Difficulties in english speaking skill of thuongmai university’s majored english freshmen and solutions

ABSTRACT
The study “Difficulties in English Speaking Skill of Thuongmai University’s
Majored English Freshmen and Solutions” would provide background about English
and English speaking. The paper also indicates some problems and difficulties that
English learners have to encounter when speaking English. Based on given theories
and previously relate studies, the paper conducts a survey and makes a questionnaire to
interview English major freshmen. After data collection process, the study analyzes
and indicates the importance of English speaking to major freshmen. Besides, the
actual English speaking level of freshmen is shown in this paper as well. The study
shows the frequency of learning English speaking of freshmen and the main way that
most of freshmen apply when they practice speaking English. Afterwards, the study
shows the advantages and disadvantages in their learning ways and finds out some
main difficulties and problems they face to. Then, to each difficulty and problem, the
paper provides some solutions to deal with, solutions for students and for TMU as
well. The study hopes that these solutions would help major freshmen in particular and
English learners in general aware of the suitable ways to master English speaking.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In the process of completing this research paper, I have received a great deal of
help, guidance and encouragement from many teachers, friends and my family.
First of all, I would like to express my deepest thanks to Ms.Hoang Tho, my
supervisor for her constant and tireless support through this study. My sincere thanks
also go to other teachers in English Faculty for their lectures and instructions during
the four years which helps me much in completing this study. Especially, I am
profoundly grateful to all the members in my family and friends, who always beside
me, supporting time to complete this study.

Finally, I wish to thank all those who have kindly given their advice and helped
me with source material during the writing of this study.
Ha Noi, December 1st 2019
Trinh Thi Tuyet

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
TMU

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THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

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CHAPTER 1. OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
1.1.

Rationale
Nowadays, English language becomes gradually more important while the
integration process is developing. The exchanges in technology, science, economy…
are frequently promoted, especially in education. The using of different languages
becomes a major barrier in exchanging process. The ability to communicate in another
language is the target of many people who want to learn new languages in common
and English in particular. Therefore, speaking skill plays an essential role in learning
English process. If they can master this skill, it means they master that language.
However, English learners have to face with many difficulties in learning
process, especially in speaking skill. Some students who focus on learning grammar
and their grammar is good but they cannot speak English frequently. Some students
have an abundant vocabulary range but they still have trouble when communicating
with foreigners. In other hand, some students master listening, reading and writing and
some of them get some English certificates such as Toeic. However, they cannot speak
English well and cannot communicate with foreign people.
English is very important so it is one of significant subjects and one of the
common languages being taught at universities, including Thuongmai University.
Thuongmai university attaches great importance to English education. However, many
Thuongmai students still have difficulty in speaking English. Many students have
trouble with English, especially when they have presentation in English. Their
studying result cannot improve because of English. Some of them cannot compel their
studying because of English. Some of them, after graduating, cannot have any
opportunities of working with foreigners, working for a foreign company because they

cannot communicate in English frequently.
There are quite many researchers on learning English speaking skill and
difficulties in learning this skill. However, there are still few researchers about
difficulties in learning speaking skill by students at TMU, especially by English major
students although it is a quite big university in Vietnam. I used to be a English major
student at this university, I would like to carry out a research to find out the common

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difficulties in learning this skill by those students in order to help them to improve the
situation in next semesters.
For these above reasons, the researcher decided to choose the study “Difficulties
in English Speaking Skill of Thuongmai University’s Majored English Freshmen
and Solutions” with the aim of finding out difficulties that Thuongmai, majored
English freshmen have to face with and providing some solutions to deal with them.
The study hopes that this research paper will be a useful reference helping improve
speaking English skill not only for the first-year- students at Thuong mai but also all
Vietnamese people who want to master English.
1.2.

Previous studies
In fact, there are many studies about speaking English skill topics.
Boonkit (2010) carried out a study on the factors increasing the development of
learners’ speaking skill. The results represented that the use of appropriate activities
for speaking skill can be a good strategy to decrease speakers’ anxiety. The results also
revealed that the freedom of topic choice urged the participants to feel comfortable,
persuaded to speak English, and increased the speaking confidence among EFL

learners.
Ali Dincer and Savas Yesilyurt (2013) carried out a study towards teachers’
beliefs on speaking skills based on motivational orientations. The results of their study
indicated that the teachers had negative opinions about speaking instruction though
they believed that it was of great significance in speaking skill. The results also
revealed that the teachers felt unskilled in oral communication though they had various
motivational orientations towards speaking English. The researchers indicated that that
learners have different opinions about the significance of speaking skill in English
language and this difference is related with the learners’ motivational orientations and
their competent/incompetent feelings in speaking skill. The results demonstrated that
learners’ self-assessment about their speaking skill was negative and they expressed
themselves as incapable speakers of English. Just some of them expressed that they
had a good position in taking part in speaking tasks.
Tanveer (2007) examined the factors caused anxiety for learners in learning
speaking ability and the impact of anxiety on target language communication. The
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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.
Eissa, Misbah, and Najat (1988) performed a study towards the difficulties of
using English as a means of instruction and communication. The results of this study
displayed that learners had many difficulties in using English language as a means of
instruction. A lot of participants stated that their learners have low English proficiency.
The results also indicated that a lot of learners faced serious difficulties in
understanding the lectures’ content without translating or applying L1 to deliver the
content of the lectures.

Urrutia and Vega (2010) demonstrated that learners’ oral performance was
influenced by their lack of vocabulary, diffidence, and fear of being despised. It was
also indicated that learners’ cooperation, self-confidence, vocabulary knowledge, and
the class environment encouraged them to improve their speaking skills.
Zhengdong Gan 2012, this paper reports the result of a study that aimed to
identify the problems with oral English skills of ESL (English as a second language)
students at a tertiary teacher training institution in Hong Kong. The study, by way of
semi-structured interview, addresses 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) program. Insufficient opportunities to
speak English in lectures and tutorials, lack of a focus on language improvement in the
curriculum, and the input-poor 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 us 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
Bozorgian (2012) investigated the relationship between listening skill and the
other language skills. The results revealed that there is a close correlation between

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listening comprehension and language proficiency. That is, the higher the listening
score, the better the speaking score.
Lukitasari (2003) carried out a study towards learners’ strategies in overcoming
their speaking problems. The results obtained from this study show that learners face a

lot of speaking difficulties such as inhibition, nothing to say, low participation, and
mother tongue use in their speaking classes. The other result of this study demonstrate
that learners did not better their speaking skill because they had not learnt three
components of speaking called vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.
The study “How to improve student’s speaking English skill” of Ho Minh Thu
gave some common difficulties that students have to face with. However, the study
doesn’t provide any detail solutions for that. And this paper just focused on students
who are major in economics and technical engineering so the reasons in this study are
not particular for every students.
1.3.

Aims of the study
The study analyzes difficulties in English speaking skills of Thuongmai
university’s English major freshmen to find out the answers for the following
questions:
1. “What difficulties do students in TMU encounter when they learn to speak English?”
2. “What are possible causes leading to difficulties in learning speaking skills of the first

year students in TMU?”
3. “What are possible solutions to the problems?”
The study is carried out with the following purposes:
Firstly, the study provides the background theories of speaking skill that helps the
readers wrap up the basic knowledge of speaking. Based on the given theories, the
readers would understand deeply the context of the study.
Secondly, the study provides the results and the limitations of the previous study
related to the topic. From that the paper shows the importance of researching this topic
and find out other difficulties and solutions to help freshmen improve their English
speaking skill.
Thirdly, the study conducts a survey to all first year students at Thuongmai
university. Afterwards, summarizes the main difficulties that most students face with.

The paper will evaluate each factor and give solutions for each difficulty.
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Then, the study brings and draws students to a level of practical proficiency that
will enable them to be linguistically and analytically equipped to complete extended
speaking skills and increasing their confidence in practicing speaking skills.
Finally, it should be noted that this paper shouldn’t be considered exclusive to
majored English freshmen at Thuongmai University. In fact, the fundamental concepts
and results of this paper can be applied to most English learners.
1.4.

Research Subjects
Research subject: 350 English major freshmen at TMU
Freshmen who are finished high school just enrolled in a university after an
important examination. They are from many different places and Thuongmai freshmen
as well. The –first – year students at Thuongmai University come from a lot of
different provinces in the country, from differently previous high school with different
studying conditions. However, they have the similarity in learning English. At high
school, they focus on learning grammar to overcome the examinations. But, when they
come to the university- the totally different studying environment, they have to deal
with many troubles. In the university, they have to talk, they have to make
presentations in English that they never experience when they are at high school.
Therefore, many students suffer a crisis named English, speaking English in fact.
Therefore, I analyze this topic with the hope that this study can show the English
speaking reality of freshmen at Thuongmai University and providing some practical
solutions to them. Freshmen are just enrolled in a university, they just access to a new
studying environment which enquires them to speak and improve their English skill.

They are young and have more time to change so I hope with this paper I can help
them change the way they learn English, deal with difficulties they have to opposite.

1.5.

Scope of the study
The study is about speaking English skill of the first-year- student in English
faculty at TMU. Because of the limitations of time and knowledge, the storage of
reference materials, the study cannot cover the whole issue of speaking skill. It only
focuses on exploring common difficulties students get in speaking skill. Moreover, the
study could not touch upon all the students at TMU. It is confined to the first year
students in English faculty at TMU only.
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Research methodology

1.6.

The study adopts many research methods to analyze and summarize the common
difficulties that freshmen in English faculty at TMU encounter.
Specific Activities:
•
•
•

Define and localize the areas for a survey
Make group to go to the University for collecting ideas of students

Design survey form with 8 questions. Some questions can be given on the

•
•

survey for students.
Collected by 150 forms from the major English freshmen
Select main difficulties in speaking English and make consultations give
solutions for the students
This study includes:
- Determining samples and selecting participants
- Creating a questionnaire
- Conducting a pilot survey
- Completing training on data collection or analysis techniques
- Scheduling focus group interviews and observations
- Summarize the collected information from 150 forms to a complete statistic
- Analyzing the data
- Show the results
Diagrams are also used to illustrate the abilities in speaking English of English
major students of Thuongmai University studies as well as some main causes of the
situation.

1.6.1.

Description of Population and Sample
Survey was conducted at Thuongmai University . The preliminary sampling
comprised 350 English major freshmen, but because it was anticipated that in most
cases the questionnaire may not be completed due to student’s refusal to participate in
the survey, absence from the republic or other reason.
Kind of sample: random sample.

In this survey, we use non-probability sampling methods - the convenient sample.
It means that the most readily available first year English major students will complete
our questionnaires.
This sampling method will save much time and money when we survey the large
number of English Faculty students.
1.6.2. Data Collection
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The data use 2 measurement instrument surveys with structured interviews and
questionnaires. Besides, a small test is given to examine English major freshmen.
1.6.3. Instruments for analysis
Data obtained from observations, interviews, and curriculum analysis were
analyzed qualitatively following the Holiday (2002) approach as cited in Al-Shabibi
(2004). This approach suggests organizing data using a thematic approach, where data
is taken holistically and rearranged under themes according to the questions and the
issues brought by the researcher to the research.
Questionnaire
1. Which skill do you think is the most important for you in learning
English?
a. Listening
b. Speaking
c. Reading
d. Grammar
2. How often do you learn English speaking?
a. Usually
b. Sometimes
c. Rarely

3. How many hours a day do you spend on learning English speaking?
a. 30 minutes
b. 1 hour
c. > 1 hour
d. < 30 minutes

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4 .How do you learn speaking English?
a. Internet (Youtube, skype…)
b. Television
c. Joining an English speaking club
d. Others
5. Which factor has the most important influence on speaking English, in
your opinion?
a. Lack of Vocabulary
b. Poor pronunciation
c. Not confidence
d. Lack of ideas
6. Which ways do you often practice speaking English?
a. With native teacher
b. Alone
c. With friends
7. Do you feel confident when you speak English?
a. Yes
b. No
8. What do you think about schedules of English Faculty students at TMU?

Do they provide chances for you to speak English?
a. Yes, but not enough
b. No.
1.7.

Organization of the study
The study includes four main chapters.
The first chapter is “Overview of the study”. This chapter provides the reasons
why choosing the topic “Difficulties in English Speaking Skill of Thuongmai
University’s Majored English Freshmen and Solutions” to research and its necessity.
The second chapter is “Literature review”. The speaking skill theories are shown
clearly and completely. The chapter is the background of the whole study. Based on
the given theories, the researcher will analyze and classify the chosen samples to meet
the purpose of the study.
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The third chapter is “Research findings”. This chapter is the conclusion of two
above chapters. It shows the findings after a process of research. Moreover, the author
based on the results will conduct evaluating then provide the strengths and weaknesses
and explain why freshmen encounter these problems.
The last chapter is “Recommendations and suggestions”. This chapter
summarizes the difficulties that students have to face with in speaking English. After
that, the study provides some practical solutions for students to improve their speaking
English skill.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Definition of Speaking
Speaking is defined in many different ways.
Tarigan (1990:3-4) defines that speaking is a language skill that is developed in
child life, which is produced by listening skill, and at that period speaking skill is
learned.
Based on Competence Based Curriculum speaking is one of the four basic
competences that the students should gain well. It has an important role in
communication. Speaking can find in spoken cycle especially in Joint Construction of
Text stage (Department Pendidikan Nasional, 2004). In carrying out speaking, students
face some difficulties one of them is about language its self. In fact, most of students
get difficulties to speak even though they have a lot of vocabularies and have written
them well. The problems are afraid for students to make mistakes.
Speaking has been regarded as merely implementation and variation, outside the
domain of language and linguistic proper. Linguistic theory has mostly developed in
abstraction from context of use and source of diversity. Therefore, Clark and Clark
said that speaking is fundamentally an instrument act. Speakers talk in order to have
some effect on their listener. It is the result of teaching learning process. Students’ skill
in conversation is core aspect in teaching speaking, it becomes vitally aspect in
language teaching learning success if language function as a system for expression
meaning and the successful in speaking is measured through someone ability to carry
out a conversation in the language. We confess that there are many proponent factors
that influence teaching speaking success and there are many obstacle factors why it is
not running well.
According to Ladouse (1991) speaking is described as the activity as the ability
to express oneself in the situation, or the activity to report acts, or situation in precise
words or the ability to converse or to express a sequence of ideas fluently.

Furthermore,

Tarigan (1990:

8)

said

that “Berbicara

adalah

cara

untuk

berkomunikasi yang berpengaruh hidup kita sehari-hari”. It means that speaking as
the way of communication influences our individual life strongly.

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In Webster New World Dictionary, speaking is to say words orally, to
communicate as by talking, to make a request, and to make a speech (Nunan, 1995).
According to Chaney (1998), speaking is the process of making and sharing meaning
by using verbal and non-verbal symbols in different contexts. Brown (1994) and Burns
and Joyce (1997) defined speaking as an interactive process of making meaning that
includes producing, receiving, and processing information. Bygate (1987) defined

speaking as the production of auditory signals to produce different verbal responses in
listeners. It is regarded as combining sounds systematically to form meaningful
sentences. Eckard and Kearny (1981), Florez (1999), Howarth (2001), and Abd El
Fattah Torky (2006) defined speaking as a two–way process including a true
communication of opinions, information, or emotions. This top-down view regards the
spoken texts as the collaboration between two or more persons in the shared time and
the shared context.
Truly speaking, speaking is one of the most important skills that the foreign
language learners have to master. Murphy (1991) stated “the ability to speak
coherently and intelligently on a focused topic is generally recognized as a necessary
goal for ESL students”. Understanding adequately about speaking and the nature of it,
ESL learners will achieve communicative competence more easily.
2.2. Characteristics of Speaking
According to Mazouzi (2013), learners’ activities should be designed based on an
equivalence between fluency and accuracy achievement. Both fluency and accuracy
are important elements of communicative approach. Classroom practice can help
learners develop their communicative competence. So they should know how the
language system works appropriately. The first characteristic of speaking performance
is fluency and it is the main aim of teachers in teaching speaking skill. According to
Hughes (2002), fluency is the learners’ ability to speak in understandable way in order
not to break down communication because listeners may lose their interest. Hedge
(2000) expressed that fluency is the ability to answer coherently by connecting the
words and phrases, pronouncing the sounds clearly, and using stress and intonation.
The second characteristic of speaking performance is accuracy. Learners should be
fluent in learning a foreign language. Therefore, teachers should emphasize accuracy
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in their teaching process. Learners should pay enough attention to the exactness and
the completeness of language form when speaking such as focusing on grammatical
structures, vocabulary, and pronunciation (Mazouzi, 2013). According to Thornbury
(2005), learners’ correct use of grammatical structures requires the length and
complexity of the utterances and the well-structured clauses. To gain accuracy in terms
of vocabulary means to select suitable words in the suitable contexts. Learners
sometimes apply similar words or expressions in various contexts which do not mean
similar things. So learners should be able to use words and expressions correctly.
Thornbury (2005) declared that pronunciation is the lowest level of knowledge
learners typically pay attention to it. In order to speak English language accurately,
learners should master phonological rules and they should be aware of the various
sounds and their pronunciations. Learners should also know the stress, intonation, and
pitch. All of these elements help learners speak the English language easily and
effectively.
In conclusion, speaking skills consists of two characteristics: fluency and
accuracy. They are also two main problems that students have to deal with if they want
to master speaking skills. Fluency requires students use languages fluently and clearly.
To non-speaking English person, this is a challenge and to Vietnamese students as
well. The difference of English intonation and Vietnamese intonation and the ways to
pronounce the words put Vietnamese people in a trouble: be not able to pronounce
correctly and speak fluently. About accuracy, there is no complete equivalence of
Vietnamese words when being translated into English because both Vietnamese and
English words are multi meaningful. Therefore, students have to master Vietnamese
and English vocabularies and apply them in practical communication situation.
2.3. The importance of speaking
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 3/10 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

which takes place within the confines of our community. We use language in a variety
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of situations. People at their work places, 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 a 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 viz., 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
a better understanding of our own selves, 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, the clarity in speech reflects clear thinking.
An effective speaker can gain the attention of the audience and hold it till 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.
To students, speaking skills plays a very important role while they are at
university. At universities, it requires students make many presentation in English.
They have to present and show their ideas about a topic in English. Moreover, there
are many oversea students who come from many different countries in the world. If
they are not good at speaking skills, they can’t communicate, they can’t open their

relationship and get more experience from foreign friends or can’t work in a team in
particular.
Speaking skills is necessary to TMU students as well. Thuongmai University is a
multi-major training university which leads in the fields of Economic Administration,
Business Management, Accounting, Finance – Banking, Tourism, E-commerce, etc. in
Vietnam. Therefore, TMU really focuses on teaching languages for students, especially
English. Every students at TMU, before graduating, they have to obtain English
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certificates: TOIEC for non-English major students and IELTS 6.5 to English major
students.
2.4. Speaking Problems
There are some problems for speaking skill that teachers can come across in
helping students to speak in the classroom. These are inhibition, lack of topical
knowledge, low participation, and mother-tongue use (Tuan & Mai, 2015). Inhibition
is the first problem that students encounter in class. When they want to say something
in the classroom they are sometimes inhibited. They are worried about making
mistakes and fearful of criticism. They are ashamed of the other students’ attention
towards themselves. Littlewood (2007) expressed that a language classroom can also
create inhibitions and apprehension for the students.
The second problem is that learners complain that they cannot remember
anything to say and they do not have any motivation to express themselves. This is
supported by Rivers (1968) who thinks that learners often have nothing to say
probably because their teachers had selected a topic that is not appropriate for them or
they do have enough information about it. Baker and Westrup (2003) also supports the
above idea and stated that it is very difficult for learners to answer when their teachers
ask them to tell things in a foreign language because they have little opinions about

what to say, which vocabulary to apply, or how to use grammar accurately.
The third problem in the speaking class is that the participation is very low. In a
class with a large number of students, each student will have very little time for talking
because just one student talks at a time and the other students try to hear him/her. In
the speaking class, some learners dominate the whole class while others talk very little
or never speak.
The last problem related to the speaking ability is that when some learners share
the same mother-tongue, they try to use it in the speaking class because it is very easy
for them (Tuan & Mai, 2015). According to Harmer (1991), there are some reasons
why learners use mother-tongue in their speaking classes. The first reason is that when
teachers ask their learners to talk about a topic that they do not have enough
knowledge, they will try to use their language. The second reason is that the
application of mother-tongue is very natural for learners to use. If teachers do not urge
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their learners to talk in English, learners will automatically use their first language to
explain something to their classmates.
The final reason refers to the fact that if teachers regularly use their learners’
mother language, their learners will feel comfortable to do so in their speaking class.
Hyland (1997) investigated learners from eight disciplines at five Hong Kong
institutions. The findings of his research indicated that proficiency in English was a
significant factor in the academic success of an English environment. The findings
also showed that the learners’ language difficulties were related to the productive skills
of writing and speaking. Evans and Green (2007) examined the language difficulties
experienced by the students at a Hong Kong university. The results of this study
represented that the students’ difficulties centered on the academic speaking such as
grammar, fluency, and pronunciation and the academic writing like style, grammar,

and cohesion.
2.5. Factors Affecting Speaking Skill
If teachers want to help learners overcome their difficulties in learning speaking
skill, they should identify some factors that influence their speaking performance.
Learners’ speaking performance are influenced by factors like performance conditions,
affective factors, listening skill, and feedback during speaking tasks (Tuan & Mai,
2015).
The first factor is pertinent to performance conditions. Learners carry out a
speaking activity under different conditions. Performance conditions impact speaking
performance and these conditions involve time pressure, planning, the quality of
performance, and the amount of support (Nation & Newton, 2009).
The second factor is related to affective ones. Oxford (1990) said that one of the
important factors in learning a language is the affective side of students. According to
Krashen (1982), a lot of affective variables have been connected to second language
acquisition and motivation, self-confidence, and anxiety were the three main types that
have been investigated by many researchers.
Listening ability is the third factor. Doff (1998) says that learners cannot improve
their speaking ability unless they develop listening ability. Learners should
comprehend what is uttered to them in order to have a successful dialogue. Shumin
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(1997) represented that when students talk, the other students answer through the
listening process. Speakers have the role of both listeners and speakers. It can be
concluded that students are not able to reply if they cannot comprehend what is told.
That is to say, speaking is very closely related to listening.
Topical knowledge is the fourth factor. Bachman and Palmer (1996) defined it as
the knowledge structures in long-term memory. That is, topical knowledge is the

speakers’ knowledge of related topical information. It enables students to apply
language with respect to the world in which they live. Bachman and Palmer (1996)
assert that topical knowledge has a great impact on the learners’ speaking performance.
The sixth factor is related to the feedback during speaking activities. A lot of
learners expect their teachers to give them the necessary feedback on their speaking
performance. According to Harmer (1991), the decisions that instructors adopt towards
their learners’ performance depend on the stages of the lesson, the tasks, and the kinds
of mistakes they make. Harmer (1991) also continued that if instructors directly
correct their students’ problems, the flow of the dialogue and the aim of the speaking
task will be spoiled. Baker and Westrup (2003) supported the above statement and said
that if learners are always corrected, they will be demotivated and afraid of talking. It
has been suggested that instructors should always correct their learners’ mistakes
positively and give them more support and persuasion while speaking.
According to Mahripah (2014), EFL learners’ speaking skill is affected by some
linguistic components of language like phonology, syntax, vocabulary, and semantics
and psychological factors such as motivation and personality. Phonology is a difficult
aspect of language learning for EFL learners. As we know, English is not a phonetic
language. That is, pronunciation of English words is not similar to their spellings.
Words with similar spellings are sometimes pronounced differently because of their
surrounding contexts like tenses and phonemes that come after them. This can cause a
lot of problems for non-native speakers of English and they sometimes get confused in
producing the English words.
EFL learners should have the knowledge of words and sentences. They should
comprehend how words are divided into different sounds and how sentences are
stressed in specific ways. Grammatical competence can help speakers apply and
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perceive the structure of English language correctly that leads to their fluency (Latha,
2012). Native speakers say what they want without having any problems because they
are familiar with the language. If they have problems in expressing some concepts,
they try to use other ways of telling those things. They may make certain mistakes
syntactically but these mistakes do not change the meaning of the sentences they want
to express and this doesn’t create serious problems for the listeners to comprehend
them. But the mistakes non-native speakers commit are those change the meaning of
utterances they want to convey and can create some problems for their understanding
(Mahripah, 2014).
Motivation can influence and be influenced by the components of language
learning. According to Merisuo-Storm (2007), an integrative and friendly view
towards the people whose language is being learned makes sensitize learners to the
audio-lingual aspects of language and making them more sensitive to pronunciation
and accent of language. If learners have an unfriendly attitude towards the language,
they will not have any substantial improvement in acquiring the different features of
language. The above sentences support the view that just communicative competence
is not sufficient for learners to improve their speaking skill. Without positive attitudes
towards the speaking performance, the aim of speaking will not be obtainable for
learners.
The fear of speaking English is pertinent to some personality constructs like
anxiety, inhibition, and risk taking. Speaking a language sometimes results in anxiety.
Sometimes, extreme anxiety may lead to despondence and a sense of failure in learners
(Bashir, Azeem, & Dogar 2011). According to Woodrow (2006), anxiety has a negative
effect on the oral performance of English speakers. Adults are very careful to making
errors in whatever they tell. In their opinion, errors show a kind of unawareness which
can hinder them to speak English in front of other people. Speaking anxiety may
originate from a classroom condition with the different abilities of language learners.
Learners are divided into two groups: strong and weak ones. The strong learners often
dominate the slow and weak ones. The weak learners do not usually want to talk in
front of the strong ones which leads to their silence during the whole class activity.

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

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CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS
As being said before, the study uses questionnaire to conduct speaking English
reality of major English freshmen. The questionnaire includes 8 questions. Two of
these questions ask about the way the learning speaking skill and the frequency they
learn it. Other questions are about the difficulties they have to encounter in the process
of learning speaking English. Another question aims to know their opinions about the
best way to master speaking skill. After posting this questionnaire on Facebook, the
study collected 150 feedbacks from 150 English major freshmen randomly. We
analyze question by question and collect some following findings.

3.1. Actual situation of English speaking of major students
3.1.1. Necessity of English speaking skills

Chart 3.1: The most important skill when learning English
Chart 3.1 shows that according to English major freshmen, speaking accounts for
55% in total so it is the most difficult skill when they learn English. It is
understandable because freshmen just passed over the examination which examines
mainly their gramma and reading. In order to enroll in the university, they just focus
on learning gramma and reading at high school and they don’t have to speak English
in reality situation. When joining the university, new studying environment which
requires them to talk and use English to present in front of teachers and their
classmates, it’s totally different from the way they learn English before. Freshmen
have a big trouble when they speak English, they can’t speak English fluently and
show their ideas in English naturally and confidently. At that time, they see that
learning English is not so easy as they thought before and speaking is a big trouble. If
they can’t master this skill, they can’t graduate from university because now TMU
requires English major students get 6.5 IELTS before graduation and speaking is one
of skills including in IELTS test.
3.1.2. The speaking English level of major freshmen
Chart 3.2. The confidence level of major freshmen when they speak English
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When being asked about the confidence when freshmen speak English, 85% of
them feel unconfident in their level and only 15% freshmen are confident when they
speak English. Through this question, the study sees that although freshmen are
majored in English, most of them don’t feel confident when speaking English. So what
is the reason for it? Because before joining the university, most of high school where

freshmen study just focus on gramma teaching and don’t pay attention to speaking
skill. Therefore, If being asked about their gramma, there are students feeling
confident in their level. But with speaking skill, they never practice before, feeling
unconfident is easy to understand.

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