A research on difficulties in speaking skills of first year english majored students at thuongmai university and solutions for improvement

THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY
ENGLISH FACULTY
------

GRADUATION PAPER
Topic:
A RESEARCH ON DIFFICULTIES IN SPEAKING SKILLS
OF FIRST YEAR ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS AT
THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY AND SOLUTIONS FOR
IMPROVEMENT

Supervisor:

Pham Thi Xuan Ha (M.A)

Student:

Trinh Thi Thuong

Class:

K52N3

Student Code: 16D170186

Hanoi, 2019


ABSTRACT
Language is a tool for communication. We communicate with others, to express
our ideas, and to know others’ ideas as well. Communication takes place, where there

is speech. Without speech we cannot communicate with one another. The importance
of speaking skills, hence is enormous for the learners of any language. Without speech,
a language is reduced to a mere script. The thesis willstudy the subjective and
objective difficulties of the students in learning the listeningskill. Then, it would like to
find out the reasons for those problems and the solutions forstudents in learning the
listening skill. Therefore, I applied the qualitative and quantitativemethods to do the
research. So the collecting data instruments like questionnaires,interviews were used to
do the study. The results of the research will point out thedifficulties that students meet
when they learn the listening skill. More importantly, thestudy helps me find out the
causes of those difficulties so that I can work out the right solutions to the problems.
With the hope of improving students’ listening competence.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would first like to thank my advisor Ms. Phạm Thị Xuân Hà in Faculty of
English at Thuongmai University. The door to her office was always open whenever I
ran into a trouble spot or had a question about my research or writing. She consistently
allowed this paper to be my own work but steered me in the right direction whenever
she thought I needed it.
I would also like to thank the 60 first-year English- majored who were involved
in the validation survey for this research project. Without their passionate participation
and input, the validation of survey could not have been successfully conducted.
Finally, I must express my very profound gratitude to my parents and to my
friends for providing me with unfailing support and continuous encouragement
throughout my years of study and through the process of researching and writing this
thesis. This accomplishment would not have been possible without them. Thank you.
Author
Trịnh Thị Thương

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT..................................................................................................................i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................................ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS............................................................................................iii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS......................................................................................v
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES...........................................................................vi
CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY.........................................................1
1.1. Rationale................................................................................................................ 1
1.2. Previous studies.....................................................................................................2
1.3. Aims of the study...................................................................................................4
1.4. Research Subjects.................................................................................................4
1.5. Scope of the study..................................................................................................4
1.6. Method of study.....................................................................................................5
1.6.1. Introduction of the English Faculty of Thuongmai University.......................5
1.6.2. Participants.........................................................................................................5
1.6.1.1. The students.....................................................................................................5
1.6.2.2. The textbook....................................................................................................5
1.6.3. Methods of data collection.................................................................................6
1.6.3.1. Questionnaires.................................................................................................6
1.6 3.2. The interview...................................................................................................6
1.6.4. Method of data analysis.....................................................................................7
1.6.5. Data collection procedure..................................................................................7
1.6.6. Data annalysis and statistics..............................................................................7
1.7. Organization of the study.....................................................................................7
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW...................................................................9
2.1. Overview of speaking............................................................................................9

2.1.1. Definition of speaking........................................................................................9
2.1.2. Speaking Aspects..............................................................................................10
2.1.3. Characteristics of speaking skills....................................................................10
2.1.4. Importance of speaking skills..........................................................................11
2.2. Factors Affecting Speaking Skills......................................................................13
2.3. Difficulties in learning English speaking skills.................................................15
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS..................................................................18
3.1. Questionnaire findings........................................................................................18
3.3.1. Students’ real situations of learning English speaking skills.........................18
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3.1.2. Students’ attitudes toward speaking skills.....................................................19
3.1.3. Difficulty in learning English speaking skills.................................................22
3.1.4. Activities for improving English speaking skills............................................25
3.2. Interview findings...............................................................................................27
3.3. Summary.............................................................................................................28
CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS............................29
4.1. For English faculty and teachers at Thuongmai University............................29
4.2. For first-year English-major students...............................................................32
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................35
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................vii
APPENDIX 1................................................................................................................ x

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
Abbreviations
EFL

ESL
IELTS
L1
L2
TESOL
SLA
TMU

Meaning
English as a Foreign Language
English as a Second Language
International English Language Testing System
First Language
Second Language
Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
Second Language Acquisition
Thuongmai University

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURE
Table 3. 1: The students’ English learning time...........................................................18
YChart 3. 1: The students' assessment of learning the speaking skills.........................19
Chart 3. 2: Students’ interest in learning English speaking..........................................20
Chart 3. 3: Students attitude toward learning English speaking...................................21
Chart 3. 4: The frequency of students speaking and having problems in learning
English speaking skills.................................................................................................22
Chart 3. 5: Frequency of difficulties related to linguistic.............................................23
Chart 3. 6: Students' psychological speaking problems................................................24

Chart 3. 7: The students' assessment of speaking class format.....................................25
Chart 3. 8: Activities for improving English speaking skills........................................26

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CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
1.1. Rationale
English has become a mandatory language in Vietnam since the opening of its
doors to the world in 1986. Many English-speaking foreigners from different countries
started coming to invest in Vietnam. This has motivated Vietnamese people to learn
English to facilitate efficient and effective communication among their counterparts.
The importance of English was immediately acknowledged by the Vietnamese
government and as a result the English language programs were made compulsory
beginning with the secondary schools and subsequently the high schools and finally
university.
The teaching of English in secondary and high schools strongly focus mainly on
grammar, sentence structures and vocabulary. In such a teaching format,
conversational English was not taken into consideration. As a result, the teachers teach
only the necessity which is required to pass the examination and is not linked to the
learning needs of individual students. This has caused students to become demotivated because English is just another subject at school, not part of their life. Many
students eventually fail to see the importance and pride in being able to speak English
fluently. When these students attend the university, they have a lot of dificulties in
learning and practising English speaking skill. They often fall into confusion when
speaking English because lack of knowledge, confidence, and good learning method as
well. Besides, the learning passive environment with the same and boring lessons
without the interesting extra-activities prevent them from practising and improving
English.
As mentioned by Khamkhien (2011), of all four key language skills, speaking is
deemed to be the most important in learning a second or foreign language. According

to Bygate (1897), speaking is typicaly reciprocal: any interlocutors are nomally are
able to contribute simultaneously to the discourse, and respond immediately to each
other’s contribution. Thus, it can be assumed that speaking skills help the English to
carry out its functions of communication. Moreover, it also contributes to
strengthening the listening skills of learners, improving vocabulary and practicing
related skills. Therefore, if Vietnamese students want to be good at English, they have
to practice a lot to improve their speaking skills. However, Vietnamese students in
general, Thuongmai University in particular, still has many difficulties in the process
of learning English particularly in communicating in English.
Consequently, with regard to helping English-majored freshmen learn speaking
skills more effectively, my study “A research on difficulties in speaking skills of
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first-year English-majored students at Thuongmai University and solutions for
improvement.” is aimed to explore the current situation of teaching and learning
English speaking of English-majored students at Thuongmai university in terms of
difficulties and possible measures to tackle such challenges.
1.2. Previous studies
In this part of the study, some previous studies relating to this study will be
reviewed. These studies were carried out to identify the factors affecting students’
speaking performance and students’ speaking problems.
In 2007, Tanveer carried out: “Investigations of the factors that cause language
anxiety for ESL/EFL learners in learning speaking skills and the influence it casts on
communication in the target language.” The research was conducted in the EFL Unit
and Department of Education of the University of Glasgow, United Kingdom. The
subjects were drawn from beginning to advanced levels of learners as well as
experienced ESL/EFL practitioners and teachers. Twenty subjects in total from a range
of nationalities participated in the study. Its major purpose is to find out what are the
factors or sources that make them feel more stressful while speaking English in some

situations than in others. The obtained results indicated that learners’ feeling of stress
and anxiety stop their language learning and performance abilities. The researcher
emphasized that the high anxiety lowers the learners’speaking performance.
In Athena’s research about students’ non linguistic problems in learning English
speaking that was conducted at Probolinggo and took 23 students of the second years
as the sample published in 2004, concluded that the students faced some problems in
learning English speaking, and they had tried some effort to overcome those problems.
To solve the problem related to the students' low motivation and low confidence, the
students tried to keep their motivation by keeping themselves active, trying to motivate
themselves, and learning speaking more creatively by joining English courses and
English conversation clubs. Meanwhile, to solve the problems of unattractive
materials, the students tried to discuss the difficult material to improve their
understanding. Besides, to solve the problem of the ineffective media, the students
suggested that the media must be familiar, appropriate with the topic, and up to date.
The last one, to overcome the method problem, the students suggested the teacher
should apply various methods in teaching English speaking. The instruments used in
her study were questionnaire and interview.
The study “Speaking problems faced by the English department students of
Syiah Kuala University” of Hendra Heriansyah in 2012 discussed the difficulties and
causes perceived by English Department students of Syiah Kuala University in
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learning speaking and the efforts made by them to overcome their difficulties. From
both observation and interview, this study revealed that all students encountered
various difficulties in English speaking ability. The prevalent problem faced by the
students was ‘lack of vocabulary’, while ‘being afraid of making mistakes’ was the
prime cause of problem which hindered them to speak. The students had striven to
cope with their problems in learning speaking, but their attempts had not been yet
ample and successful.

Zhengdong Gan carried out the research “Understanding L2 Speaking
Problems: Implications for ESL Curriculum Development in a Teacher Training
Institution in Hong Kong” in 2012. This paper reports the result of a study that aimed
to identify the problems with oral English skills of ESL students at a tertiary teacher
training institution in Hong Kong. The study, by way of semi-structured interview,
addressed the gap in our understanding of the difficulties ESL students encountered in
their oral English development in the context of a Bachelor of Education (English
Language) programme.Insufficient opportunities to speak English in lectures and
tutorials, lack of a focus on language improvement in the curriculum, and the inputpoor environment for spoken communication in English outside class apparently
contributed to a range of problems that closely related to the sociocultural, institutional
and interpersonal contexts in which individual ESL students found themselves. The
results of the study lead readers to question the effectiveness of the knowledge- and
pedagogy-based ESL teacher training curriculum. They also point to a need to
incorporate a sufficiently intensive language improvement component in the current
teacher preparation program.
There are also a lot of studies and researches conducted by Vietnamese students
and teachers. In 2018, Vo Phuong Quyen, Pham Thi My Nga and Ho Thao Nguyen did
research into “Challenges to speaking skills encountered by English-majored students:
A story of one Vietnamese university in the Mekong Delta”. This study is to
investigate challenges of speaking skills faced by English-majored freshmen in a
Vietnamese university. The data obtained from the questionnaire with 131 students,
individual interviews with lecturers, and class observation. The findings show that
English freshmen faced both internal and external challenges, especially the latter ones
regarding the limitation of English speaking environment and extracurricular activities.
Possible measures are proposed to tackle such challenges in helping students speak
English more effectively.
The research “Factors affecting students’ speaking performance at Le Thanh
Hien High School” of Nguyen Hoang Tuan and Tran Ngoc Mai was to investigate the
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speaking problems of the students at Le Thanh Hien High School and the factors
affecting their speaking performance. The subjects of the study were two hundred and
three grade 11 students and ten teachers of English. The research instruments used in
this study were questionnaires and class observation. Based on the research findings
some recommendations were made. The results of the study indicate that the students
faced many problems. For example: they spoke very little or not at all; they could not
think of anything to say; they used Vietnamese instead of English when they discuss in
groups or in pairs; they had a habit of translate the information in the textbook into
Vietnamese before they speak. The results also show that there were many factors
affecting students speaking performance such as topical knowledge; listening ability;
motivation to speak; pressure to perform well.
1.3. Aims of the study
With the hope of improving speaking skills of first-year English-majored
students at Thuongmai University, the general objective of the study is to exploring the
speaking difficulties in learning English speaking skill, specifically it aims to:
First and foremost, the study will improve and develope students' skills,
techniques and procedures of speaking so as to enrich and assist the students’ ability of
speaking skills.
Secondly, students can adopt suitable speaking skills strategies.
Thirdly, this research will help students to learn a wide range of speaking skills,
including how to speak accurately and proficiently.
Last but not least, it will bring and draw students to a level of practical
proficiency that enable them to be linguistically and analytically equipped to complete
extended speaking skills and increasing their confidence in practicing speaking skills.
It should be noted that this paper should not be considered exclusive to firstyear English-major students at TMU. In fact, the fundamental concepts and results of
this paper can be applied to most English learners.
1.4. Research Subjects
In this research, the research subjects are difficulties in speaking English for the
first-year English-major students at TMU.

1.5. Scope of the study
There are many different material resources and researchers that require a lot of
time and effort while my personal experience is limited. Morever, to prevent
misperception and misunderstanding this study can only focus on difficulties in
speaking skill of first-year English major at TMU

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I hope that this study is a good reference material for the English-major as well
as all students who wish to tackle difficulties in speaking English.
1.6. Method of study
1.6.1. Introduction of the English Faculty of Thuongmai University
Faculty of English at Thuongmai University, originally Department of Foreign
Languages, was established under Decision No. 481/TM-TCHC dated June 28, 2007.
Currently, the faculty has 40 experienced teachers of English whose ages range from
29 to 40. All of them graduated from the English Department-The College of Foreign
Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University. 39 of them have
got Master of Linguistics and TESOL. Thanks to the great efforts of the officers and
lecturers, the Faculty has made some remarkable achievements during its
development.
Thuong Mai University is not the university which focuses on foreign language
studies. Since its establishment, the Faculty has been determined to manage the
specialty of Business English under English major. The Faculty has so far trained 6
cohorts of Business English with over 1,000 graduates. The students’s academic
results at entrance examination are pre-intermediate. The levels of English proficiency
of the students of English faculty at Thuong Mai University are generally different.
Most of the students come from rural areas with a little chance for speaking English.
As a result, when they enter university, it is quite difficult for them to become
confident in speaking English as expected.

1.6.2. Participants
1.6.1.1. The students
This research was carried out at Thuongmai University with the participation of
60 first-year English-major students in Faculty of English. They aged from 18 to 19.
They were in K55N and in the first semester of their academic year 2019-2020 at
Thuongmai University. A large number of them have learnt English for 7 years (4
years at secondary school and 3 years at high school). However, their English
backgrounds were quite similar because most of them come from different rural areas
in the North and under being influence of curriculum of English for high school
students in the past, students did not have many chances to practice English skills.
Thus, when entering Thuongmai University, their English levels were limited and they
have to face up with many difficulties in studying.
1.6.2.2. The textbook
English-major student at Thuongmai University will be taught four skills during
four year study period. Speaking syllabus is designed to help student develop English
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speaking competence accurately and fluently. By the end of the course, students will
have enough ability to communicate effectivly in job-related situations and daily life
as well as build and maintain good relationships with other people.
The textbook for first-year students of Faculty of English is Get Ready for
IELTS Speaking. This is a good book powered by Cobuild. There are 12 units with 12
interesting topics which will help students improve their English listening
comprehension.
1.6.3. Methods of data collection
Two main instruments used in this study are self-created questionnaire,
consisting 11 statements and interviews.
1.6.3.1. Questionnaires
The questionnaire is designed for students because the researcher finds them

easy to summarize and analyze the collected data. Questionnaires for students consist
of small 11 questions which are specified in the three research questions. Therefore,
the survey questionnaires for students is delivered to 60 first-year English-majored
students of K55N at Faculty of English, Thuongmai University to find information for
the three research questions. Among the 10 small questions, the first part are designed
for collecting general information of students, questions of part II aim at finding out
the students’ attitudes towards English speaking skills; questions from part III mainly
seek for the current techniques of learning English speaking sentences for first - year
students of K53 at Faculty of English, Thuongmai University. To guarantee the
reliability and the validity of the results, the questionnaires for learners were directly
distributed for learners of K55N during their break time in the class and collected right
away. That meant these learners could pay most attention to answer 10 the questions
related to what they had just experienced. Before asking the learners to do the survey
questionnaire, the researcher briefly stated the purpose and significance of the study
and clarified any misunderstanding about the survey questions. Beside the written
instructions on the handout, the instructions and explanations in Vietnamese were
presented to avoid any ambiguity. In the end, there were 60 students participating in
giving responses to the survey questionnaires.
1.6 3.2. The interview
An interview was carried out with 3 students in 2 classes of K55 in Faculty of
English at Thuongmai University. All of them agree to help the researcher helpfully
and comfortably. This aimed to collect students’ ideas about the factors affecting the
English listening skill and suggestions to improve them. After the interview, based on
the interview results the researcher analyze the data. The interview results were
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recorded carefully. The interview data analysis were presented with the collected data
from the questionnaire in each part.
1.6.4. Method of data analysis

Information collected from response of first-year English-majored students in
the questionnaire and was analyzed statistically in order to get the answers for the
research questions.
1.6.5. Data collection procedure
In this stage, the data collection in the study is derived from students who are
English-majored in the fisrt year at Faculty of English. To collect information about
the issues of learning English speaking skilla of fisrt year English major students at
Thuongmai University, first of all, 60 copies of survey questionnaires were handed out
to students. In addition, three others tudents were also invited for the interview. When
the data collection was accomplished, the data analysis was initiated.
1.6.6. Data annalysis and statistics
All of the information gathered through questionnaire and interview answers
were organized quantitatively (using percentages and numbers) and qualititively. The
data obtained from the interview were analyzed qualitatively to help the results of the
study more anh more reliablely and accurately.
The data analysis from the questionnaire involve some steps, they are follow:
Step 1: Identifying the problems faced by the students in learning speaking
Step 2. Finding the way how the students minimize the problems in learning
English
Step 3: Analyzing the data after being identified. To get the percentage of each
item questionnaire, the researcher used the formula as stated below:
P = N/ F X 100%
P= the percentage of students problem
F= the number of frequency of the respondents answer
N= the number of respondent
1.7. Organization of the study
A table of contents with pages numbers in which they are presented will help
readers have a clear overview of the research proposal. It also makes readers feel easy
to find the part they need more easily and quickly. This study divided into four
chapters which are included as follow:

Chapter 1: Overview of the study offers a glimpse into content of the study. In
this chapter, the reason for choosing this research will be the most important part.

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Besides, the others are the aim, previous studies, research method and organization of
the study as well.
Chapter 2: Literature part provides the theoretical background for the research.
The purpose of this chapter is to provide foundation of knowledge on topic, gain an
understanding of the existing research and debates relevant to a particular topic or area
of study, and present that knowledge in the form of a written report.
Chapter 3: Research finding plays a key role in this study. This chapter refers to
the analysis and the findings obtained from the survey questionnaires and interviewing
students at Thuongmai University to find out the necessary information and discuss the
findings from the survey.
Chapter 4: Recommendations and suggestions.
Conclusion will summarize the findings of the research and draw the
contributions of the research as well as address main limitations.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Overview of speaking
2.1.1. Definition of speaking
There are many definitions of speaking according to experts.
Speaking is defined as an interactive process of constructing meaning that
involves producing, receiving and processing information by Burns & Joyce (1997).
Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, the participants,

and the purposes of speaking.
According to Tarigan (1981), speaking is a form of human behavior that utilizes
very intense physical, psychological, neurological, semantic and linguistic factors.
Furthermore, Tarigan (1986) argues that speaking is the ability of a person to
pronounce articulation sounds or words that aim to express, express and convey the
thoughts, ideas, and feelings of the person.
While Brown and Yule in Nunan (1989) argue that speech is to use an oral
language consisting of a short, incomplete or fragmented utterance in the sphere of
pronunciation. The pronunciation is closely related to the reciprocal relationship made
between the speaker and the listener.
Djago Tarigan (1995) develops the idea that speaking is a skill to convey the
message through spoken language. The link between the message and the spoken
language as the medium of delivery is very heavy. The message received by the listener is
not in the original form, but in another form that is the sound of a language. The listener
then tries to divert the message in the form of the language into its original form.
Bygate (1987) quoted that: "Speaking is the vehicle par excellence of social
solidarity, of social ranking, of professional advancement and business. It is also the
medium through which much language is learnt, and which for many is particularly
conductive for learning. Perhaps, then, the teaching of speaking merits more thought."
For Brown (2001), he cites that when someone can speak a language it means
that he can carry on a conversation reasonably competently. In addition, he states that
the benchmark of a successful acquisition of language is almost always the
demonstration of an ability to accomplish pragmatic goals through an interactive
discourse with other language speakers.
From some definitions above it can be concluded that speaking skill is always
related to communication. Speaking skill itself can be stated as the skill to use the
language accurately to express meanings in order to transfer or to get knowledge and
information from other people in the whole life situation.
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2.1.2. Speaking Aspects
A speaker should determine some aspects of speaking when they want to speak.
Brown (2001) stated there are four aspects of speaking that the student could
consider in speaking, they are:
 Pronunciation
Pronunciation refers to the problem of sounds that we used to make meaning. It
includes attention to the particular sounds of a language (segments), aspects of speech
beyond the level of the individual sound. Such as intonation, phrasing, stress, timing,
rhythm (suprasegmental aspects), how the voice is projective (voice quality), and in its
broadest definition, attention to gesture and expressions that are closely related to the
way we speak a language.
 Grammar
Grammar is one of the important language components in learning a language.
Speakers and writers can communicate and convey their messages clearly and
meaningfully because of their ability and understanding of grammar.
 Fluency
Fluency is the area of language ability which related to the speed and ease with
which a language learners performers in one of four core language skills of speaking,
listening, reading, and writing. Although the concept of fluency relates to all four
language skills, it tends to be most closely associated with speaking.
 Vocabulary
Vocabulary is the knowledge of words and word of meaning. However,
vocabulary is more complex than this definition suggests. First, words come in two
forms: oral and print. Oral vocabulary includes those words that we recognize and use
in listening and speaking. Print vocabulary includes those words that we recognize and
use in reading and writing. Second, word knowledge also comes in two forms,
receptive and productive. Receptive vocabulary includes words that we recognize
when we hear or see them. Productive vocabulary includes words that we used when
we speak or write. Receptive vocabulary is typically larger than productive vocabulary

and may include many words to which we assign some meaning, even we don’t know
their full definitions and connotations or ever use them ourselves as we speak and
write. The researcher uses the speaking aspect above in assessing students’ perception
in speaking skills.
2.1.3. Characteristics of speaking skills

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Speaking in a second or foreign language has often been viewed as the most
demanding of the four skills. When attempting to speak, learners must concentrate
their thoughts and encode their ideals in vocabulary and syntactic structures of the
target language.
According to Kathleen M. Bailey and Lance Savage (1994), depending on the
formality and importance of the speech situations as well as their own linguistic
propensities, learners may also attend to monitor their output (speaking skills).
These two linguists also add that in conversation and other interactive speech
events, the speakers must attend to the feedback from their interlocutors and observe
the rules of discourse used in the target culture. Phonological considerations add
difficulties to the task, especially for adult learners, as speakers strive to achieve
“good” pronunciation. The speed of such interaction is also an issue because they may
not be adequate time for processing either outgoing speech or incoming messages at
the typical rate of native speaker interaction.
Bygate quotes from Levelt (1989, edited in Carter and Nunan, 2001) that
speech production involves four major processes: conceptualisation, formulation,
articulation, and self-monitoring. These processes happen very fast and the former
three are more or less automatic in L1 speakers. According to Bygate, speaking skills
are also affected by the context. Speaking is reciprocal, people can respond to each
other immediately. He also indicated that people can participate in the same oral
interaction except for the varieties of equal speaking rights. Moreover, speaking is

physically situated face-to-face interaction and speakers have to decide on their
message without taking time to check it over.
2.1.4. Importance of speaking skills
Speaking is generally thought to be the most important of the four skills.
Indeed, one frustration commonly voiced by learners is that they have spent years
studying English, but still they cannot speak it.
There are numerous daily life situations where people need speaking, such as
talking to someone face to face, communicating through the phone, answering
questions, asking for directions, in shops, meetings or chatting with their friends, to
name a few. People spend a great deal of their time interacting with more people and,
each of these situations requires a different register according to the formality of the
moment.
The aims of language teaching courses are commonly defined in relation to the
four language skills: listening, reading, speaking and writing. Depending on the
language user’s activity, Widdowson (1978) groups them into receptive and productive
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ones. Reading and listening belong to receptive skills, whereas speaking and writing
are classified as productive skills. Effective foreign language learning necessitates
assimilation of all the four skills, hence SLA seems to be both quite a complicated and
time-consuming process. Speaking and writing are called productive skills because
they involve language production. While uttering sounds gives a chance to
communicate orally, writing skills enable people to communicate in a written form.
Nevertheless, Penny Ur (1996) in her book titled “A course in language teaching”,
indicates of all the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), speaking
seems intuitively the most important: people who know a language are referred to as
“speakers” of that language, as if speaking included all other kinds of knowing; and
many if not most foreign languages learners are primarily interested in learning to
speak.

Lindsay and Knight (2006) notes that we speak for many reasons: to be
sociable, because we want something, because we want other people to do something,
to do something for someone else, to respond to someone else, to express our feelings
or opinion about something, to exchange information, to refer to an action or event in
the past, present, or future, the possibility of something happening, and so on.
As stated by Ishrat Aamer Qureshi (2017) language is a tool for
communication. We communicate with others, to express our ideas, and to know
others’ ideas as well. Communication takes place, where there is speech. Without
speech, we cannot communicate with one another. The importance of speaking skills
hence is enormous for the learners of any language. Without speech, a language is
reduced to a mere script. The use of language is an activity that takes place within the
confines of our community. We use language in a variety of situations. People at their
workplaces, i.e. researchers working either in a medical laboratory or in a language
laboratory, are supposed to speak correctly and effectively in order to communicate
well with one another. Any gap in commutation results in misunderstandings and
problems.
For the smooth running of any system, the speakers of a language need to be
especially and purposefully trained in the skill of speaking.
In order to become a well-rounded communicator one needs to be proficient in
each of the four language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing, but the
ability to speak skillfully, provides the speaker with several distinct advantages. The
capacity to express one’s thoughts, opinions, and feelings, in the form of words put
together in a meaningful way, provides the speaker with these advantages. The joy of
sharing one’s ideas with others is immense. When we speak to others we come to have
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a better understanding of ourselves, as Robert Frost once said: ‘‘I am a writer of books
in retrospect, I talk in order to understand, I teach in order to learn.’’ Undoubtedly,
clarity in speech reflects clear thinking.

An effective speaker can gain the attention of the audience and hold it until the
completion of his message. Speaking skills are important for career success, but
certainly not limited to one’s professional aspirations. Speaking skills can also enhance
one’s personal life.
2.2. Factors Affecting Speaking Skills
While speaking reveals the knowledge of language and society that a person
possesses. It is affected by a number of factors, which may promote or limit a person’s
ability to express himself or herself. In this study, the affecting factors are listening
ability, topical knowledge, use of mother tongue, classroom environment, linguistic
factors, affective factors, and roles of the teacher.
 Listening ability
Listening plays an important role in the development of speaking abilities.
Actually, speaking is very closely related to listening. Doff (1998) says that learners
cannot improve their speaking ability unless they develop their listening skills.
Learners should comprehend what is uttered to them in order to have a successful
dialogue. Shumin (1997) observed that when students talk, the other students respond
through attending by means of the listening process. That is to say, speakers have to
play the role of both listeners and speakers.
 Topical knowledge
Bachman and Palmer (1996) believe that topical knowledge has a great effect
on the speaking performance of the learners. The type of topic under discussion
influences the ease of language use, to a great extent. One’s lack of knowledge,
interest, and preparation for a certain topic can greatly influence one’s perceived
competence. Having enough knowledge about a certain topic and being familiar with
the register enhance one’s linguistic self-confidence, while a lack of knowledge about
a topic and its appropriate register result in one’s avoiding communication (MacIntyre,
Clément, Dörnyei & Noels 1998).
 Use of mother tongue
When all the learners share the same mother tongue they tend to use it more
than the target language. This results in code-switching. Inadequate vocabulary

repertoire and weak sentence building skills may be the reasons.
 Classroom Environment

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Classroom environment plays a significant role in making a student take part in
speaking activities. The atmosphere of the class, the size of the class, the arrangement
of seats and many other class-related factors affect the motivation of the students. A
conducive and co-operative environment proves to be supportive for learners. It has
been observed that students are usually happier and more active in a small class.
Teachers pay more attention to each pupil and learners get more involved in the
speaking activities On the other hand, mixed ability class is another factor which
hinders the language acquisition process. In these classes, the strong and quick learners
are often seen to be dominating the weak learners.
 Linguistic factors
Linguistic factors include several features like pronunciation, grammar, and
vocabulary. According to (Latha, 2012), grammatical competence can help learners
apply and perceive the structure of the English language correctly that will lead them
to their fluency. It has also been observed that learners find it difficult to transfer the
correct grammar to their speaking. (Larsen-Freeman, 2001). Pronunciation also plays
an important role in speaking. Mispronouncing a single sound or wrong use of stresses
and intonations can cause misunderstandings. Exposure to a variety of vocabulary is
essential for speaking. ESL learners often have to search for an appropriate word that
fits into the context/content. As their receptive vocabulary is limited, they can hardly
put the “receptive vocabulary knowledge into productive use”. (Nation, 2001)
 Affective factors
The affective factors related to speaking are anxiety, shyness, self-esteem,
motivation, fear of making mistakes, lack of interest and many more. Anxiety is the
affective factor that "most pervasively obstructs the learning process (Arnold &

Brown, 1999). Worrying about being "wrong, stupid, or incomprehensible" (Brown,
2001) completely ruins learners' speaking performance. Most of ESL learners are
nervous in class (Liu, 2006), especially when they are asked to speak in class without
any readiness. “Too much nervousness makes learners tongue-tied or lost for words”
(Shumin, 2002) which completely affects their achievement in foreign/second
language classroom (Zhang & Jia, 2006). They are shy of the attention that their
speech attracts. They are also worried about being criticized or losing face in front of
the rest of the class. The result is that they either make a lot of mistakes in spite of
having a good knowledge of the topic or they totally keep silent. ESL learners should
be motivated to speak bravely in order to improve their speaking competence because
"motivation is probably the most important factor that educators can target in order to
improve learning" (Olson, 1997) and "the expenditure of effort to accomplish results"
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(DuBrin, 2008). Motivation is one of the factors that influence success or failure in
learning a language, particularly a second language or foreign language (Gardner,
2006). In the same lines, Petty (1998) argued that if students do not want to learn, their
learning efficiency will be slow such that they may learn virtually nothing. Making
mistakes is a natural process of learning a language but it causes potential threat to
one’s ego. These threats disappoint the learners to talk in English. Learners believe
that it is not possible to achieve fluency or mastery of the language. This lack of
confidence prevents them from learning the speaking skills. Eventually they lose
interest and give up.
 Role of teachers
The vital role the teacher plays in making learners willing or unwilling to speak
cannot be ignored. If a teacher pays equal attention to all members of the class,
encourages everybody to take part in classroom discussions and activities, and gives
enough time to students to participate, he or she can considerably enhance the
students’ willingness to speak. The teachers should build an excellent rapport with

their students. It is the duty of the teachers to make the learners aware that making
mistakes is a learning process. Teachers should turn their fears into challenges and
challenges into success by introducing many interesting and engaging activities in the
classroom. Teaching and learning can be more meaningful if they integrate many
elements in their approaches.
2.3. Difficulties in learning English speaking skills
Speaking is one of the most difficult skills language learners have to face. In
spite of this, it has traditionally been faced into the background while we, teachers of,
have spent all our classroom time trying to teach students how to write, to read, and
sometimes even to listen in a L2 because grammar has a long written tradition.
(Bueno, Madrid and Mclaren, 2006).
Brown (1994) labels speaking as the most challenging skill for students because of the
set of features that characterize oral discourse:
 Contractions, vowel, reductions, and elision;
 The use of slang and idioms:
 Stress, rhythm, and intonation;
 The need to interact with at least one other speaker.
The most difficult aspect of spoken English is that it is always accomplished via
interaction with at least one other speaker and this one reason why many of us were
shocked and disappointed when we used our second or foreign language for the first

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time in real interaction: we had not been prepared for spontaneous communication and
could not cope with all of its simultaneous demands.
Speaking is an “activity requiring the interaction of many subsystems … all
these factors combine to make speaking a second or foreign language a formidable
task for language learners … yet for many people, speaking is seen as the central skill”
(Bailley and Savage, 1994).

In addition, Rababa (2015) pointed out that there are many factors that cause
difficulties in speaking English among EFL learners. Some of these factors are related
to the learners themselves, the teaching strategies, the curriculum, and the
environment. For example, many learners lack the necessary vocabulary to get their
meaning across, and consequently, they cannot keep the interaction going. Inadequate
strategic competence and communication competence can be another reason for not
being able to keep the interaction going.
Some learners also lack the motivation to speak English. They do not see a real
need to learn or speak English. Actually “Motivation is a crucial force which
determines whether a learner embarks in a task at all, how much energy he devotes to
it, and how long he preserves”. The development of communicative skills can only
take place if learners have the motivation and opportunity to express their own identity
and relate with the people around them (Littlewood, 1981).
“Language is best learned when learners’ attention is focused on understanding,
saying and doing something with language, and not when their attention is focused
explicitly on linguistic features” (Kumarvadivelu, 2003).
Littlewood (1981) argued that some teachers use L1 for class management.
Nevertheless, this can be another factor that contributes to the problem of speaking
difficulties. This is because using L1 means sacrificing valuable opportunities for
well-motivated foreign use. In addition, it tends to devalue the foreign language as a
vehicle for communication. Learners see it as allocated to communicatively
nonessential such as drills or dialogue practice medium for discussing matters of
immediate importance. Another main reason for other teachers to use L1 is vocabulary
and grammar. Although their attitudes are of disagreement with L1, this is not reflected
in their practice.
Dil (2009) has investigated Turkish EFL learners’ communication obstacles in
English language classrooms, and it reported that anxiety and unwillingness during the
English speaking process are caused by fear of being negatively evaluated when
making mistakes, particularly in front of their friends. This study also revealed that
students who perceive their English as “poor” feel more anxious and are more

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unwilling to communicate in English classes than other students perceiving their
English level one as “very good, good, and O.K”.
Al Lawati (1995) also investigated the difficulties encountered by Omani
students in their oral production of English and found out that the linguistic domain
(vocabulary), grammar, pronunciation, and discourse)constitutes the most serious area
of difficulty, and this is because, as explained by teachers, the learners have not yet
developed an adequate level in the basic abilities of language. This is because they
think of curriculum that does not provide enough opportunities for learning and
practicing new and varied vocabulary and does not provide enough variety in tasks
designed for the speaking skill, especially with a large number of students in a class. In
2002, findings in her study where students reported giving special attention to writing,
reading, and listening tasks that are similar to exam items, and both teachers and
students reported that they gave the least attention to speaking tasks in the textbook
because speaking is completely excluded from exams.
Ambu and Saidi (1997) investigated some issues in teaching English speaking
in a foreign language class room and revealed that the huge number of the students in
the classroom, the insufficiency of the English teaching periods, and the syllabus that
does not satisfy the learners’ communication needs are the main reasons for learners’
speaking difficulties.
Al Abri (2008) argued that the lack of oral activities in textbooks is a strong
reason for students’ difficulties in speaking, and thus he recommended including some
oral activities in the conversational dialogue to enable students to have more fun and
enjoy learning to improve their speaking skills.

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CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS
In order to get information to fulfill the aims of the study, the survey
questionnaire was designed. The questionnaire was administered to 60 students at
TMU. They are male and female students who were randomly chosen from first-year
English-major students. Most of them aged from 18 to 20. I delivered the
questionnaire to those students in order to investigate the problems facing the learning
of English speaking skills of the first-year students at TMU because there are many
changes in learning English in the stage of moving from high school to university.
Therefore, learning speaking skills of the first-year English students is paid most
attention to. The main methods in this section to collect data are the 3 interview
questions and the survey questionnaire which consists of 10 questions for the first-year
English-major students at Thuongmai University. The answers to these questions will
help us to understand the students’ difficulties and limitations of students, especially
the first-year English major students since then propose teaching strategies and
activities to overcome them and enhance teaching and learning speaking skills.
3.1. Questionnaire findings
The 60 copies of the questionnaire were delivered to the learners. The data were
analyzed in this part of the study in the below tables and charts which show the
responses for the questions in the questionnaires.
3.3.1. Students’ real situations of learning English speaking skills
Question: How long have you been learning English?
Duration of English
Number of students
Percentage
learning
Less than 7 years
3
5%
7 years
42

70%
More than 7 years
15
25%
Table 3. 1: The students’ English learning time
In the part of personal information, most of the students come from rural areas.
It means that many of them started learning English when they attend high school (7
years learning English) and did not have much chance to practice English skills in high
school. That number of students account for 70%. The percentage of students (5%)
who learn English less than 7 years comes from the mountainous area. Because they
have more privilege than other people, learners (25%) living in the city or town
usually learn English when they were small. As a result, their ability in speaking skills
is also better. To catch up with students in the big city, students coming from the rural
and mountainous area have to study very hard.

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