A study on difficulties facing 7th graders in speaking lessons at a home based english class

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE
FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES

BA THESIS
A STUDY ON DIFFICULTIES FACING 7th GRADERS
IN SPEAKING LESSONS AT A HOME-BASED
ENGLISH CLASS.
(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN CỦA HỌC SINH
LỚP 7 TRONG CÁC GIỜ HỌC NÓI Ở MỘT LỚP HỌC
TIẾNG ANH TẠI NHÀ.)

Student

: VANG THI HUE

Student code

: 621244

Major

: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS

Supervisor

: NGUYEN THI LAN ANH, M.A

HANOI-2021


VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE

FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES

BA THESIS
A STUDY ON DIFFICULTIES FACING 7TH GRADERS
IN SPEAKING LESSONS AT A HOME-BASED
ENGLISH CLASS.
(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN CỦA HỌC SINH
LỚP 7 TRONG CÁC GIỜ HỌC NÓI Ở MỘT LỚP HỌC
TIẾNG ANH TẠI NHÀ.)

Student

: VANG THI HUE

Student code

: 621244

Major

: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS

Supervisor

: NGUYEN THI LAN ANH, M.A

HANOI-2021


CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report
entitled “A study on difficulties facing 7th graders in speaking lessons at a
home- based English class” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Bachelor in English Language. Except where the reference is
indicated, no other person‟s work has been used without due acknowledgement
in the text of the thesis.
Hanoi, 2021

Vang Thi Hue

Approved by
SUPERVISOR

(Signature and full name)
Date:……………………

i


ACKNOWLEDGMENT
During the process of doing this graduation paper, I have received
manynecessary assistances, precious ideas and timely encouragements
from

myteachers, family and friends. This paper could not have been

completed withoutthe help, encouragement and support from a number of people
who all deservemy sincerest gratitude and appreciation.
First of all, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor –

Nguyen Thi Lan Anh.M.A , the English teacher at Faculty of Education and
Foreign Languages , who has always been willing to give me valuable advices
and suggestions in order that I can complete successfully this study.
Second, I am grateful to all teachers in Department of professional
English and Department of general English in Faculty of Education and Foreign
Languages at Vietnam National University of Agriculture for allowing me to do
this graduation thesis.
I am so thankful to 7th graders at home- based English class of Mrs. Hang
for their whole – heart participation in the study.I would like to acknowledge my
thanks to all the authors of the books,magazines, and the other materials listed in
the reference part for their ideas thathave been reflected and developed in the
study.
I am equally indebted to my classmates for their suggestions
andencouragements in the process of my study.
Last but not least, my particular thanks are given to my parents for
theirencouragement and support which played an important role in my
graduationpaper.

ii


TABLE OF CONTENTS
CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY ..................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGMENT ....................................................................................... ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................... iii
ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... v
LIST OF ABBREVIATION ................................................................................ vi
LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS .................................................................... vii
PART 1: INTRODUCTION............................................................................... 1
1. RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY .................................................................... 1

2. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY ................................................. 2
2.1. Aims ............................................................................................................... 2
2.2. Objectives ....................................................................................................... 2
3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS ............................................................................... 2
4. SCOPE OF THE STUDY ................................................................................. 3
5. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY .................................................................. 3
6. DESIGN OF THE STUDY ............................................................................... 3
PART II: DEVELOPMENT .............................................................................. 5
Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................... 5
1.1. REVIEW OF PREVIOUS STUDIES (AT HOME AND ABOARD) .......... 5
1.1.1. Related research studies at home ................................................................ 5
1.1.2. Related research studies abroad .................................................................. 6
1.2. REVIEW OF THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ........................................ 7
1.2.1. Definition of English speaking skill............................................................ 7
1.2.2. The importance of English speaking skill ................................................... 8
1.2.3. General outline of a speaking lesson......................................................... 10
1.2.4. What a good speaker does ......................................................................... 10
1.2.5. Factors affecting students‟ difficulties in speaking English ..................... 11
iii


1.3. SUMMARY ................................................................................................. 15
Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY ............................................................................ 16
2.1. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ................................................................. 16
2.2. RESEARCH SETTING/ CONTEXT .......................................................... 16
2.3. DATA COLLECTION................................................................................. 16
2.3.1. Data collecting instruments ....................................................................... 16
2.3.2. Data collecting procedures ........................................................................ 21
2.4. DATA ANALYSIS ...................................................................................... 21
2.5. SUMMARY ................................................................................................ 22

Chapter 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ................................................... 23
3.1. FINDINGS ................................................................................................... 23
3.1.1. The survey results from questionnaire ...................................................... 23
3.1.2. Results from the interview ........................................................................ 34
3.1.3. Suggestions on improving the students English speaking performance ... 39
3.2. DISCUSSION .............................................................................................. 42
3.3. SUMMARY ................................................................................................. 45
PART III: CONCLUSION ............................................................................... 46
1. RECAPITULATION ...................................................................................... 46
2. CONCLUDING REMARKS .......................................................................... 46
3. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY .................................................................. 46
4. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES ................................................ 47
REFERENCES .................................................................................................. 48
APPENDIXES ................................................................................................... 51

iv


ABSTRACT
Speaking skill is one of the most necessary skills to communicate in the
real life. In learning a foreign language, it is more and more important to learn
this skill. This study aims at finding out the common difficulties that the 7th
grade students face when they learn English speaking skill at a home- based
English class and suggest some possible solutions to those difficulties. The
sample of the study consists of 20 students (13 female students and 7 male
students ). To achieve the objectives of the present study, I used questionnaire
suvey and interview as data collection instrument. The results of the study has
revealed two group difficulties: First of all, the difficulty in linguistics problems
(pronouncing English words, lack of lexical resources, and confusion of
grammar use). Second, the difficulty in non-linguistics problems ( being afraid

of speaking, lack of confidence and motivation, lack of fluency in speaking,
limit time to practice English speaking at class). Based on this finding, further
recommendation and deeper implications are provided.

v


LIST OF ABBREVIATION

ESL

: English as Second Language

i.e

: That is

EFL

: English Foreign Language

vi


LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Table 3.1. Difficulties facing the 7th grader students in learning English
speaking from their own perspective. ................................................................. 27
Table 3.2. The interview results of students‟ evaluation in English speaking skill....35

Chart 3.1. The students' assessment of learning the speaking skill .................... 23
Chart 3.2. Students‟ attitudes towards the importance of English speaking skill .......24
Chart 3.3. The students‟ interesting in English speaking skill ............................ 24
Chart 3.4. The frequency of students having problems in learning English
speaking skill ....................................................................................................... 25
Chart 3.5. Speaking text type students expect to practice more ......................... 26
Chart 3.6. Factors affecting the learning of English speaking skill belong to the
group of linguistic problems (pronunciation, lack of vocabulary and grammar) 28
Chart 3.7.Difficulty in lack of confidence and motivation ................................. 29
Chart 3.8. Difficulty in being afraid of speaking ................................................ 29
Chart 3.9. Difficulty in lack of fluency in speaking............................................ 30
Chart 3.10. Difficulty in limit time to practice English speaking at class .......... 31
Chart 3.11. The activities students most likely to do in speaking class .............. 32
Chart 3.12. What students most often do before speaking ................................. 33
Chart 3.13. The activities students most often do while speaking ...................... 34

vii


PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1. RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY
Speaking English is considered as an important language skill and
fundamental to human communication. Many people around the world
use English to communicate each other. Being able to speak English, people can
interact with others without obstacles. In addition, people speak English to
upgrade themselves to survive in the globalization era.
As a researcher, I would like to present the thesis title “A study
on difficulties facing 7th graders in speaking lessons at a home- based English
class” for several reasons.

First of all, Speaking may be an important skill in communication in the
real life. They are closely interdependent. We are able to talk sensibly when we
understand what is said to us. If we fail to understand spoken language, we may
miss important information and respond in a funny way. Moreover, in learning a
language, speaking is a useful means of providing students with comprehensible
input, which is an essential component of the whole language learning process.
And teaching speaking skill in classroom helps students make transition from
classroom English to real-life English more easily and effectively. Therefore, I
would like to do this research to help the students and teachers pay more
attention to speaking skill.
Secondly, Vietnamese student, especially the 7th graders still have a lot
of difficulties in learning and practicing English speaking skill. They often fall
into confusion when speaking English because lack of professional knowledge,
confidence, and the good learning method as well. That is the main reason they
don‟t get the effective result in learning speaking in an English class.
After I am a coach work at an English class, for nearly 6 month, I realize
that the 7th graders at an English class still have many difficulties in their
1


speaking skill. In the hope of finding out the difficulties of speaking that they
normally get, a study entitled: “A study on difficulties facing 7th graders in
speaking lessons at a home - based English class” has been conducted because
of all above mentioned reasons.
2. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
2.1. Aims
This study is aimed at finding out the common difficulties that the
students face when they learn English speaking skill at an English class and
suggest some possible solutions to those difficulties. They will be very helpful
for the teachers to motivate their students in speaking class. These suggestions

also wish to help the students catch up with the speed of a normal conversation
in the real life so that they can improve their communication competence also
pass the exams.
2.2. Objectives
The researcher are survey and interview to find out the difficulties that 7th
graders face in speaking lessons. (using questionnaires to survey, analyze,
process and produce data). And then find out the cause of the difficulties that 7th
graders in English class are facing. Finally, proposing measures to improve
difficulties that 7th graders are facing during English speaking lessons .
3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The study aims at addressing the following questions:
(1) What are the difficulties facing 7th graders at an English classs in
learning speaking?
(2) What are the reasons behind those difficulties?
(3) What are the suggestions on improving the students’ English speaking
performance?

2


4. SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This graduation paper focuses on observing speaking lessons of one
group of 7th graders ( 20 students) at an English class with similar English
proficiency are studying the Mindset for Ielts Foundation student's book with
Testbank and Online Modules. The course lasts 10 weeks,because of time limit ,
the researcher only observed the first 4 weeks from 1st March to 28th March
(2 lesson per week; 2 hours per lesson).
5. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The study research into difficulties facing 7th graders at English class is
of significance. Therefore, it should be beneficial as it not only pinpoints

problems students have in speaking English, but also indicates the weaknesses
students have in the four skills of English. As a result, the right methods can be
used to address those problems, and the course can be improved to help the
students develop their English speaking skill. The researcher also hope that the
findings of the research will really be necessary knowledge that helps the 7th
grader students to understand more about English to improve their English
language skills.
6. DESIGN OF THE STUDY
The study includes three parts and three main chapters, organize as
follows:
PART 1– INTRODUCTION presents the rationale of the study, aims and
objectives of the study, research questions, the scope and the significance of the
study.
PART 2– DEVELOPMENT is composed of 3 chapters
Chapter 1 - Literature review - provides theoretical background for the
study including The definition of speaking, The importance of speaking skills,
General outline of a speaking lesson, What good speaker does.
Chapter 2 – Methodology - describes the methodology used in the
3


research including the research methods, research setting/ context, data
collection, and data analysis.
Chapter 3 - Finding and Discussion -reports and discusses the findings of
the study.
PART 3 - CONCLUSION summarizes the main issues that have been
addressed in the study, points out the limitations and suggestions for further
studies
REFERENCES
APPENDIX

4


PART II: DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. REVIEW OF PREVIOUS STUDIES (AT HOME AND ABOARD)
Speaking is a crucial part of second language learning and teaching.
Despite its importance, for many years, teaching speaking has been undervalued
and English language teachers have continued to teach speaking just as a
repetition of drills or memorization of dialogues. However, today's world
requires that the goal of studying speaking should improve students'
communicative skills, because, only in that way, students can express
themselves and learn how to follow the social and cultural rules appropriate in
each communicative circumstance. That‟s why, there have been a lot of studies
on English speaking skill, including :
1.1.1. Related research studies at home
Phuong (2015) A study on extra activities to improve English speaking
skill of QTTN class at Haiphong private University aims at finding out problems
and expectations in English speaking lessons. Moreover, some suggestions on
appreciate techniques to study English speaking have been given. Hopefully,
students will be interested in learning English speaking. So that they will pay
much attention to the lectures and get better results.
Giang (2017) Investigating the effect of using Role-play in teaching
speaking English for grade 10 students at high school investigated the effect of
role-play and simulation approach on Malaysian Polytechnic engineering
students‟ ESL oral communication skills. In addition, the study examined the
students‟ perceptions of the effect of the role-play and simulation on their oral
communication skills.
Huong ( 2012) A study on technique to improve speaking skill for

secondary student in Quang Ninh aims at outlining the definitions of speaking
5


skill and the characteristics of teaching speaking skill, the difficulties teachers
cope with when teaching speaking skill. Pointing out some techniques which can
be used to teach speaking skills for Secondary students in Quang Ninh.
Implementing the survey questionnaires to the teachers at Cam Son Secondary
school to explore the real situation of teaching English-speaking skill in
Secondary student in Quang Ninh. Suggesting some effective activities used to
teach speaking to secondary student at Secondary school to encourage them to
speak
1.1.2. Related research studies abroad
Mustafa Mubarak Pathan (2014) research studies about " An Overview of
Major Difficulties Faced by the Libyan EFL Learners in Speaking Skill". He
pointed out several causes of difficulty in practicing speaking skills, such as:
pronunciation, the use of adjective, the use of prepositions, the use of idioms,
grammatical errors , semantic errors, other problems ( lack of vocabulary, fear /
embarrassment while communicating, lack of interest and motivation, lack of
practice,lack of environment for practice, ...), influenced by mother tongue. He
gave the reasons for the above reasons: "Their failure to recognize this is
primarily because of the failure on the part of their teachers to make them
understand this fact at the very early stage of their learning. And this failure on
the part of the teachers is because of the facts that most of the EFL school
teachers in Libya are neither trained properly for this reason nor are their skills
upgraded."
Ali Dincer and Savas Yesilyurt (2013) A study towards teachers‟ beliefs
on speaking skills based on motivational orientations. The results of their study
indicated that the teachers had negative opinions about speaking instruction
though they believed that it was of great significance in speaking skill. The

results also revealed that the teachers felt unskilled in oral communication
though they had various motivational orientations towards speaking English.
6


The researchers indicated that that learners have different opinions about the
significance of speaking skill in English language and this difference is related
with the learners‟ motivational orientations and their competent/incompetent
feelings in speaking skill. The results demonstrated that learners‟ selfassessment about their speaking skill was negative and they expressed
themselves as incapable speakers of English. Just some of them expressed that
they had a good position in taking part in speaking tasks.
Lilis Suryani ( 2015) The effectiveness of role play in teaching speaking
written in ELTIN journal . He mentioned the way of improving students
speaking skill. He said that teacher should find the appropriate technique of
teaching speaking. It means that teacher plays an important role to create
interesting teaching and learning process. In this research, the researcher would
like to choose role play to solve the problem of speaking.
1.2. REVIEW OF THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
1.2.1. Definition of English speaking skill
Speaking is an act of making vocal sounds. We can say that speaking
means to

converse,

or

expressing

one's

thoughts

and

feelings

in spoken language. To speak often implies conveying information. Speaking
skills are the skills that give us the ability to communicate effectively. (Hopkins,
David. 1993)
Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves
producing and receiving and processing information (Brown, 1994). Its form
and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the
participants themselves, their collective experiences, the physical environment,
and the purposes for speaking. It is often spontaneous, open-ended, and
evolving. However, speech is not always unpredictable. Language functions (or
patterns) that tend to recur in certain discourse situations (e.g., declining an
invitation or requesting time off from work), can be identified and charted
7


(Burns &Joyce, 1997). For example, when a salesperson asks "May I help you?"
the expected discourse sequence includes a statement of need, response to the
need, offer of appreciation, acknowledgement of the appreciation, and a leavetaking exchange.
Speaking requires that learners not only know how to produce specific
points of language such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary (linguistic
competence), but also that they understand when, why, and in what ways to
produce language (sociolinguistic competence). Finally, speech has its own
skills, structures, and conventions different from written language (Burns &
Joyce, 1997). A good speaker synthesizes this array of skills and knowledge to
succeed in a given speech act.

1.2.2. The importance of English speaking skill
After all, the most effective way to communicate is through speech.
Thus, speaking skills are a vitally important method of communication. The
four language skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing are all
interconnected. ... When one thinks of speaking skills, one tends to think of it as
a common skill. While a picture may be worth a thousand words, those words
will no doubt come in handy if the picture is distorted or poorly understood.
After all, the most effective way to communicate is through speech. Thus,
speaking skills are a vitally important method of communication.
The four language skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing are all
interconnected. Proficiency in each skill is necessary to become a well-rounded
communicator, but the ability to speak skillfully provides the speaker with
several distinct advantages. The capacity to put words together in a meaningful
way to reflect thoughts, opinions, and feelings provides the speaker with these
important advantages:
Ability to inform, persuade, and direct. Business managers, educators,
military leaders, lawyers, and politicians, among others, seek to develop their
8


speaking skills to such a level that they are transformed into master
communicators. Speaking clearly and confidently can gain the attention of an
audience, providing the golden opportunity for the speaker to make the message
known. Wise is the speaker who gains and then holds the attention of an
audience, with well-chosen words in a well-delivered presentation, forming a
message that is effective, informative, and understood.
Ability to stand out from the rest. When one thinks of speaking skills, one
tends to think of it as a common skill. Think again. The ability to stand before
others and speak effectively is not an ordinary ability. Many people are deathly
afraid of public speaking; others have little ability to form thoughts into

sentences and then deliver those words in a believable way. The bad news is that
at any given moment the world has precious few with the speaking talents of,
say, Winston Churchill or John F. Kennedy. The good news is that a speaker
whose skills are honed and developed with constant application and hard work
can stand out.
Ability to benefit derivatively. Well-developed verbal skills can increase
one‟s negotiation skills. Self-confidence is improved. A growing sense of
comfort comes from speaking in front of larger and larger audiences. A
reputation for excellence in speaking can accrue over time, thereby imparting a
certain credibility to the speaker.
Career enhancement. Employers have always valued the ability to speak
well. It is, and always will be, an important skill, and well worth the effort in
fully developing.
To sum up, speaking skills are important for career success, but certainly
not limited to one‟s professional aspirations. Speaking skills can enhance one‟s
personal life, thereby bringing about the well-rounded growth we should all
seek.

9


1.2.3. General outline of a speaking lesson
Speaking lessons can follow the usual pattern of preparation, presentation,
practice, evaluation, and extension. The teacher can use the preparation step to
establish a context for the speaking task (where, when, why, and with whom it
will occur) and to initiate awareness of the speaking skill to be targeted (asking
for clarification, stressing key words, using reduced forms of words).
In presentation, the teacher can provide learners with a preproduction
model that furthers learner comprehension and helps them become more attentive
observers of language use. Practice involves learners in reproducing the targeted

structure, usually in a controlled or highly supported manner. Evaluation involves
directing attention to the skill being examined and asking learners to monitor and
assess their own progress. Finally, extension consists of activities that ask learners to
use the strategy or skill in a different context or authentic communicative situation,
or to integrate use of the new skill or strategy with previously acquired ones
(Carter & McCarthy, 1995).
1.2.4. What a good speaker does
A speaker's skills and speech habits have an impact on the success of any
exchange (Van Duzer, 1997). Speakers must be able to anticipate and then
produce the expected patterns of specific discourse situations. They must also
manage discrete elements such as turn-taking, rephrasing, providing feedback,
or redirecting. For example, a learner involved in the exchange with the
salesperson described previously must know the usual pattern that such an
interaction follows and access that knowledge as the exchange progresses. The
learner must also choose the correct vocabulary to describe the item sought,
rephrase or emphasize words to clarify the description if the clerk does not
understand, and use appropriate facial expressions to indicate satisfaction or
dissatisfaction with the service. (Burns & Joyce, 1997)

10


Other skills and knowledge that instruction might address include the
following: producing the sounds, stress patterns, rhythmic structures, and
intonations of the language; using grammar structures accurately; assessing
characteristics of the target audience, including shared knowledge or shared
points of reference, status and power relations of participants, interest levels,
or differences in perspectives; selecting vocabulary that is understandable and
appropriate for the audience, the topic being discussed, and the setting in which
the speech act occurs; applying strategies to enhance comprehensibility, such as

emphasizing key words, rephrasing, or checking for listener comprehension;
using gestures or body language; and 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
comprehension and involvement (Brown, 1994).
Teachers should monitor learners' speech production to determine what
skills and knowledge they already have and what areas need development.
Bailey and Savages New Ways in Teaching Speaking (1994), offer suggestions
for activities that can address different skills.
1.2.5. Factors affecting students’ difficulties in speaking English
Learners‟ speaking performance are influenced by factors like
performance conditions, affective factors, speaking skill, and feedback during
speaking tasks (Tuan & Mai, 2015).
The first factor is pertinent to performance conditions. Learners carry outa
speaking activity under different conditions. Performance conditions impact
speaking performance and these conditions involve time pressure, planning, the
quality of performance, and the amount of support (Nation & Newton, 2009).
The second factor is related to affective ones. Oxford (1990) said that one of
the important factors in learning a language is the affective side of students.

11


According to Krashen (1982), a lot of affective variables have been
connected to second language acquisition and motivation, self-confidence, and
anxiety were the three main types that have been investigated by many
researchers.
Speaking ability is the third factor. Doff (1998) says that learners cannot
improve their speaking ability unless they develop speaking ability. Learners
should comprehend what is uttered to them in order to have a successful

dialogue. Shumin (1997) represented that when students talk, the other students
answer through the speaking process. Speakers have the role of both listeners
and speakers. It can be concluded that students are not able to reply if they
cannot comprehend what is told. That is to say, speaking is very closely related
to speaking.
Topical knowledge is the fourth factor. Bachman and Palmer (1996)
defined it as the knowledge structures in longterm memory. That is, topical
knowledge is the speakers‟ knowledge of related topical information. It enables
students to apply language with respect to the world in which they live.
Bachman and Palmer (1996) assert that topical knowledge has a great impact on
the learners‟ speaking performance.
The sixth factor is related to the feedback during speaking activities. A lot
of learners expect their teachers to give them the necessary feedback on their
speaking performance. According to Harmer (1991), the decisions that
instructors adopt towards their learners‟ performance depend on the stages of the
lesson, the tasks, and the kinds of mistakes they make. Harmer (1991) also
continued that if instructors directly correct their students‟ problems, the flow of
the dialogue and the aim of the speaking task will be spoiled. Baker and
Westrup (2003) supported the above statement and said that if learners are
always corrected, they will be demotivated and afraid of talking. It has been
suggested that instructors should always correct their learners‟ mistakes
12


positively and give them more support and persuasion while speaking.
According to Mahripah (2014), learners‟ speaking skill is affected by some
linguistic components of language like phonology, syntax, vocabulary, and
semantics and psychological factors such as motivation and personality.
Phonology is a difficult aspect of language learning for learners. As we know,
English is not a phonetic language. That is, pronunciation of English words are

not similar to their spellings. Words with similar spellings are sometimes
pronounced differently because of their surrounding contexts like tenses and
phonemes that come after them. This can cause a lot of problems for non-native
speakers of English and they sometimes get confused in producing the English
words.
Learners should have the knowledge of words and sentences. They should
comprehend how words are divided into different sounds and how sentences are
stressed in specific ways. Grammatical competence can help speakers apply and
perceive the structure of English language correctly that leads to their fluency
(Latha, 2012). Native speakers say what they want without having any problems
because they are familiar with the language. If they have problems in expressing
some concepts, they try to use other ways of telling those things. They may
make certain mistakes syntactically but these mistakes do not change the
meaning of the sentences they want to express and this doesn‟t create serious
problems for the listeners to comprehend them. But the mistakes non-native
speakers commit are those that change the meaning of utterances they want to
convey and can create some problems for their understanding (Mahripah, 2014).
Motivation can influence and be influenced by the components of
language learning. According to Merisuo-Storm (2007), an integrative and
friendly view towards the people whose language is being learned makes
sensitize learners to the audio-lingual aspects of language and making them
more sensitive to pronunciation and accent of language. If learners have an
13


unfriendly attitude towards the language, they will not have any substantial
improvement in acquiring the different features of language. The above
sentences support the view that just communicative competence is not sufficient
for learners to improve their speaking skill. Without positive attitudes towards
the speaking performance, the aim of speaking will not be obtainable for

learners. 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 lead to their silence during the whole class
activity. Inhibition is a feeling of worry that stops people from telling or
performing what they want (Cambridge A. L. Dictionary, 2008). All human
beings make a series of defenses to protect the ego. Due to the fact that
committing mistakes is a natural process of learning a language, it certainly
causes potential threats to one‟s ego. These threats disappoint the learners to talk
English and prefer to be silent rather than being criticized in front of a large
number of people (Brown, 2000). Risk-taking is pertinent to inhibition and self respect. Learners who have a low self-respect tend to stop taking a risk of
committing mistakes in their speaking tasks which resulting in the inhibition to
the betterment of their speaking skill (Mahripah, 2014).

14


1.3. SUMMARY
In summary, Chapter 1 has raised the review of the previous studies (at
home & abroad), definition, characteristics, the importance of English speaking
skill ,factors affecting students‟ difficulties in speaking English to find out
practical theory for research.

15


Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY
2.1. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
In order to write about the chosen topic, the researcher used the materials
that the researcher found and searched on the Internet (See References). The
researcher searched for the materials on webpages, read, analyzed, summarized
and paraphrased as doing a survey with the materials.The researcher use
Quantitative method( questionnaires) and Qualitative ( interviews). A survey
questionnaire was made to ask for the students‟ opinions on the difficulties
facing 7th graders in learning English speaking. Then an interview conducted to
find out more about the problem they have, the causes behind the difficulties and
the efforts they have made to overcome the difficulties.
2.2. RESEARCH SETTING/ CONTEXT
The research was conducted during my writing graduation paper period at
a home-based English class at building S206 in Vinhomes Ocean Park. This was
a survey research using questionnaire to collect data with a group of 20 students
consist of 13 female studens and 7 male students, age of 12 ,the students study
according to Textbook Mindset for Ielts foundation including 10 units with A2
level and the interview with 10 out of 20 students.
2.3. DATA COLLECTION
2.3.1. Data collecting instruments
2.3.1.1. The survey questionnaire
Questionnaire:
Questionnaire is to find the difficulties facing the 7th grade students in
learning English speaking and the causes behind those difficulties. Please, put a
tick for your answer or expressing your idea in the blanks. All your personal
information as well as your answers will be kept confidential and not be used for

the other purposes.
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