, the speaker's grammar
and vocabulary, and comprehension of meaning. An able listener is capable of
doing these four things simultaneously".
According to Rost (1991) "Listening is an active process requiring
participation on the part of the listener”. For example when someone listens to
a speaker, he/she processes the information mentally in order to construct an
17


answer. During the listening process the listener is actively engaged. In
learning a foreign language, it is important to listen to what is transmitted
with a great deal of attention because this helps the listener to reproduce
exactly, or almost exactly, what he/she hears. Therefore, listening is not an
isolated skill; we listen in order to understand what has been heard. Moreover,
the speaker and the listener must be interacting in a social context.
According to Larsen- Freeman (1986) "It is through interaction between
speaker and listener the meaning becomes clear". This clarity suggests an
understanding of what has been heard.
2.1.3.2. Speaking

According to Dong Xiaohong (1994) speaking is "one of the most
necessary language proficiency". Speaking, thus, seems to be the most
important skill that should be paid attention to in the process of teaching and
learning.
Scott (1978) reveals that "speaking can be typified as an activity
involving two or more people in whom the participants are both hearers and
speakers having to react to what they hear and make their contribution." Each
has an intention or a set of intentions that he wants to achieve in the
interaction and an ability to interpret what is said to him whom he cannot
predict exactly either in terms of form or in terms of meaning. Speaking
requires not only that learners know how to produce specific points of
language,

such

as

grammar,

pronunciation,

vocabulary

(linguistic

competence), but also that they understand when, why and in what way to
produce language (sociolinguistic competence).
This analysis of researching has found that improvement in listening
skill has a positive effect on speaking. Speaking and listening are intimately
interrelated activities in the learning process. Particularly, there is a significant

relationship between listening and speaking. Much debate continued to prove
the increasing influence of listening skill on speaking. We corroborate Rost
18


(1994) proposed three reasons to improve listening and speaking skills. First,
speaking provides a means of interaction for the learner, because learners
must interact to achieve understanding, access to speakers of the language is
essential. Second, authentic spoken language presents a challenge for the
learner to attempt to understand the language as native speakers actually use
it. Third, listening exercises provide teachers with the means for drawing
learners’ attention to new forms (vocabulary, grammar, new interaction
patterns) in the language.
2.2 Factors affecting the use of oral communication strategies
As noted by Cheng (2007), like other forms of learning, learning a
foreign language or a second language is always influenced by different
factors such as prior learning experience, learners’ social and cultural
backgrounds, effective and cognitive expectations about the language, and
differences in the language teaching and learning approaches. The following
sections present a review of previous research on the relationship between
language strategy use and learner factors (e.g., motivational orientation, social
and cultural background, language proficiency level, teaching and learning
method, gender, academic major, and educational context) in EFL or ESL
educational contexts.
2.2.1. Motivational orientation
There have been a number of definitions of learner motivation in
education generally, and in second language learning in particular. In
education, the term motivation is understood to mean the extent to which
learners make choices about “the goals to pursue and the effort they will
devote to that pursuit” (Brown, 2007). In this definition, Brown has

emphasized that in second language learning, the motivation of language
learners is considered to be one of the most significant factors determining
their success or failure in language learning (Brown, 2007).

19


In the current research the term motivational orientation will be used to
refer to the reasons and goals for learning English in English Department by
first-year students. The term motivational orientation better reflects the
research purpose and ensures accuracy of translation in both English and
Vietnamese.
2.2.2. Cutural background
Culture and language are quite intertwined and inseparable because each
affects the other (Mekheimer, 2011). Research into the language culture
relationship suggests that language is “one of the dominant threads in all
cultures” (Hall, 1997), while culture “colors semantic manifestation of
language” (Mekheimer, 2011).
Generally, research on second or foreign language acquisition has paid
attention to the close relationship between culture and language because the
action of learning a new language enables language learners to open their
minds to other peoples and to increase their cross-cultural understanding
(Citron, 1995). At the same time, language users are likely to bring their own
values, beliefs, cultural assumptions and communication strategies to the
process of learning this language (Cheng, 2007; Lin, 2009; Yuan, 2012). This
suggests that culture and language have an inter-dependent relationship.
2.2.3. Teaching and learning method
A number of researchers have investigated how language teaching and
learning methods and the types of activities used in language classrooms
influence the choice of language learning strategies (Oxford & Nyikos, 1989;

Psaltou-Joycey, 2008).
As discussed earlier, Gardner’s (1985) social educational theory
describes the relationship between individual differences and educational
contexts. This theory states that educational contexts play a significant role in
determining learners’ choice of language learning strategies (Gardner, 1985).
Similarly, Rubin (1981) found that there was a close connection between
20


language strategy use and the activities and setting in which the learning took
place. Differences in language educational contexts can be classroom
practices compared with natural social settings (Lafford, 2004), prestigious
universities compared with less prestigious colleges (Watanabe, 1990), or
second language settings compared with foreign language settings (Lu, 2005).
This section has reviewed the literature on the classifications and
taxonomies of OCS as well as the relationships between use of both CopingOCS and Developing-OCS and learner factors (motivational orientation,
social and cultural background, language proficiency levels, teaching and
learning methods, gender, academic major, and educational context). This
literature review has highlighted the contributions of previous researchers and
identified the gaps in the research that need further study.
2.3.4. Anxiety
The fear of speaking English is pertinent to some personality constructs
like anxiety, inhibition, and risk taking. Speaking a language sometimes
results in anxiety. Sometimes, extreme anxiety may lead to despondence and a
sense of failure in learners (Bashir, Azeem, & Dogar 2011). According to
Woodrow (2006), anxiety has a negative effect on the oral performance of
English speakers. Adults are very careful to making errors in whatever they
tell. In their opinion, errors show a kind of unawareness which can hinder
them to speak English in front of other people. Speaking anxiety may
originate from a classroom condition with the different abilities of language

learners. Learners are divided into two groups: strong and weak ones. The
strong learners often dominate the slow and weak ones. The weak learners do
not usually want to talk in front of the strong ones which leads to their silence
during the whole class activity.
2.3. Oral Communication Strategies
Nowadays to enhance students’ English oral speaking abilities, there
have been numerous effective ways that were provided in many previous
21


studies. In this study, chosen solutions tend to be divided into three fields that
are speaking skill, listening skill and psychological factors . Also, these
methods are mainly from students’ perspectives.
2.3.1. Strategies for coping with speaking problem
There were many strategies to improve English speaking skill which
have been discussed by many experts, as follows:
- Memorizing strategy
This category is used for memorizing items of language especially
vocabulary. It is also an important factor for speaking because vocabulary is
one of important ingredients of speaking. According to Oxford (1990,p.68) he
expressed that “ Learners can use memory strategies to retrieve target
language information quickly, so that this information can be employed for
communication involving any of four skills.”
You can start a smart memorizing method with rearrange involving
vocabulary , grammar with pictures and sentences. It is believed to be the
effective way to keep in mind the knowledge in the long time
- Repeating strategy
Repeating strategies is also one of the most important ones use English
speaking skill. Oxford (1990, p.70) claimed that “Repeating something in
different ways can be a means of reemphasizing it”. It can be essential is

preparing for presentations or public speaking. He also stated that “Repeating
strategy improves their pronunciation and their use of structures, vocabulary,
idioms, intonations, gestures and styles which are all together combined to
form the speaking skill.
In this strategy, we can use turn-taking communicative method. This
method requires that each speaker speaks only when it is his/her turn during
an interaction. Knowing when to talk depends on watching out for the verbal
and nonverbal cues that signal the next speaker that the previous speaker has
finished or the topic under discussion has been exhausted and a new topic
22


may be introduced. At the same time, it also means that others should be
given the opportunity to take a turn.
Repeating is a good way of correcting oneself and gives the speaker time
to do just that. Recasting means changing the form of a message that could
not be understood. It allows the Speaker to say the message in another way so
that the listener can understand what was originally incomprehensible.
-Planning strategy
Oxford (1990, p.159) said that “This strategy is always involved
identifying the general nature of the task, the specific requirements of the
task, the resources available within the learner, and the need for further aids”.
Therefore, this strategy helps in knowing what should be done to gain a
certain task of speaking by determining the nature and requirements of the
task and by identifying one’s capacities and needs to do that task.
Planning requires learners have certain intention and that help them to
have better orientation of their learning methods.
-Self-evaluation
In this strategy, learners are supposed to evaluate their progress, and
notice to what extend they were successful in achieving their goals. There are

many ways used to self-evaluate in speaking. For example, learners can
record their own speech on a tape and then listen to the recording to find out
how they sound. Learners can also pay attention to the responses of nativespeaking listeners when they speak. They can ask themselves whether, given
such signs, their speaking seems to have improved since last month or last
year (Oxford 1990, p.162-163). Hence, self-evaluation is crucial strategy that
helps learners test their progress and the effectiveness of the strategies they
apply to enhance their speaking skill.
2.3.2. Strategies for coping with listening problem
How to improve English oral communication through listening skill

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Previous studies supported the finding that speaking and listening skills
were usually interwined in terms of language learning and development
( Nooo-ura, 2008). As a result, it is essential to enhance English speaking
abilities through listening. Suggestions for EFL learners’ speaking
improvement included a variety of course activities, encouragement of more
listening through media, and seeking opportunities to speak in real situations.
Moreover, practice and exposure to both listening and speaking activities in
real-world situations appeared to be a practical method to promote speaking
confidence ( Songsiri, 2007). Besides, there are other out-of-class factors that
enhanced participants’ speaking abilities included frequent listening to
English materials, such as listening to music, watching movies, listening to
the radio, watching television programs, and accessing multimedia websites.
Another effective way to improve oral speaking abilities combining with
listening abilities is through imitation. Most of the linguistic agree in judging
the acquisition of a child’s first language to be one of the mysteries of human
life, effortless in virtually any environment ( Lieberman 1991). Thus, learning
a language like a child would allow students to learn speaking more naturally

and easily. Moreover, Parton (1976, 14) indicates that the infants acquire
language capacity by imitating what they hear and see. Therefore, students
should have a habit of copying everything they could hear from native
speakers, such as pronunciation, accent and so on and then keep practicing till
they can speak proficiently.
2.3.3. Strategies for coping with psychological factors
It is obvious that psychological factors become important and influential
elements which give a great impact on how the students acquire
second/foreign languages particularly in speaking area. Therefore, it is
important to point out those psychological factors based on various theories
as follows:

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2.3.3.1. Create strong motivation
Motivation is regarded as the desire of the students in learning a
language. It is not enough when the students just have the desire to learn the
language, the students also need to provide a great effort to reach their goal
(Ortega,

2009). In learning second/foreign languages, motivation can be

divided into two factors, they are communicative needs of the students and
their attitudes towards the language community (Lightbrown & Spada, 2001).
In this case, the students will be motivated in learning a second/foreign
language just because they need to learn and communicate it in a social
large scale to support their professional ambition in the future. Therefore,
they need

to have a good attitude toward people who speak the target

language because they need to have a contact with them. Furthermore,
Gardner (2001) believes that integrative motivation is the most dominant form
of motivation which is set in three kinds of condition, they are (1) the large
proportion of the integrativeness, (2) the students’ effort, investment, and
enjoyment quantity in learning the language, and (3) the students’ attitude
towards teachers and curriculum used. In addition, another factor which
contributes to the students’ motivation is a manner or attitude to reasons of
why they want to perceive their intended result (Al Othman & Shuqair 2013).
In short, their motivation can influence their decision on being involved or not
to a certain situation in language learning such as in speaking class. Students’
motivation is a manner or attitude to reasons of why they want to.
In class, students can take the final-semester result to be the motivation
for their learning method because it is the important one to help them have
better result and study seriously. The other source of motivation of students
can also come from their family, friends and their future career.
2.3.3.2. Minimize anxiety
Anxiety is a natural psychological aspect which contains the feeling of
fear which sometimes cannot be controlled (Javed et al., 2013). Foreign
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