luận văn difficulties in speaking english encountered by adult students a case study at thu dau mot university

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THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY

<b>FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES </b>

<b>KHAU HOANG KIM THU </b>

<b>DIFFICULTIES IN SPEAKING ENGLISH ENCOUNTERED BY ADULT STUDENTS: A CASE STUDY AT THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY </b>

<b>MAJOR: ENGLISH LANGUAGE MAJOR CODE: 8220201 </b>

<b>MASTER THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE </b>

BINH DUONG - 2022

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THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY

<b>FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES </b>

<b>KHAU HOANG KIM THU </b>

<b>DIFFICULTIES IN SPEAKING ENGLISH ENCOUNTERED BY ADULT STUDENTS: A CASE STUDY AT THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY </b>

<b>MAJOR: ENGLISH LANGUAGE MAJOR CODE: 8220201 </b>

<b>MASTER THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE </b>

Supervised by

<b>TRAN THANH DU, Ph.D </b>

BINH DUONG - 2022

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<b>ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS </b>

To begin, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Tran Thanh Du, for his insightful comments and for devoting his valuable time to read my thesis with great care. I am very appreciative of the unwavering sympathy and persistent encouragement that he has given me thus far.

I am truly grateful to my colleagues at Thu Dau Mot University's Office, particularly Mr. Tran Van Nam. They took on a large portion of my job, allowing me extra time to complete this thesis. Additionally, I would like to express my gratitude to my Faculty of Foreign Languages colleagues for supplying information and assisting me in the data collection process.

My special thanks go out to two of my closest friends, Ms. Tong Thi Phuong Thao and Ms. Do Thi Thanh Thuan, who have constantly accompanied me throughout my thesis, sharing experiences and offering helpful advice.

I owe a great deal to my parents, who have always been unflinchingly supportive and understanding, allowing me to devote all of my time to finishing my thesis.

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<i>Binh Duong, January 2022 </i>

Signature

Khau Hoang Kim Thu

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<b>RETENTION OF USE </b>

I hereby state that I, Khau Hoang Kim Thu, being a candidate for the degree of Master of English Language accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library. In this regard, I agree that the original of my Master’s thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research.

<i>Binh Duong, January 2022 </i>

Signature

Khau Hoang Kim Thu

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List of abbreviations ... vii

List of tables ... viii

List of charts ... iv

Abstract ... x

<b>CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ... 1 </b>

1.1. Background to the study ... 1

1.2. Statement of the problem ... 3

1.3. Aims of the study ... 5

1.4. Research questions ... 5

1.5. Significance of the study ... 5

1.6. Scope of the study ... 5

1.7. Organization of the study ... 6

<b>CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ... 8 </b>

2.1. Theoretical background ... 8

2.1.1. Definition of speaking ... 8

2.1.2. Types of speaking performance ... 10

2.1.3. Factors affecting speaking skills ... 11

2.1.5.2. Principles for teaching speaking ... 20

2.1.5.3. Speaking activities in language classrooms ... 22

2.2. Previous studies ... 24

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3.6.1. Data analysis tool ... 37

3.6.2. Data analysis procedure ... 37

<b>CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ... 40 </b>

4.1. The results from survey ... 40

4.1.3. Personal solutions to develop speaking skills ... 60

4.2. The results from interview ... 69

4.2.1. Difficulties in speaking English ... 70

4.2.2. Solutions to develop English speaking skills ... 72

4.3. The results from class observation ... 73

<b>CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS ... 76 </b>

5.1. Conclusion ... 76

5.2. Suggestions ... 77

5.2.1. For lecturers ... 77

5.2.2. For students ... 79

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5.2.3. For Faculty of Foreign Languages and English language Program .... 80

5.3. Limitations of the study and recommendation for further research ... 80

<b>REFERENCES ... 82 </b>

<b>APPENDICES ... 1 </b>

Appendix 1: The curriculum program ... 1

Appendix 2: Questionnaire ... 1

Appendix 3: Interview questions for students ... 1

Appendix 4: Interview questions for lecturers ... 1

Appendix 5: Interview results about difficulties in speaking english ... 1

Appendix 6: Observation checklist... 1

<b> </b>

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<b>LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS </b>

AUN The ASEAN University Network

CDIO Conceive Design Implement Operate Initiative EFL English as a Foreign Language

MOET Ministry of Education and Training TDMU Thu Dau Mot University

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<b>LIST OF TABLES </b>

<i><b>Table 3.1. Design of the questionnaire ... 33 </b></i>

<i><b>Table 3.2. The observation checklist ... 35 </b></i>

<i><b>Table 3.3. Gap widths of 5-points likert scale ... 38 </b></i>

<i><b>Table 3.4. Gap widths of 6-points likert scale ... 38 </b></i>

<i><b>Table 4.1. Percentage of people who want to attend postgraduate programs ... 44 </b></i>

<i><b>Table 4.2. Students’ English speaking ability ... 45 </b></i>

<i><b>Table 4.3. Frequency of participating in speaking activities ... 47 </b></i>

<i><b>Table 4.4. Descriptive statistics of Linguistic difficulties ... 50 </b></i>

<i><b>Table 4.5. Survey data on Linguistic difficulties ... 52 </b></i>

<i><b>Table 4.6. Descriptive statistics of Psychological difficulties ... 55 </b></i>

<i><b>Table 4.7. Survey data on Psychological difficulties ... 55 </b></i>

<i><b>Table 4.8. The impact of each type of difficulties in comparison ... 59 </b></i>

<i><b>Table 4.9. Descriptive statistics of solutions to develop speaking skills ... 60 </b></i>

<i><b>Table 4.10. The frequency of various types of difficulties ... 70 </b></i>

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<b>LIST OF CHARTS </b>

<i><b>Chart 4.1. English learning process of adult students ... 40 </b></i>

<i><b>Chart 4.2. Purposes of learning English ... 41 </b></i>

<i><b>Chart 4.3. The workplace of adult students ... 43 </b></i>

<i><b>Chart 4.4. Frequency of using English ... 44 </b></i>

<i><b>Chart 4.5. Students’ English speaking ability in particular situations ... 46 </b></i>

<i><b>Chart 4.6. Frequency of participating in each speaking activity ... 49 </b></i>

<i><b>Chart 4.7. Insufficient ideas ... 58 </b></i>

<i><b>Chart 4.8. Studying vocabulary and expressions ... 63 </b></i>

<i><b>Chart 4.9. Practicing speaking exercises in textbook ... 63 </b></i>

<i><b>Chart 4.10. Practicing speaking via apps or websites ... 64 </b></i>

<i><b>Chart 4.11. Talking directly with foreigners ... 65 </b></i>

<i><b>Chart 4.12. Chatting with foreigners via social networks ... 65 </b></i>

<i><b>Chart 4.13. Hanging out with people who want to practice speaking... 66 </b></i>

<i><b>Chart 4.14. Practicing singing English songs ... 67 </b></i>

<i><b>Chart 4.15. Joining English clubs ... 67 </b></i>

<i><b>Chart 4.16. Joining specialized courses in English speaking and reflex ... 68 </b></i>

<i><b>Chart 4.17. Practicing thinking in English ... 68 </b></i>

<i><b>Chart 4.18. Travelling abroad ... 69 </b></i>

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<b>ABSTRACT </b>

For the purpose of discovering and analyzing the difficulties in learning speaking skills faced by adult English-majored students at Thu Dau Mot University (TDMU), a mixed-method study of both quantitative and qualitative designs is carried out. The sample includes 152 students and 5 lecturers in charge of the course. With the data collected through the questionnaire survey, the interview, and the observation, the result reveals that the dominant difficulties these students commonly encounter are related to the limitation of vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, students’ personal psychology, and the habit of thinking in Vietnamese while speaking English. The findings of this study are very applicable to the process of teaching and learning English speaking skills among adult language learners in the Vietnamese context.

<i>Keywords: English speaking skills; difficulties; adult students. </i>

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<b>CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION </b>

The current chapter presents the introduction, which introduces the background to the study, the aims of the study, the research questions, the significance of the study, the scope of the study, and the organization of the thesis.

<b>1.1. Background to the study </b>

Globalization has connected people worldwide in all domains of contemporary life these days. Due to globalization, it is necessary to improve communication among countries to strengthen these interconnections. In order to take the role as a language of international communication, a pervasive language will grow dominant over other languages and reach global status. Crystal (2003) argues that “to achieve a global status, a language has to be taken up by other countries around the world either as an official language or as a priority in a country's foreign language teaching”. Evidently, the fast spread of English across the world has given it this status. According to data compiled by The World Factbook (2021), English is the official language of 58 nations and territories throughout the world, and there are around 1.35 billion people who speak English either natively or as a second language. It is the official language used by the United Nations and other International Organizations such as World Health Organization, World Trade Organization, United Nations Children's Fund, World Bank, and so on. English is the preeminent language of business, science, diplomacy, technologies and entertainment. It is also the medium of instruction at many universities and colleges worldwide and is the most-used language in scientific studies.

Acknowledging that English is the language of globalization, most countries encourage citizens to be conversant with the English language, particularly in business, educational, and day-to-day interactions. Neeley (2012) argues that English is even being accepted today as a global corporate language. In this sense, corporate leaders are shifting to a phenomenon whereby English proficiency is a requirement for all employees. When it comes to hiring, most companies place a high value on candidates who are fluent in English. This advantage provides English language learners with a plethora of appealing work prospects in a variety of areas.

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English provides opportunities to broaden knowledge, form relationships, create cooperative and collaborative work partnerships, and develop a variety of lifestyles. The importance of this language is also highly visualized in the education context, where most countries encourage the use of English in instructions and teaching strategies. Vietnam is not exceptional in this aspect as English is taught as foreign language from primary until university level and as one of compulsory subjects. Many universities and colleges now teach a large amount of content in English and require graduates to meet English output criteria. Furthermore, knowing English allows students to readily pursue further education, like master's and doctoral degrees. Chew (1999) puts it that a “lack of a command in English would mean the continued marginalization of their children in a world that would continue to use the language to a greater degree. It would also deny them access to the extensive resources available in English - resources which have developed as a consequence of globalization”. With cultural diversity as an attribute of the global society, English has become inevitable in almost every context. In other words, people around the world use English not only to communicate but also as a passport to new career prospects and new opportunities to expand their knowledge and abilities to become global citizens.

Based on the above arguments, it can be said that the dominance of the English language in the current period of extensive integration and connection is undeniable. Everyone strives to be fluent in this language, especially adults who make up the majority of the workforce in any society and economy. However, it is not easy for adult learners to truly grasp all of the skills required when using English (including listening, speaking, reading, and writing). In this instance, the mastery of speaking skills is a priority for all intents and purposes of most foreign language learners. This can be simply explained because people have to speak before learning to read and write, and we spend far more time interacting orally with language rather than using it in its written form. Rivers (1981) researched the use of language outside the classroom situation and concluded that speaking is used twice as much as reading and writing combined. Therefore, speaking is the skill that the learners will be judged upon most in real-life situations. It is an important part of everyday

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communication, and most people's initial impressions are based on their ability to speak fluently and comprehensibly. Besides, the significance of speaking is also indicated in the interaction relationship with other skills; for example, speaking helps learners develop their vocabulary and grammar skills and then improve their writing ability. In a word, a person who can speak English well will quickly find that mastering the language is quite simple. Nunan (1995) concluded that learning the speaking skills is the most important aspect of learning a second or foreign language, and success is measured based on the ability to perform a conversation in the language.

Speaking English well creates several evident advantages for working people. High-quality jobs in businesses demand that employees are able to communicate in English in order to extend operations abroad. In other words, people fluent in English will have more opportunities to get high-paying employment and advancement prospects at foreign companies or domestic companies that engage with international partners and clients. Good at speaking gives employees the upper hand in sending and receiving information, thereby making work more accurate and fluent. Likewise, officials at state agencies are now required to satisfy civil servants’ foreign language competence criteria, particularly in dealing with international partners. These arguments have been supported by Baker and Westrup (2003) who said that learners who speak English very well can have greater chances for better

<b>education, finding good jobs, and getting promotion. </b>

<b>1.2. Statement of the problem </b>

Although English speaking skills is an important attribute of coexistence in the contemporary global context, English is not a native language for the people of Vietnam. English is considered a foreign language for such people and there are difficulties in using it in oral aspects. Many learners claim that they have spent years studying English yet are still unable to speak it properly and understandably (Bueno, Madrid, and Mclaren, 2006). For example, learners have to spend much time thinking and preparing what they would like to speak when they answer the questions, give their opinions or express their feelings. Therefore, speaking seems

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For individuals whose native language is not English, Kieu (2010) argues that such people have to consider bilingualism as a way of interacting effectively with others in their environment. Accordingly, English becomes mandatory as a principle for success in coexisting with others. Kieu (2010) adds that fluency and other attributes that English native speakers possess are attainable through training. People who are not native speakers, however, associate English learning with aspects that depict perceived difficulties. They can pass English exams easily but they find it difficult to use English to communicate. In this light, the author chooses

<b>to conduct a study in the form of a thesis entitled “Difficulties in Speaking English </b>

<b>encountered by Adult students: A case study at Thu Dau Mot University”. </b>

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<b>1.3. Aims of the study </b>

From the above-mentioned reasons, the study is conducted for the purposes of (1) identifying difficulties in speaking English encountered by adult English-majored students at Thu Dau Mot University; and (2) suggesting solutions to develop English speaking skills for these students. These purposes then serve to fulfill the broader and more general objective that is to improve the teaching and learning of English speaking skills in alignment with how adult students view the language’s use at Thu Dau Mot University.

<b>1.5. Significance of the study </b>

Studies are useful in a variety of ways because they provide vital information that can aid in the achievement of various objectives. The significance of the current study is based on the generation of knowledge about difficulties in English speaking skills as a means of shedding light on the topics of concern and allowing the development of methods to address the obstacles.

In detail, the study presents an overview in this area by highlighting the difficulties encountered by adult English-majored students at Thu Dau Mot University in speaking English and arguing the reasons for those. Furthermore, the study can give recommendations for enhancing the English teaching and learning process, particularly in speaking skills, to help adult students overcome their current obstacles. The study's findings will be transmitted to Thu Dau Mot University to be used as reference material.

<b>1.6. Scope of the study </b>

The study took place at Thu Dau Mot University, Vietnam, during the academic year 2020-2021. Within the scope of the study, the author only

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concentrates on identifying difficulties that the adult students who are participating in the second bachelor’s degree program in English language at Thu Dau Mot University face in speaking English, thereby giving some solutions to help them in

<b>developing their English speaking skills. </b>

<b>1.7. Organization of the study </b>

The main contents of the thesis will be dealt with in five separate chapters:

<i>Chapter 1, Introduction, provides a preliminary review of the information </i>

related to the topic. Besides, the purpose, research questions, significance, scope and outline of the study have been stated.

<i>Chapter 2, Literature Review, provides the definition of key terms in this </i>

study. This chapter also reviews some previous studies on difficulties in speaking English, and identifies the gaps in those studies that motivate the current study.

<i>Chapter 3, Research Methodology, explains the methodology employed in </i>

the research. This chapter clarifies the research participants, subjects, instruments, and describes how data are collected and analyzed.

<i>Chapter 4, Analysis and Discussion, presents the description and </i>

interpretation of the collected data in light of research questions.

<i>Chapter 5, Conclusion and Recommendations, presents the summary of </i>

results then offers some suggestions. Besides, the author also clarifies the limitations of this research and gives recommendations for further studies in the future.

<b>Chapter summary </b>

English is becoming increasingly crucial in this era of globalization and worldwide integration. Fluency in this language helps people obtain better employment and develop themselves in a variety of ways. However, acquiring English is difficult for Vietnamese people who use it as a foreign language, and speaking is one of the most challenging skills to acquire during language learning. Numerous language learners find it difficult to express themselves in spoken language in the target language. This is particularly true for adult students. Many scholars from all around the globe have been working on this subject for decades. However, until now, there is no official research conducted at Thu Dau Mot University about these areas. Therefore, this research was carried out to shed light

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on some difficulties in speaking English encountered by the adult English-majored students at Thu Dau Mot University, then reveal the factors causing these problems. The study also proposes strategies to enhance adult students' English speaking skills from the findings.

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<b>CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW </b>

This chapter covers the theories related to the study by giving definitions of terms, the theories and concepts defined by linguists, and other works in the field of English speaking skills. The conceptual framework of the study is also provided in this chapter. It explains the concepts following the research’s problem and purpose and provides the conceptual model.

<b>2.1. Theoretical background 2.1.1. Definition of speaking </b>

Commonly, the transmission of language through the mouth is referred to as speaking. It contributes to the development of interpersonal communication. To speak, humans use a variety of physical organs, including the lungs, vocal tract, vocal cords, tongue, teeth, and lips. Speaking is one of the English language’s four skills: listening, speaking, reading, and Writing. Typically, this vocalized form of language necessitates the presence of at least one listener. When two or more people talk to each other, the conversation is called a “dialogue”. Additionally, it may be planned and rehearsed, as in delivering a speech or presentation. Numerous linguists have discussed the concept of “speaking” with different perspectives. It resulted in many definitions describing the term, some of which were mentioned below.

Nunan (1995) stated that speaking was the ability to use oral language to explore ideas, intentions, thoughts, and feelings to other people to make the message clearly delivered and well understood by the hearer. More generally, Burns and Joyce (1997) cited in Nuraini (2016) defined speaking as “the reciprocally active process of building up meaning that involves producing, receiving, and processing information”. Cameron (2001) concludes that speaking is the active use of language to express meaning so that other people can make sense of them. These arguments imply that speaking can be understood as the act of creating sound that enables speakers to transmit their thoughts, feelings, and intents, which is a necessary component of communication.

Secondly, speaking is the process of combining the background and linguistic knowledge to create an oral message (Chastain, 1988). It indicates that the process

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of speaking is influenced by cognitive factors as well as linguistic expertise. Speaking, on the other hand, is concerned not just with oral output but also with how the sub-skills are linked and assist the speaking action. Vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar are the sub-skills necessary for speaking. Moreover, according to Bygate (1998), speaking is a high complex mental activity which varies from other activities because it requires much higher effort from the part of the central nervous system.

Furthermore, speaking is context- or situation-dependent. The context includes the participants themselves, their collective experiences, the physical environment, and the purposes for speaking. Speaking demands learners to comprehend not just how to construct certain language elements such as syntax, pronunciation, or vocabulary, but also when and how to talk in accordance with each context. Chaney and Burk (2001) emphasized that speaking is “the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts”. Besides, Harmer (2007) stated that “speaking is the ability to speak fluently and presupposes not only knowledge of language features, but also the ability to process information and language on the spot.”

These theories lead to the concept that speaking is the skill to communicate effectively to provide or receive information and knowledge from others. Indeed, according to (Siahaan, 2008), speaking is a productive language skill. More specifically, as for Bygate M. (2001), listening and reading are passive skills or receptive skills, whereas, speaking and writing are active skills or productive ones. It implies the definition that speaking is a person's ability to generate sounds that have meaning and can be understood by other people, in order to facilitate effective communication. Of the four skills, speaking is the most critical since it identifies someone is skilled or bad at utilizing a language. Bueno, Madrid, and Mclaren (2006) point out that “Speaking is one of the most difficult skills language learners have to face. Speaking is considered the most important of the four language skills of English. Even the learners learn the language for so many years; they find it difficult to speak in real time situations when it is demanded”. Agreeing with this view, Iqbal (2012) said that speaking is more difficult and complex than other

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<b>2.1.2. Types of speaking performance </b>

Brown (2004) describes five categories of speaking skill area. Those categories are as follows:

<b>a) Imitative </b>

In this imitative, the speaker tries to repeat (imitate) a word, phrase, or maybe a sentence they hear in an easy-to-understand way. Because this type of speaking performance focuses only on pronunciation, it does not address the capacity to comprehend, transmit meaning, or participate in a conversation.

<b>b) Intensive </b>

This is the creation of brief spoken language segments intended to demonstrate competence in a restricted range of grammatical, phrasal, lexical, or phonological relationships. The purpose of this assignment is to teach students how to create accurate grammatical output.

<b>c) Responsive </b>

Responsive speaking is an interaction but at a somewhat limited level. This is a kind of very short conversation, greetings and small talk, simple requests, giving instructions, directions or comments. These responses are usually short, meaningful with simple content so the speaker can adapt to interaction speaking.

<b>d) Interactive </b>

Interactive and responsive speaking are closely the same as each other. The differences between them are just in the interaction's length and complexity. This type is classified into two subtypes: transactional language and interpersonal

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exchanges. Transactional language is carried out to convey or exchange specific information. Interpersonal exchanges, on the other hand, are used to maintain social relationships rather than for the transmission of facts and information.

<b>e) Extensive </b>

Extensive speaking often points to a monologue, in which the opportunity for oral interaction from listeners is highly limited. This way of speaking requires the speaker to have more preparation, select professional words. Deeply expresses a thorough understanding of what the speaker will say, from which the listener feels trust and certain with the information heard. Extensive speaking tasks include speeches, oral representations, and storytelling.

On the basis of the above theory, it can be inferred that there are several levels of speaking, ranging from basic to complicated, which affect the assessment of students' speaking skills. Even so, it is obvious that students need to know at least the pronunciation, vocabulary, and language functions they will be using when speaking a foreign language. When students are better equipped linguistically, they may engage in greater levels of communication with much more information exchange.

<b>2.1.3. Factors affecting speaking skills </b>

There are numerous factors that influence speaking skills. Based on the theory pointed out by Mahripah (2014), Nguyen and Tran (2015), the author summarizes and divides these factors into two categories: internal factors and external factors.

<b>2.1.3.1. Internal factors </b>

The term “internal factors'' refers to those pertaining to the learners

<b>themselves. The first internal factor is Linguistic components, such as phonology, </b>

syntax, vocabulary, and semantics. For example, phonology is a particularly challenging area of language learning for EFL students. English, as we all know, is not a phonetic language. That is, English words' pronunciations do not correspond to their spellings. Words with similar spellings are occasionally pronounced differently due to their surrounding contexts, such as tenses and phonemes. This can create a lot of difficulties for non-native English speakers in pronouncing English

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words. Moreover, EFL learners should have the knowledge of words and sentences. 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 due to their familiarity with the language. If they have difficulty conveying some notions, they attempt to communicate those concepts in alternative ways. They may make syntactical errors, but these errors do not alter the meaning of the sentences they want to express, and hence do not present significant difficulties for listeners to comprehend them. However, the errors made by non-native speakers usually alter the content of the statements they wish to transmit and might create difficulties for their comprehension (Mahripah, 2014).

<b>The second internal factor is related to Affective ones. Oxford (1990) </b>

believes that one of the most critical components in language learning is the students' affective side. Krashen (1982) asserts that a variety of affective characteristics have been linked to second language acquisition such as emotions, self-esteem, empathy, anxiety, attitude, and motivation. For example, many researchers believe that motivation is a key component in the language study of students. It determines the purposes and promotes the learning process. Littlewood (2007) considered motivation is the crucial element that determines whether learners pay attention to an activity at all, how much energy they spend on it, and how long they maintain it. Besides, Zua (2008) considered no matter what kinds of motivation the learners possess it will enhance their study interest. Therefore, learners who have a high motivation to succeed can outperform those who have a weak motivation. Furthermore, as for Astiti (2012), motivation is a psychological component that might influence learning processes and outcomes. Thereby learners who have high learning motivation will do more learning activities. As a result, speaking skills development can only occur if learners have a great motivation to express their own ideas and interact with others around them.

<b>The last factor is Topical knowledge. Bachman and Palmer (1996) defined </b>

it as the knowledge structures in long-term memory. It is the knowledge that we can learn from schools, books and knowledge of social life through the process of

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accumulation and exposure to life. 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. Additionally, speaking themes should be appropriate for the student's cognitive level. As Al-Nouh et al. (2015) indicate, students should be permitted to select their own themes because known topics will aid in their comprehension and thus reduce their anxiety.

<b>2.1.3.2. External factors </b>

<b>The first external factor affecting speaking skills is Performance conditions. </b>

Learners carry out a speaking activity under different conditions, thus these conditions impact their speaking performance. According to Nation and Newton (2009), they include time pressure, planning, the quality of performance, and the amount of support. For example, in spontaneous communication intentional planning is not possible and consequently a highly developed and subconscious use of strategies is required for successful speaking. In other instances which do not require an immediate response, speakers may be under less severe time pressure and can exercise relevant speaking strategies at a more conscious level. In other words, they can have adequate time for planning, executing, evaluating, and editing before speaking.

<b>Another external factor is Feedback during speaking activities. According </b>

to Harmer (1991), the decisions that the teachers make about how to react to students’ performance will depend upon the stages of the lesson, the activities, the types of mistakes made and the particular student who is making that mistake. If the teachers correct whenever there is a problem, the conversational flow as well as the purpose of the speaking activity will be destroyed. Baker and Westrup (2003) backed up the above assertion, stating that if the students are corrected all the time, they can find this very demotivating and become afraid to speak. They suggest that the teachers should always correct the students’ mistakes positively and with encouragement.

<b>2.1.4. Difficulties in speaking </b>

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Based on an analysis of the factors impacting speaking skills, the following discussion provides the theories linked to the difficulties EFL learners frequently have while speaking English. To accomplish the goal of resolving challenges with English speaking from the perspective of learners, the following theories will explore difficulties with English speaking caused by internal factors (as mentioned in section 2.1.3.1)

<b>2.1.4.1. Linguistic difficulties </b>

Language difficulties are very common difficulties that reduce students' ability to communicate. There are several linguistic issues that might impair someone's ability to speak, including vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.

<b>a) Vocabulary </b>

According to Richards and Schmidt (2010), vocabulary may be defined as a set of lexemes including single words, compound words, and idioms. People need to use words to express themselves, hence it is considered one of the most important aspects of learning a second or foreign language. Vocabulary acquisition is one of the most important abilities for speaking. Gough (2007) stated “Vocabulary is important because it is words which carry the content of what we want to say, the more words you know, the more you will be able to communicate; so, with a bigger vocabulary you will be able to talk about more things. A new word is useless unless you know how to use it”. Indeed, students will be unable to communicate in a coherent manner if their vocabulary is too limited. It means that they cannot properly speak or explain their views without an adequate vocabulary.

Vocabulary-related difficulties that many students face when speaking English can be listed as insufficient vocabulary and incorrect use of words. In the view of Adam (2016) lack of vocabulary knowledge hinders the real communication of learners to a great extent. Aclan and Azis (2015) explained that the lack of vocabulary has an impact on speaking fluency, speed of listening and reading because they need to pause frequently to look up dictionaries about the meaning of the words. Despite the fact that most students are beginning to learn English from elementary school to university, their vocabulary is still limited. Besides, students are taught common and academic vocabulary at school, but in real life, native

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speakers employ many slang, idioms, and phrasal verbs. As a result, communicating with foreigners is really challenging for them. Additionally, according to Chen and Chung (2008), forgetting vocabulary is also a serious issue for students because it is tough for them to remember the words after long periods of time.

Secondly, EFL learners also face difficulties in word choices. Because the objective of acquiring vocabulary should include both remembering words and the capacity to use them in a wide variety of language contexts, students will find it is very difficult to employ language in a contextually appropriate manner as well as understand the many delicate emotional nuances that come with it. Indeed, in some real conversations, students are unable to quickly select appropriate words to talk, which causes the dialogue to deteriorate. Moreover, collocation is also one of the most difficult problems for Vietnamese students. Wrong combination of elements in a phrase, confusion prepositions and articles, using wrong word form are common errors made by numerous EFL learners.

In short, vocabulary is a key issue in language learners' speaking performance. Insufficient vocabulary and wrong word choices are the main hindrance that significantly affects speaking skills.

<b>b) Grammar </b>

The second difficulty is the lack of grammar. Grammar is considered one of the most challenging factors of a foreign language to fluency. Greenbaum and Nelson (2002) stated that grammar is the set of rules that allow us to combine single words in our language into larger units. Hence, the students need to arrange correct sentence construction, tenses, and the proper forms of words in conversation to avoid misunderstanding between communicators. However, in fact, many students are hesitant to speak English because they keep thinking of grammar and are afraid of making grammatical mistakes. Consequently, they often use “Google Translate” as a way which helps them translate their opinions into English language. Nonetheless, it is not a good solution to learn English because this tool might bring errors such as sentences without structure and incorrect tenses.

In English grammar, tense is the most important part and one cannot deny that it is also the most difficult part in English grammar, and learners have to spend

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much time to understand the way to use it correctly and properly. Tense is a form of verb used to indicate the moment of an action or state occurring. There are three main tenses in English: past, present and future tense. Each tense represents a certain moment and has many different functions. There are four forms of tense: simple, continuous, perfect and perfect continuous. Halliday (2002) said that if the learners do not understand the concept of tense, they cannot improve their English at a high level. Students often have problems choosing the suitable tense to say, because each tense has different functions and situations. For example, when students want to tell a problem that happened, they are confused about what form of past tense to use. They make a lot of mistakes and get confused with choosing the suitable tenses. These mistakes make it difficult for the listeners to understand and lead to ineffective communication.

Besides, it is also a common difficulty that students do not remember all the structures of sentences. There are many structures in English that students need to remember. If learners lack a firm grasp of grammar, they will encounter numerous challenges in utilizing suitable structures, making it impossible for them to create a completed sentence, which can result in misunderstanding and boredom to others, and even damage their relationship. One more mistake that students often make is applying their mother tongue or first language structures to structures of the foreign language, which is different from their native language (Haryanto, 2007). Indeed, many Vietnamese learners tend to transfer Vietnamese structures into English, and they often string together English words using Vietnamese word order. This is also the main cause of getting obstacles when students use grammar in speaking.

<b>c) Pronunciation </b>

Pronunciation plays an important role for students who want to be good at speaking. If the students have good pronunciation, they can make the message in a conversation easy to understand for the listener and build confidence for the speaker. According to Hornby (2005), “pronunciation is a way in which a language is spoken, a person's way of speaking a language or words of a language”. Besides, the first impression is extremely important when talking with new people. We will know straight away English level of someone by listening to the way they pronounce

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words. They can hide their limited vocabulary and grammar weaknesses, but they cannot hide wrong pronunciation. Gilakjani (2011) emphasized that unintelligible sounds may cause more significant problems than speech with lexical or grammatical errors. This is because issues related to word stress (which part of a word are more heavily stressed that is spoken louder and longer), sentence stress (which part of a sentence can be more heavily stressed), sounds in connected speech (how to link the sounds together in a sentence), and intonation (how speakers' voice rises and falls at a certain point of the sentence) could weaken the communicative competence of second language speakers which leads to unable to understand for listeners what the speakers wish to express. In brief, pronunciation is viewed as more than the correct production of individual sounds or words. It should be an important part of speaking skills, which is incorporated into classroom activities.

<b>2.1.4.2. Psychological difficulties </b>

One of the big problems affecting students' speaking skills is without any doubt a psychological barrier. Although students have learned English for many years and have got a good level of vocabulary or grammar, most of them still have difficulties in using language to speak. It is not only the problems related to linguistics, but it’s also problems related to psychology such as inhibition, motivation, and the inside feelings of speakers.

<b>a) Inhibition </b>

Inhibition is a condition in which someone loses face, worries about making mistakes, and the fear of attracting attention (Ur, 1996). This results in their performance where they make many mistakes in speaking despite having excellent topic knowledge or keeping silent. This problem usually happens when students try to practice in the classroom. Many factors prevent them from doing this in a good way. Littlewood (2007) stated, “It is too easy for a foreign language classroom to create inhibition and anxiety”. The fear of making mistakes is one of the reasons why students are not able to communicate in English. The fear of making mistakes increases when students have to speak to a critical audience. In teaching speaking skills, when teachers ask students to express themselves in front of their classmates, this leads them to express the stress in speaking and even stops them from practicing

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confidently. Moreover, foreign language anxiety restrains students' English performance and impacts their body reactions. When students undergo foreign language anxiety, some may give up the chance to speak English, and others may become too embarrassed to express themselves in English. Hsu (2009) pointed out that students tend to get inhibitions, especially when they are practicing speaking with another person. These students have a conflict between trying to overcome their worry to learn well and avoiding embarrassing themselves before others. If students cannot balance them, they may give up and become passive learners.

<b>b) Motivation </b>

Speaking is not an easy process, and it requires time and effort. It leads us to bring some affective factors to this process, and one of these affective factors is motivation. However, as is evident, lack of motivation still constitutes a serious problem for teachers and students in speaking in classrooms. Some students keep silent when they are asked to practice a given topic. This is because of the lack of motivation to express themselves or they have nothing to say about the given topic. Rivers (1981) said, “The teacher may have chosen a topic which is uncongenial to him or about which he knows very little and as a result, he has nothing to express, whether in the native language or foreign language”. Learners do not have anything to say because they have only some ideas or do not know how to use words or correct the form of sentences. Besides, the learners' motivation is also affected by other people's incentives. For instance, learners with a low level of incentive, who assess their academic potentials as low and who have been forced to learn a language by methods they dislike, will probably not attempt to learn. Moreover, teachers’ negative attitudes toward students and non-supportive classroom environments damage students’ willingness to speak. Teachers' shortage of positive reinforcements, approval, and appreciation of students influence motivation to speak negatively. In short, their motivation can influence their decision to be involved or not in a certain speaking situation in class.

<b>c) Confidence </b>

It is commonly understood that students’ lack of confidence usually occurs when students realize that their conversation partners have not understood them or

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when they do not understand other speakers. In this situation, they would rather keep silent while others are talking, showing that the students lack confidence to speak. In response to this, Nunan (1999) said that students who lack confidence in themselves and their English necessarily suffer from communication apprehension. He and Chen (2010) stated that the main cause of students’ lack of confidence is their low ability to speak English. In this case, as they add, many students think that their English is bad and feel that they cannot speak English well. The other cause of students’ lack of confidence also deals with the lack of encouragement from the teacher (Brown, 2001). In this context, many teachers do not think that convincing students that they can speak English is meaningful. As a result, as Brown (2001) added, students find the learning demotivating rather than motivating. This suggests that encouragement becomes vital to building the students’ confidence. This also means that building students’ confidence is a crucial part of a teacher’s focus of attention. Hence, encouraging students and showing that they will be able to communicate well in English plays a role in students’ learning success.

<b>2.1.4.3. Background knowledge </b>

Background knowledge plays a very significant role in language learning as well as communication but not everyone is aware of that. A person's background knowledge, often called prior knowledge, is a collection of “abstracted residue” (Schallert, 2002) that has been formed from all of our life experiences. Lent (2012) said, “We all, whether as a toddler or a centenarian, bring diverse bits of background knowledge - consciously or subconsciously - to every subsequent experience, and we use them to connect or glue new information to old”. Thus, individuals are better able to recall and elaborate on a topic when they have knowledge about a particular topic (Echevarría, Vogt and Short, 2008). Stevens (1980) also showed that background knowledge quite simply as what one already knows about a subject. For example, when a teacher assigns students any topics to talk about, if they already have some background knowledge about those topics, they can easily express their thoughts, feelings, or ideas fluently, accurately, and effectively without spending a lot of time thinking or searching for information that related to those topics to speak. On the contrary, if students have less or no background knowledge about what they

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are communicating, they can meet difficulties in receiving and answering the speaker’s message. There is no denial that background knowledge is an essential component in learning (Lent, 2012), especially in speaking because of the benefits that bring to our real life. Consequently, students should get more and more knowledge of many topics, fields, and life experiences as possible as they can so that their background knowledge can be improved and their speaking skills are also developed.

<b>2.1.5. Principles for teaching speaking and speaking activities in language classrooms </b>

<b>2.1.5.2. Principles for teaching speaking </b>

Brown (1994) discovers the following teaching speaking concepts, which are extremely useful for teachers while doing speaking exercises in language classes. To begin, the content of teaching should be practical in nature, describing or commenting on real-life circumstances and suitable for the level of students' speaking ability. Second, teachers may encourage students to correct as much as possible by providing appropriate feedback, correction, or motivation, but not by interfering with their desire to communicate. Third, teachers should focus on interactive fluency and accuracy. Furthermore, communication strategies such as asking and answering, using gestures and postures should be used and encouraged to express. Finally, it is extremely beneficial and vital for teachers to assess and study each student's personality in order to inspire the quieter ones to engage in the communication flow. If teachers take these concepts seriously, they will have no trouble teaching speaking abilities. Then they'll be delighted to use them to teach and encourage their students to learn languages.

According to Kang (2013), practicing a foreign language is difficult because most learners study it in their own culture. Allowing learners to speak in language-promoting interactions is an important aspect in foreign language learning. Teachers must generate in students a desire and need to talk. Providing extensive exposure to authentic language through audiovisual stimuli and opportunities to utilize the language may be one strategy to encourage students to speak. Likewise, teachers should integrate strategy instruction into interactive activities, providing a wealth of

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information about communicative strategies to help students identify their own learning styles and customize their strategies to the demands of learning tasks. Because interactive exercises for a range of communicative goals should be manipulative, meaningful, and communicative, they should (1) be based on authentic or naturalistic source materials; (2) enable learners to manipulate and practice specific features of language; (3) allow learners to rehearse, in class, communicative skills they need in the real world; and (4) activate psycholinguistic processes of learning.

To have a better understanding of an efficient speaking activity, Richard (2001) develops three stages of a fundamental speaking activity, which include the following steps:

- Double checking is a step to make sure every student knows what to do. - Practicing the language with the entire class.

- Giving clear signals when to begin and stop.

- Practicing and listening (teachers should circulate to observe or provide immediate assistance to students while they speak and listen, and should always check their comprehension of the matter.)

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- No having interruptions for students. Teachers should carry a piece of paper to take note of the mistakes and do not forget to give feedback and correction to the students.

- Controlling and observing all activities in class (Teachers always make beyond any doubt that it is not as loud and English is spoken.)

<i><b>c) Feedback </b></i>

Feedback plays an important role in teaching language. Students may report to the rest of the course on what they have talked almost in their pairs or bunches. The teachers have to give feedback and correction with any issues that the students are concerned about. They have deep understanding about this with the following concepts:

- The teachers dismiss the class back together. - The teachers ask a pair of students to report back.

- The teachers give feedback or corrections about students’ language practice or pointing out mistakes.

- The teachers express mistakes taken amid practice on the board. - Students attempt to correct them.

- The teachers explain once more in a certain example. - The teachers concentrate on articulation if necessary.

<b>2.1.5.3. Speaking activities in language classrooms </b>

Nowadays, in order to pique learners' interest and encourage them to participate actively in the activities that take place in English classrooms, most teachers have a tendency to shift from a teacher-centered to a learner-centered setting. As a result, learners can participate in a variety of teaching-learning activities in English classrooms. It encourages students to think and work independently in order to excel at the assigned responsibilities. According to Harmer (2007) and Rao (2019), there are numerous different exercises that can be wiped out classroom to assist the learners to develop their speaking skill. Those underneath are a few of the common ones:

<i><b>a) Group discussion </b></i>

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Group discussion is a practice in which students share views on a specific topic with friends. Speaking in a group is essential to learning speaking skill. Students can practice speaking confidently in front of their peers. Public speaking is a skill that students can improve with more practice. Group discussion is also essential for many professional settings, so it helps students for real-world settings.

<i><b>b) Conversation </b></i>

Conversation is a key to language development, the exchange of thoughts and ideas and listening to each other. The key to promoting language competence is encouraging students to engage in conversations. Conversation develops students’ ability to speak fluently and interactively. By creating dialogues in many different topics, it also helps students improve communication skills.

<i><b>c) Role play </b></i>

Role play is an activity where students have to imagine they are in different situations. Two things that can be added in role-play are enjoyable and not intricate. The teacher could build the role-play into a whole-class activity by having all the students act out a public meeting with many speakers. This might be enjoyable but would cut down on the number of speaking time for individuals. Not intricate means not all role-play needs to be so complicated. Role-play is effectives when they are open-ended, so that different students have different views of what the result should be, and agreement has to be reached.

<i><b>d) Debate </b></i>

Debate is another classic that can incorporate pair or group work in which two parties hold different views about the same topic. When debating, students learn to have confidence in the things they’re saying as they’ve prepared well for your topic and know it. As such, students learn to deliver their speech confidently and in a persuasive manner. Having better poise and speech delivery means their speaking skill will be greatly improved.

<i><b>e) Presentation </b></i>

Presentation is an activity in which individual students give a talk on a given topic or person. In order for this to work for an individual (and for the remainder of the class), time must be given for the scholars to assemble information and structure

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it consistently. The supervisor should offer models to help individuals to do this. The students listening to presentations must be given some kind of listening tasks too – including, answering questions, giving feedback.

<i><b>f) Playing games </b></i>

Playing games activities are a vital part of teaching English as a foreign language. Games will liven up the lesson and ensure that students will leave the classroom wanting more. Games can be used to warm up the class before your lesson begins, during the lesson to give students a break, or at the end of class when you have a few minutes left to kill.

<i><b>g) Story-telling </b></i>

Teachers use this technique to create situations and then ask learners to continue the story. The learners are then asked to think logically and provide sentences that are appropriate to the situation. This strategy encourages all learners to contribute at least one sentence toward effectively completing the story. Thus, it is the teachers' responsibility to encourage their students to make as many sentences as possible so that the students' speaking skills, as well as their capacity for imagination, can be greatly enhanced in a pleasant and entertaining atmosphere.

<i><b>h) Sing songs in English </b></i>

Music is often regarded as one of the most effective techniques for developing vocabulary and pronunciation. Additionally, music helps students learn how to speak English rhythm more naturally. Simply by repeating the singer, students might learn to pronounce sentences in the manner of native speakers. Additionally, films appear to be a good option for students to practice their English speaking skills. By watching films, students can practice listening, pronunciation, vocabulary, idioms, and slang. Because songs and films help learners build their speaking abilities, teachers should use this technique in classrooms to help students

<b>improve their speaking skills. </b>

<b>2.2. Previous studies </b>

Previously, many researchers had some related studies in English-speaking problems as well as difficulties that hindered English-majored students in speaking. However, the topics are not completely the same and the participants may be from

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Similarly, the research of Feni (2014) on “The difficulties of learning speaking faced by The second semester students of the English Department at University of Muhammadiyah Malang” was intended to investigate the students’ difficulties in learning speaking. The research design of this study was descriptive qualitative research because the writer only explained the current conditions that happened. The instruments used were questionnaires and interview papers. Moreover, the population in this study was the second-semester students of the English Department at the University of Muhammadiyah Malang consisting of 10 classes. The total of number population was 252 students. The researcher took 25% of 252 students so there were 63 students as the respondents. The findings of this study showed that the students faced some difficulties. The first was the difficulty to speak with the correct structure or grammar. Then, they had difficulties in vocabulary. Besides, they had difficulties in the students’ habit of using the mother tongue that gave effects to the students’ pronunciation, intonation, and accuracy in learning speaking English.

Likewise, the research “Speaking difficulties encountered by Young EFL learners” by Al Hosni (2014) was carried out to investigate some strategies for

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dealing with difficulties that students in basic education schools in Oman encountered in speaking. The present study was a case study. Only one cycle 2 basic education school was chosen as the sample of the study. The population consisted of teachers and students in basic education schools in Oman. Four English teachers and three classes from one school were involved. Three instruments used in this study were lesson observations, interviews, and curriculum analysis. The result showed that the main speaking difficulties encountered by students are linguistic difficulties, mother tongue use, and inhibition.

Natalia (2015) made research “An analysis of students’ problems in speaking English daily language program at Husnul Khotimah Islamic Boarding School”. The goals of the paper are to find the students’ difficulties, the reasons, and the strategies to deal with the problems in speaking English. The study's result showed that students of Husnul Khotimah Islamic Boarding School faced many problems in learning to speak English because of both their internal and external factors. The students also have psychological problems such as lacking motivation. The external factors related to the environment do not support them to implement English in classroom communication.

Another research was done by Al Nakhalah (2016) with the topic “Problems and difficulties of speaking that encounter English language students at Al Quds Open University”. This study aimed at exploring the speaking difficulties encountered by English language students at Al Quds Open University. This study consisted of 14 students randomly, male and female. The researcher used the experimental method to show and measure the speaking difficulties encountered by English language students at Al Quds Open University. The study employed two techniques of collecting data namely observations and interviews. The results showed and indicated some difficulties in the speaking of the students due to some reasons such as fear of mistake, shyness, anxiety, and lack of confidence.

The study was carried out by Kurniawati (2017) namely “A study of speaking class anxiety of the second semester students in English Education Department at Univeritas Islam Negeri Aladdin Makasar”. In the study, the researcher applied a quantitative method to describe the level of students’ speaking anxiety in speaking

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class. According to the result, the majority of students had a medium level of nervousness in their speaking process. In addition, these students tended to have indecisive perception regarding their feelings when they are asked to express their ideas in English language. Moreover, another finding indicated that 40% of students feel low anxiety and only 2% of students feel high anxiety.

Mufidah (2017) conducted the study entitled “Factors affecting the speaking difficulties of the tenth grade Hotel Accommodation students at Vocational High School”. The researcher used a qualitative method in order to know the factors that influenced the students’ difficulties in speaking English. The result of the study indicated that there were some factors that contributed to students' difficulty in speaking process such as affective factor, social factor, instructor factor, facilities factor, linguistic factor.

<b>2.2.2. In Vietnam </b>

Vo, Pham, and Ho (2018) deal with the topic “Challenges to speaking skills encountered by English-majored students: A story of one Vietnamese university in the Mekong Delta”. This study investigated challenges of speaking skills faced by English-majored freshmen in Can Tho University. The findings of the study indicated that English first-year students faced both internal and external challenges, particularly the latter ones related to the limitation of the English practicing environment and extracurricular activities. The researchers recommend students joining English speaking clubs on campus and off-campus to raise speaking skills.

The other study was carried out by Trinh (2019) entitled “A study on difficulties in English speaking skills of the non-major students at Hai Phong Private University”. The study was a descriptive qualitative and quantitative research which aimed to find out the obstacles that students encountered during the speaking process. As a result, the findings of the study showed that quite a number of students (45%) thought that they had difficulty with time to practice. In addition, there were two other difficulties faced in their speaking abilities, namely grammar and pronunciation. Moreover, in addition to three obstacles mentioned, a small percentage of students also had other obstacles when they speak (7%). Some

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In conclusion, speaking is not an easy process, students will have to meet some difficulties that come from subjective as well as objective factors. Despite the growing amount of research supporting the exploration of difficulties in speaking English for improving the foreign language competence, there are still doubts and differences about its effectiveness in distinguished research subjects. Therefore, in this study, the researcher investigates the factors causing difficulties in speaking faced by adult English-majored students at Thu Dau Mot University. Thanks to this, these students cannot only realize their obstacles but can also overcome and develop their communication skills.

<b>Chapter summary </b>

This chapter has given an overview of the literature related to the thesis’s topic as well as the definitions and the discussions of speaking and difficulties in speaking in particular. This literature review also presents some theories related to communicative language teaching and speaking activities in language classrooms.

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