Khóa luận Improving speaking skills for students in class 729 and 730 – The Asian International School (AHS – Cao Thang CAMPUS)

Ho Chi Minh City
GRADUATION THESIS
Major
English Language

Topic

IMPROVING SPEAKING SKILLS FOR
STUDENTS IN CLASS 7/29 AND 7/30 –
THE ASIAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
(AHS – CAO THANG CAMPUS)

Instructor:
Nguyen Thanh Tuan, M.A
Student:
Nguyen Thi Tuyet Chi
ID: 97011501077


CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I certify my authorship of the Bachelor’s Thesis submitted entitled:

“IMPROVING SPEAKING SKILLS FOR STUDENTS IN
CLASS 7/29 AND 7/30 – THE ASIAN INTERNATIONAL
SCHOOL (AHS – CAO THANG CAMPUS)”
In terms of the statement of requirements for Thesis in Bachelor’s programs issued by The
Saigon International University (SIU).

Ho Chi Minh City

NGUYEN THI TUYET CHI


RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS
I am NGUYEN THI TUYET CHI, hereby asseverate that this presented Graduation
Thesis is exclusively prepared by me without any copies from other works.

I also verify that the thesis is only prepared for my academic requirement not for
any other purposes. It might not be used with the interest of the opposite party of the
corporation.
Ho Chi Minh City
NGUYEN THI TUYET CHI


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I had received many helps when I completed my Graduation Thesis.
Keeping in mind, I would like to express my deepest sense of gratitude and special
thanks to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tuan, M.A, whose encouragement, guidance and willingness
motivated me from the beginning to the end and supported me to finish this work. On the
one hand, I am using this opportunity to express my gratitude towards The Saigon
International University (SIU) for providing me a professional learning environment and
facilities. On the other hand, I would like to give the appreciation from the bottom of my
heart to all professors in the English Language major for giving enthusiasm and
sympathies to teach and lift me to be a better student as I am today. Moreover, my limited
knowledge, shortcomings and mistakes cannot avoid so I expect to receive helpful advices
from professors to make this study more perfect.
Besides, I am very grateful for the helps and supports from the managers and
teachers at The Asian International Schools (AHS). By giving favorable conditions, I had a
lot of opportunities to work, experience and investigate my study. Last but not least, I also

extend my special thanks to students of class 7/29 and 7/30 for joining in my research and
giving me a great deal of valuable information which contribute the study.
In conclusion, I truly hope this study will make senses to the secondary school
students/ teachers at AHS in general, and to the class 7/29, 7/30 in specific in improving
English Speaking skills.


INSTRUCTOR’S COMMENTS
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ABSTRACT
Speaking fluently is one of the ambitions that English learners desire to achieve.

For learners who learn English as a foreign language (EFL) or learn English as a second
language (ESL), this aim is not that easy, they might have to face with a lot of difficulties
and need to find appropriate learning methods to make them enjoy their learning process.
The objectives of this study are investigating the English speaking difficulties, troubles that
secondary school students (grade 7) at The Asian International School (AHS) – Cao Thang
Campus have; then, the researcher will reveal some effective teaching methods and
practical solutions for teachers to solve these problems and support students improving
their speaking abilities.

Using the descriptive and analytic methods, the population in this study is 38
students from two classes 7/29 and 7/30 at The Asian International School (AHS) – Cao
Thang Campus in the year 2019.

Keywords: English Speaking skills, EFL, ESL, difficulties, solutions.

_______________________________
NGUYEN THI TUYET CHI
ID: 97011501077
Course: 8
Class: 15DTA
Major in English Language
The Saigon International University (SIU)


TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES...............................................................................................................2
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.............................................................................................3
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................4
1. Statement of the Problem........................................................................................4
2. Purpose of the Research..........................................................................................5

3. Significance of the Research....................................................................................5
4. Research Questions..................................................................................................5
5. Limitation.................................................................................................................6
6. The Scope of the Research.......................................................................................6
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW...........................................................................7
1. Definitions of Key Terms.........................................................................................7
1.1.
What is English Speaking skill?.........................................................................7
2. Review Previous Work................................................................................................9
1.3.
Some Difficulties of Secondary School Students in English Speaking skills....10
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY....................................................................................18
1. Research Design.........................................................................................................18
2. Research Procedures..................................................................................................18
3. Participants.................................................................................................................19
4. Sample Selection.........................................................................................................21
5. Material Techniques..................................................................................................21
6. Data Selection.............................................................................................................22
7. Reliability and Validity..............................................................................................22
8. Summary.....................................................................................................................23
CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION.............................................................24
1. Results from the questionnaire.............................................................................24
1.1.
Research question 1........................................................................................24
1.2.
Research question 2........................................................................................25
1.3.
Research question 3:.......................................................................................26
1.4.
Research question 4........................................................................................28

1.5.
Research question 5........................................................................................29
1.6.
Research question 6........................................................................................30
1.7.
Research question 7........................................................................................32
1.8.
Research question 8........................................................................................33
2. Summary.................................................................................................................35
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS....................................36
1. Conclusion...................................................................................................................36
2. Recommendations for Further Research.................................................................37
3. Summary.....................................................................................................................37
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................38
APPENDIX.........................................................................................................................41

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LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 1: Students’ perceived the most difficult skills in English subject

p.25

Chart 2: Students’ interests in learning English Speaking lessons p.26
Chart 3: Students’ frequency of English speaking at school

p.27

Chart 4: Students identified the most difficulty in English speaking p.28
Chart 5: Students’ opinion whether environment is the most important factors helping them
improve speaking skills p.29
Chart 6: Students’ views about the integration of listening skills and speaking skills p.30
Chart 7: Students indicated the best way to develop English Speaking skills

p.32

Chart 8: Students indicated the most effective teaching aids to enhance their speaking
abilities p.34

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
AHS: The Asian International School
SIU: The Saigon International University
EFL: English as a Foreign Language
ESL: English as a Second Language

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1. Statement of the Problem

It is the fact that English is the global language or the international language.
According to a quick Google search, there are 1.5 billion people reported to speak English
– make up 20% of the Earth’s population. However, just about 360 million people around
the world speaking English as their first or mother language (Lyon, 2017). In addition to

being globally spoken, English is by far the most commonly studied foreign language all
over the world.
Speaking is the second of the four language skills which are Listening, Speaking,
Reading, Writing. They said that speaking is one of the most challenging, exciting, and
positive learning experiences that English learner may ever have. Moreover, through
speaking skills learners will have a lot of opportunities to improve knowledge, selfconfidence, critical-thinking skills, listening skills, organization thoughts, use of posture
and voice, and improvement in giving and accepting constructive criticism. In addition,
people have more changes and able to success in many careers in many fields when they
have good or excellent English speaking skills.
It might be difficult for people who learn English as a second language (ESL) to
speak naturally and fluently. They may find it is their greatest fears to communicate or
talking in English. As the secondary students learning in International environment, class
7/29 and 7/30 of The Asian International School (AHS) – Cao Thang Campus have been
told to have better opportunities and environment in learning English. After 12-week
internship being English teacher, working, researching and investigating with students in

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these classes, this study proposes some difficulties of class 7/29 and 7/30 - AHS in
Speaking skills and some specific solutions to solve these problems.

2. Purpose of the Research

With the important of speaking skills mentioned above, this study is researching the
factors behind common speaking difficulties that face secondary school students at class
7/29 and 7/30 - The Asian International School (AHS) – Cao Thang Campus. Besides that,
it seeks to investigate some effective solutions and teaching methods that teacher can apply
in the lectures to solve students’ speaking difficulties, as well as improving theirs abilities
in speaking English.

3. Significance of the Research

Considering as one of the productive skills that studiers should improve, speaking
is very important and very challenging skill. As secondary school students who learn
English as a second language, communicate fluently in English might hard to a large
number of students in class 7/29 and 7/30 - The Asian International School (AHS) – Cao
Thang Campus. This is my recent research, which indicates some difficulties of these
students in speaking process and some specific solutions to solve these problems.

4. Research Questions

Based on the problem statement mentioned above, this study is an attempt to find
answers to the following questions:
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1. What are the difficulties that the students of class 7/29 and 7/30 – The Asian
International School (AHS) – Cao Thang Campus have in English Speaking skills?
2. Why do they have these problems?
3. What are effective solutions that help these students improve their abilities in English
Speaking skills?

5. Limitation

This study is a result of 12-week internship and research at The Asian International
School (AHS) – Cao Thang Campus. The present work will not cover all of the secondary
students of AHS, due to time limit and other factors. This research is just focuses on two
classes 7/29 and 7/30.

6. The Scope of the Research

This work focuses on students in two classes 7/29 and 7/30 – The Asian
International School (AHS) – Cao Thang Campus, which includes 38 students. This study
is using useful techniques and procedures to find out the difficulties and solutions for the
students of class 7/29 and 7/30 – AHS in English Speaking skills. To obtain correct results,
descriptive analytical methodology and a questionnaire are used.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
In this chapter, the researcher will present the theoretical backgrounds which
relevant to the core and objectives of the study. In addition, the definitions, theories and
significances of English Speaking skills are first described. Thus, following some relating
studies and resources from many reliable authors, the factors causing difficulties and
specific solutions in English speaking will be shown. This chapter ends with the conceptual
framework of the study.

1.

Definitions of Key Terms

1.1.

What is English Speaking skill?

1.1.1. What is Speaking?

According to Oxford learner’s dictionaries, the definition of speak includes talking

to somebody about something, having a conversation with somebody. In another
definition, speak is to describe or mention, people speaking of/about something/somebody.
Mohammed (2015) defined speaking is the delivery of language through the mouth.
The author stated in his study: “To speak a particular language, people make sounds or
voices by many parts of the body, which consist of the lungs, vocal tract, vocal chords,
tongue, teeth and lips”. Beside that, speaking language is also supported by non-verbal
communication such as body language (gestures, eye-contact or facial expressions).
At least one listener can be required in this vocalized form of language. The
conversation is called a “dialogue” when two or more people talk or speak to each other. In
this form of dialogue, the speech can transfer naturally from one person to another. In

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addition, in a presentation or speech, people can also plan, prepare or rehearse. On the
other hand, people can even speak to themselves without partners/ listeners.
Speaking can be formal or informal:
-

Formal speaking is typical used in academic or business situations, or in talking
with people for the first time.

-

Informal speaking often occurs in daily/ normal situations when talking with
family, friends and people who the speakers know well.

1.1.2. What is English Speaking skill?

Brown (1994) pointed out that speaking is an interactive process of conducting

meaning, which involves producing, receiving and processing information.

Mohammed (2015) defined in his research that speaking is considered as one of the
most important and challenging skill as well as the most common way to building and
creating interpersonal relations.

Nadir (2016) stated that besides knowing well some specific points of language like
vocabulary, pronunciation, grammars or structures, English learners need to improve their
speaking skills abilities as far as speech habits to gain success of any exchange.

Speaking skills are the ability to talk at any time and in any situation. To have good
speaking skills, speakers need to use public techniques and practices. As a result of having
good speaking skills and verbal power, people are able to express or transfer their means,
ideas, opinions or wishes. Thus, they are able to establish, gain good connection with
others, and become sociable.

1.2. Difficulty definition

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Difficulty is generally not being easy, or being hard to do, overcome or understand
(definitions from Cambridge Dictionary). A difficulty is also a problem, a thing that is hard
to accomplish, deal with.

1.3. Solution definition

According to Business Dictionary, solution can be understood as ways to solve
problems or deal with difficult situations. A solution can be either simple or complex and
may require few resources or many resources.

2. Review Previous Work
It is the fact that speaking skills are very essential. For people who speak English as
their mother language or as their second language, speaking skills might be the most
challenging skills they might ever experience.
Following these facts, this research conducts common difficulties that secondary
school students (class 7/29 and 7/30 – The Asian International School – Cao Thang
Campus) have in English Speaking skills and specific solutions to solve these problems,
which be shown in the following paragraphs.

2.1.

The Importance of English Speaking skills

According to Mohammed (2015), speaking skills are considered as a fundamental
skill which essential for people success in life. Additionally, learners can figure out their
improvements in language learning by judging how better they feel in their spoken English
abilities. As Wilson (1979) claimed students who good at transfer their opinions, ideas or
thoughts into words have been found to be more successful in school. The author also

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stated that as a result of fluency speaking skills, students can enhance their abilities in other
language skills such as listening, reading and writing skills because when learners listen,
read or write, they apply what they have already known about the language orally.
Moreover, Wilson (1979) said that through speaking/ talking, students are able to explore
knowledge and reveal themselves.

Speaking plays an important role for people to explore their own selves and clarify

their identity. Taking part in conversations, presentations or speech, learners are able to
express their points of views, speak up their own thoughts or opinions confidently.
Moreover, speaking also help people accomplish the challengeable situations through
develop range of skills, strategies, attitudes, agencies, self-worth, learning management
and personalizing learning (Jehan, 2014).

Mohammed (2015) explained that mastering in English speaking is required for
professional purpose such as doing international business, diplomatic jobs and for higher
studies. Jehan (2014) said that good speaking skills assist people in their life a lot; for
example: travel, career success, promotion, scholarships, international meetings/ events/
conferences.

2.2.

Some Difficulties of Secondary School Students in English Speaking skills

2.2.1. Lack of environments

Hiphiphurahura (2017) defined that the environment is the very first reason that
causes difficulty for students in speaking English. Bad environment does not support the
students speak frequently. The environment here means any places and people around
students, such as schools, families, teachers, parents, friends, or the people outside the
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class. Making this more clearly, students practice speaking English not only at English
classes, but also at anytime and at anywhere like outside the classes, at home or in daily
life.
Shiva (2018) stated that: “The environment plays a huge role while learning
English”. In non-English environment, learners may learn bad habits if they speak

regularly with speakers who cannot speak English really well, so that they ought to be
careful and find a good environment to learn English.

2.2.2. Lack of confidence

According to Berger (2015), the degree of confidence, called self-confidence, is the
trust or faith that people have in themselves and their abilities. Self-esteem is the opinion
people have in themselves.
Dornyei (2011) stated that student’s lack of confidence usually occurs when they
realize that people they talk to cannot get their means or when they do not understand
others speakers. Building student’s confidence is an important part, so teachers should also
learn both theories and practical experiences on how to build the student’s confidence.

2.2.3. Lack of vocabulary

It is the fact that vocabulary plays an important role in learning language and is one
of factors that support students for mastering language, these statements are supported by
Hornby (1953) in Yuniarti (2011), “vocabulary is the vital aspect of the language”.
Moreover, River (1970:462) believes that “it would be impossible to learn a language
without vocabulary”.

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Without vocabulary, students cannot communicate well, or cannot understand the
conversation clearly. In addition, vocabulary is an essential element of language for
learners to build up communications, expand their ideas or send their messages to people
they talk to. It proves that more vocabulary learners have, the better speaking skills they
attain.
In contrast with the explanations above, there are many secondary school students

who still have troubles with vocabulary. Lacking of vocabulary, some students could not
understand the tasks/ exercises, they still ask their teachers to translate the tasks/ questions
into their first language (Vietnamese). On the other hand, some students could understand
what others say but they could not respond to them by speaking English. In the recent
study, Eva (2017) said that: “When the students try to speaking English in a good way they
must master the vocabulary as much as they can. They have to memorize it and to
memorize the vocabulary is not easy”.
Asking the students from two classes 7/29 and 7/30 of The Asian International
School (AHS) about learning vocabulary, they responded that they feel lazy and quite
difficult to memorize the words. A numerous students reported that they were interested in
English speaking, but their vocabulary was limited.

2.2.4. Fear of making mistakes

According to American Psychological Association, shyness is the tendency to feel
awkward, worried or tense during social encounters, especially with unfamiliar people.
Normally, shy people may have negative feelings about themselves and worries about how
others view or judge them.

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With regard to the fear of making mistakes, Borwen (2005) stated that some shy
students are caused by their personalities that they are very quiet. As a result, the learners
often feel shy and tend to scare or nervous when making conversation in English because
most of them find it very threatening.
In other study, Saurik (2011) identified that some English learners feel scare when
practice speaking, they afraid that they will make lot of mistakes when they talk. These
students are also afraid of being laughed or being misunderstood by friends or people they
talk to due to low abilities and bad speaking skills.

2.2.5. Pronunciation mistakes

Following up a study by Tien Dung (2014), he stated that: “Vietnamese speakers
come across various difficulties in learning English pronunciation”. There are a lot of
difficulties that Vietnamese students could face with. In his study, he said that: “The
complications of vowels, particularly between tense and lax vowels in English can be
tough to learn. On the other hand, the differences between consonant positions, consonant
clusters, word and tones lead Vietnamese students of English to meet a large number of
difficulties”. Therefore, pronunciation is a huge problem for Vietnamese students in
learning and communicating in English.
According to Trung Hieu (2011), most of Vietnamese students know English grammar
very well, and even get high marks in examinations. In contrast, their speaking or
communication skills are not very good. They tend to avoid speaking in English because
they are afraid of making pronunciation mistakes.

2.3. Solutions to Improve English Speaking skills

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2.3.1. Improve Speaking skills through Listening skills

“Listening” includes recognizing the sounds of speeches (stress, letters, rhythm,
pauses or intonations) and converting them into words and sentences that mean something
through the ears. In any language, people need to pay attention and concentrate to listen.
Relating to this statement, people are required to focus more than ever when adapting a
second/ foreign language.

It is the fact that listening skill and speaking skill have a strict connection. Like a

baby, before we can speak, we listen to other people who already know speaking the
language. Not only do people learn how to speak just only one language (their mother/ first
language), but also do they learn two to three languages at the same time through listening.
They call these people are bilinguals. To successfully adapt new languages, listening to a
diversity of accents and voices is very important.

Saci (2013) defined the integration between listening and speaking:
“communication will occur when both a speaker and a listener must take parts in it through
interacting and negotiating verbally”.
Mohammed (2015) said learners need improving strong listening skills if they want
to speak English fluently. On the one hand, listening helps people understand what others
say. On the other hand, this skill also assists learners speak clearly to others. While
developing listening skills, students have opportunities to study how to pronounce words
correctly, learn the using of intonation and stress in individual words and sentences.

2.3.2. Improve the environments to enhance English Speaking skills

Sukhneet (2017), stated that people who living or learning in the English-speaking
environment have better opportunities to enhance better or native-like accent, as well as
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improve vocabulary. Communicating in English-speaking environment is a practical way
to acquire the perfection to the level of the mother tongue. Moreover, it provides learners
changes to confirm pronunciation and grammar, improves motivations.

As reported by The Asian International School (AHS), students have an
environment to study with self-awareness and without inhibition. Students are encouraged
to reflect independently and confidently to develop both their knowledge and personalities
effectively. As a result, students studying at this school have been provided better facilities,

educational systems and training programs. Learning at international environment, AHS
students have greater opportunities to practice English speaking, not only in the English
lessons, but also at anywhere and anytime, students are boosted to speak in English
because they have motivations when everyone use English in this school.

2.3.3. Use games as teaching aid to improve English Speaking skills

Game is an activity that gives entertainment and amusements. In teaching
procedures, there are a lots of games designed with the purposes that provide students
knowledge as well as amusements. There are a classification of games for teaching
materials: picture games, psychology games, magic tricks, sound games, card and board
games, word games, true-false games, memory games, caring and sharing games, guessing
and speculating games, story games, etc...(Novia, Machdalena & Zuranda (2016).
Games are considered effective methods to support students learn better by giving
amusements; thus, enhance students’ abilities in language skills. Contributing to this,
Poulsen (2010) defined: “playing a game is an activity that enhancing skill use to solve the
obstacle and playing a game is also basically a learning experience”. Games also give a lot

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of benefits such as motivating students to win the game, giving encouragement to be
confident, optimistic. According to Smith (2008), “Games can also help students master
the skills useful throughout life, such as: teamwork, competition, strategy, problem
solving, victory, and retention”.

2.3.4. Use videos, films, movies to develop English Speaking skills

According to Canning (2000), “video is at best defined as the selection and
sequence of messages in an audio-visual context”.

Videos, firms or movies give very great advantages to both students and teachers.
With the modern life people living nowadays, education systems encourage teachers to use
videos as a teaching aid due to its positive benefits.
Following to this, videos motivate students to take part in the lesson; students can
learn and entertain at the same time, and they will enjoy their study process. Especially,
showing moving images supports learners who cannot read or write well.
Thus, this method is convenient and can be control such as pausing and rewinding.
Harmer (2001) said that “to same people videotape is merely a glorified version of
audiotape, and the use of video in class is just listening with pictures”.

2.3.5. Create speaking habits

It is necessary to create speaking habits if learners want to be eloquent in English
speaking. Practicing speaking as much as people can both inside and outside classrooms is

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needed to helps students improve their abilities, skills then they are able to express
themselves in a second/ foreign language.
Following Jehan (2014), there are some aspects of speaking: speaking face-to-face,
interactive speaking, speaking in real time. Learner can choose any kinds of those to
practice speaking. Besides, practicing speaking frequently helps students enhance their
speaking skills by teacher correction, student-to-student correction and self-correction.

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
This chapter provides an overview of the research design, as well as full description

of research tools/ implements that were used to collect the data and conduct the entire
research. The researcher will discuss on the subject, instruments of the data collection.
Besides, the procedures of analyzing and collecting the data are given. Finally, the chapter
concludes with the validity and the reliability and the ethical issues.

1. Research Design
This research followed the quantitative method for data collection and analysis. To
direct investigation towards research objectives, the using of both quantitative research and
questionnaires were implied to find out the difficulties and specific solutions in English
Speaking skills among the target population (class 7/29 and 7/30 – The Asian International
School (AHS) – Cao Thang Campus in English Speaking skills).
According to Labaree (2009), quantitative research gives priority to objective
measurements and the mathematical, statistical, or numerical analysis of data collected.
This method concentrates on gathering information and data by questionnaires, polls or
surveys. The advantages of quantitative method include reliable/ validity and accuracy
results, quick data collection, wider scope of data analysis and eliminating bias (Adi
(2010).

2. Research Procedures

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