Developing 11th grade students’ oral presentation skill through project based learning a case at a mountainous high school

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITY

NGUYỄN QUỐC SƠN

DEVELOPING 11TH GRADE STUDENTS’
ORAL PRESENTATION SKILL THROUGH
PROJECT-BASED LEARNING: A CASE AT A
MOUNTAINOUS HIGH SCHOOL

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION

Nghệ An, 2017


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITY

NGUYỄN QUỐC SƠN

DEVELOPING 11TH GRADE STUDENTS’
ORAL PRESENTATION SKILL THROUGH
PROJECT-BASED LEARNING: A CASE AT A
MOUNTAINOUS HIGH SCHOOL
Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
Code : 60140111

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION
SUPERVISOR

Trần Bá Tiến, Ph.D.

Nghệ An, 2017

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Firstly, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr.
Tran Ba Tien, who has helped me with his precious knowledge, assistance, and
support during the process of writing the thesis.
Secondly, I truly wish to thank the teachers at Do Luong 3 High School
where my investigation was carried out for their useful materials, valuable advices
and great cooperation.
In addition, I also like to send my special thanks to all students at Do luong 3
for their willingness to answer my questionnaires.
Last but not least, my sincere thanks are due to my dear family and my
friends who always stand by me with their consideration and encouragements.
ABSTRACT
The aim of this thesis is to explore the role of Project Based Learning in
improving students’ oral presentations. This study focuses particularly on students’
oral presentation as one of the activities that are used in oral expression to improve
students’ oral proficiency. I hypothesize that if students do so much presentation in
oral expression with in the classroom, then their speaking skill will improve.
To collect data for this study, three instruments were used: An oral
performance test (debate), an oral attitudes survey, and a rating scale.
Research findings showed that students were actually highly positive in their
beliefs about benefits and usefulness of making oral presentations as a learning
activity. It has revealed that oral presentations were beneficial to help students
enhance their performance in oral expression and other courses. However, students
need more practice on how to structure, plan and organize their presentations. Based

on the findings, some implications would give for both teachers and students. We
hope that this study will be useful to both teachers and students of other levels in

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teaching oral presentation skill.
Keywords: Oral Presentation, Speaking Skill, Oral Proficiency
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Acknowledgments ..................................................................................................... 1
Abstract ...................................................................................................................... 2
Table of contents ........................................................................................................ 3
List of acronyms ........................................................................................................ 6
List of table ................................................................................................................ 7
List of figures ............................................................................................................. 7
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale ............................................................................................................ 1
1.2. Aims and objectives of the study....................................................................... 2
1.3. Scope of the study.............................................................................................. 3
1.4. Significance of the study ................................................................................... 3
1.5. Research questions ............................................................................................ 3
1.6. Design of the study ............................................................................................ 4
Chapter 2 : LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Oral presentation ............................................................................................... 5
2.1.1. Definition of oral presentation ....................................................................... 5
2.1.2. Types of oral presentation .............................................................................. 6
2.1.2.1. Informative oral presentation ...................................................................... 6
2.1.2.2.

Persuasive oral presentation ...................................................................... 6

2.1.3. The benefits of using oral presentations in the language classroom .............. 7
2.1.4. Students’ common oral presentation problems ............................................ 10
2.1.4.1. Linguistic factors ....................................................................................... 11
2.1.4.1.1. Lack of vocabulary................................................................................. 11
2.1.4.1.2. Pronunciation mistakes .......................................................................... 12
2.1.4.1.3. Grammar mistakes ................................................................................. 13
2.1.4.1.4. The use of the mother tongue ................................................................. 14

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2.1.4.2. Psychological factors ................................................................................ 15
2.1.4.2.1. Speech anxiety ....................................................................................... 15
2.I.4.2.2. Group boredom ...................................................................................... 16
2.1.5. Strategies for teaching oral presentation ...................................................... 17
2.1.5.1. Teachers’ role ............................................................................................ 18
2.1.5.2. Students’ role ............................................................................................ 18
2.1.5.3. Evaluation of oral presentation ................................................................. 20
2.2. Project based learning ..................................................................................... 21
2.2. 1. Definition of the project based learning ...................................................... 21
2.2. 2. Advantages of the PBL ............................................................................... 24
2.2. 3. The application of PBL in teaching oral presentation ................................ 27
Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY
Introduction .............................................................................................................. 30
3.1. Research setting............................................................................................... 30
3.1.1. An overview of Do luong 3 upper secondary school ................................... 30
3.1.2. The teachers.................................................................................................. 31
3.1.3. The students ................................................................................................. 31

3.1.4. The English syllabus .................................................................................... 32
3.1.5. The current situation of teaching and learning oral presentation skill at
Do luong 3 ............................................................................................................... 33
3.2. Research design ............................................................................................... 33
3.2.1. Research methods ......................................................................................... 33
3.2.2. Sample of the study ..................................................................................... 33
3.2.2.1. The students............................................................................................... 34
3.2.2.2. Procedures ................................................................................................. 34
Chapter 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
4.1. Analysis of the students’ responses ................................................................ 37
4.1.1. Students’attitude towards PBL and PBL strategy for oral presentation ...... 37

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4.1.2. Suggestions to make project based learning effective ................................. 46
4.2.

The results of the oral presentation rubric ................................................... 53

A. Nonverbal skills ................................................................................................ 54

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54

1. Eye contact: ..

2. Body language: ........................................................................................ 55

3. Poise: ....................................................................................................... 56
B. Verbal skills ........................................................................................................ 57
4. Enthusiasm: ............................................................................................. 57
5. Elocution: ................................................................................................ 58
C. Content ............................................................................................................... 59
6. Subject knowledge: ................................................................................. 59
7. Organization: ........................................................................................... 60
8. Mechanics: .............................................................................................. 61
Chapter 5: CONCLUSION
5.1. Summary of major findings ............................................................................. 65
5.2. Limitations of the study ................................................................................... 67
5.3. Suggestions for further studies ......................................................................... 68
REFERENCES ......................................................................................................... 69
APPENDICES ......................................................................................................... 72
Appendix A: Students’ Questionnaire .................................................................. 72
Appendix B: Oral Presentation Rubric ................................................................. 73

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LIST OF ACRONYMS
ACTFL: American Conical of Teachers of Foreign Language
DVD: Digital Video Disk
EAP: English for Academic Purposes
EFL: English as Foreign Language
ESL: English as a Second Language
ESP: English for Specific Purposes
GCSE: General Certificate of Secondary Education
NCTE: National Council of Teachers of English
PBL: Project based learning

Sts: Students
TEFL: Teaching of English as a Foreign Language
TL: Target Language
VCD: Volunteer Defense Corps

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List of tables

Page

Table 01: Satisfaction with PBL ................................................................... 37
Table 02: Ability to use PBL insideclassroom ............................................. 38
Table 03: Motivation after using PBL insideclassroom................................ 39
Table 04: Collecting information .................................................................. 40
Table 05: Using information ......................................................................... 42
Table 06: Making mistakes ........................................................................... 43
Table 07: Monthly evaluation ....................................................................... 44
Table 08: Learning other subjects ................................................................. 45
Table 1.1: Eye contact in oral presentation .................................................. 55
Table 1.2: Body language in oral presentation ............................................. 55
Table 1.3: Poise in oral presentation ............................................................. 56
Table 1.4: Enthusiasm in oral presentation ................................................... 57
Table 1.5: Elocution in oral presentation ...................................................... 59
Table 1.6: Subject knowledge in oral presentation ....................................... 60
Table 1.7: Organization in oral presentation ................................................ 61
Table 1.8: Mechanics in oral presentation .................................................... 62
List of Figures
Figure 01: Satisfaction with PBL.................................................................. 37

Figure 02: Ability to use PBL inside classroom ......................................... 38
Figure 03: Motivation after using PBL inside classroom ............................. 40
Figure 04: Collecting information ................................................................ 41
Figure 05: Using information ....................................................................... 42
Figure 06: Making mistakes ......................................................................... 43
Figure 07: Monthly evaluation ..................................................................... 44
Figure 08: Learning other subjects ............................................................... 45
Figure 1.1: Eye contact in oral presentation ................................................. 55
Figure 1.2: Body language in oral presentation ............................................ 56
Figure 1.3: Poise in oral presentation ........................................................... 57

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Figure 1.4: Enthusiasm in oral presentation

58

Figure 1.5: Elocution in oral presentation ..................................................... 59
Figure 1.6: Subject knowledge in oral presentation ...................................... 60
Figure 1.7: Organization in oral presentation ............................................... 61
Figure 1.8: Mechanics in oral presentation ................................................... 62

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Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
English has become an international communicative language in the world. It

has been used widely in many different fields such as economics, politics, culture,
science, technology, education and tourism. It can’t be denied that English is one of
the most important means of communication. Therefore, teaching and learning
English is more and more essensial.
In Vietnam, English has become a compulsory subject in the syllabus of many
schools, colleges and universities. It has been taught and learnt throughout the
country. However, the fact is that the speaking English skill has not been effective
yet, especially oral presentation. Students graduating from high school or even from
university are unable to “speak” English, because we have not given them enough
practice in speaking English. Most of the students do not find speaking a rewarding
task. We cannot learn speaking by observation. Speaking is the most difficult in the
four skills. Reading, listening and writing can be learning with a teacher or on one’s
own, with books. However, speaking requires immediate comprehension and real
time reaction. I think that the way of teaching by oral presentation will motivate
student and encourage them to practice English in the classroom.
At Doluong 3 high school, many students are not interested in speaking lessons
as well as they can not speak English well after leaving school even though they
have learnt English for a long time. Moreover, the teachers of English find it difficult
to encourage their students to make oral presentation in the process of teaching
speaking skill.
To meet the demand of learners of English, teachers of English in Do luong 3
have been trying to find out the most suitable and effective method of teaching
English. They have always tried to catch up with the world’s latest frameworks of
English Language Teaching. As in other schools, teachers of English in Do luong 3
are now approaching project based learning to teach English to students. They hope

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to provide students with a means of communication, namely English which is vital

for them to be successful in their job and to fulfill their social demands in the time of
globalization.
Therefore, it is really essential to know whether the project based learning has
the good effects on teaching oral presentation skill to the 11th graders of Do luong 3
High school. With the aim to access the method on teaching oral presentation
through the Project based learning, I would like to choose the topic “Developing 11th
grade students’ oral presentation skill through project-based learning: A case at a
mountainous high school" to find out the answer, and further, to help improve the
teaching of oral presentation at my school.
In this study, we would speak about developing students’ oral presentation
through Project based learning in English language classrooms and its impact in
speaking skill. We think that the use of oral presentations in EFL classroom is
important because of its positive impact on students’ proficiency level. Some
students do not like to speak in the classroom. In addition, they do not have the
opportunity to speak this language outside. So if student do not practice English in
the classroom, may be they do speak it never. We know that we cannot learn to
speak any language with observation. Therefore, we put forward that the use of
students’ oral presentation may develop students’ speaking level.
When we have student give an oral presentation in front of class is one
technique to improve students’ oral proficiency. Teachers can use oral presentation
as a technical way to deal with students’ problems in speaking. Oral presentation
activities provide an excellent opportunity for the learners to develop this skill,
speaking several minutes in a structured way, delivering into various aspects of a
single topic.
1.2. Aims and objectives of the study
This study has been designed to investigate the use of oral presentation in
English classes for the 11th students at Do luong 3 upper secondary school. In
general, it has two purposes.

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Firstly, it aims at finding students’ attitudes towards the use of oral
presentations in the classroom. Secondly, it is to investigate the impacts of oral
presentations through project based learning on the students’ performance in English
lessons. Finally, it is to provide the teachers with some suggestions to make best use
of oral presentations in their teaching with a view to better their students’ speaking
skill.
Our objective is to show how project based leaning can help students enough
practice to develop oral presentation skill in speaking English language.
1.3. Scope of the study
Although there are many different ways to motivate students to learn English,
all these issues cannot be fully covered in this paper. Due to the limited time and the
length of the thesis, I focus on exploiting students’ attitudes toward the use of PBL
and its effectiveness in teaching the oral presentation skill. The subjects of the study
include forty 11th graders at Do Luong 3 high school.
1.4. Significance of the study
The main goal of study is how to make student perform well in classroom, by
preparing activities where they will speak as much as possible. We will focus on the
use and effectiveness of the project based learning during the courses, and how will
facilitate the students’ oral presentation skill.
This study is important to give the teacher some ideas for how to deal with
students who do not want to practice in classroom. The use of oral presentation can
help students of English language for being able to speak it, because in our
universities we rarely learn how to speak. Oral presentation in EFL classes give
students a confidence to speak in public and help them in enhancing their
proficiency. Moreover, this study is important for both teachers and students’. Oral
presentation can be an enjoyable activity for them. It gives a break away from
textbooks.
1.5. Research Questions

This study attempts to answer the following questions:

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1. What are the attitudes of 11th graders towards the use of Project-Based Learning?
2. Does Project-Based Learning help 11th graders to develop their oral presentation
skill ? If so, to what extent?
1.6. Design of the study
The study contains four chapters:
Chapter 1: Introduction
This chapter presents the rationale, objectives, research questions, scope and
organization of the study.
Chapter 2: Literature review
This chapter introduces a historical overview of the literature. The first is about
oral presentation. The next is about project based learning. The final is the
application of PBL in teaching oral presentation.
Chapter 3: Methodology
The subjects of the study were 40 eleventh grade students who were chosen
randomly from Do Luong 3 upper secondary school during the school year 20162017. Three instruments were used to collect data for the study: An oral performance
test (debate), an oral attitudes survey and a rating scale.
Additionally, this chapter will present the author’s suggestions on mentioned
problems and summarize all the main points raised in the paper, the limitations of the
study and some suggestions for further studies.
Chapter 4 : Findings and discussions
This part shows major findings and discussions and offers recommendations
for motivating students to do oral presentation through project based learning.
Chapter 5: Conclusion
That is a summary of the study in which limitations of the study and
suggestions for further research are presented.

Chapter 2

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LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Oral presentation
2.1.1. Definition of oral presentation
Oral presentation is an extension of oral communication skill. It is where the
presenter shows their knowledge on a particular subject. The participant might
choose the title or the teachers give it to them. In order to talk about it to their
classmate after this the participant makes a small research to get more information
about this topic. The presenter is giving the most important information first, leaving
the details for last. According to Baker (2000, p. 115) oral presentation is like a
formal conversation, speaking to group as a natural activity. Most of people spending
hours of their daytime, speaking to others, however making an oral presentation that
is a formal conversation, it is difficult task for them. Oral presentation is part of
spoken language. The purpose of this practice is to communicate. It is design to
inform or persuade. Oral presentation occurs in organizational setting and with
limitation in time. Presentation should been structured carefully. In addition the
speakers can support their talk with visual aids. Melion and Thompson (1980, p.
503) state that if oral presentation is guided and organized, it will give the students a
learning experience and teach them an important skill which will be beneficial to
ESL/EFL in all their education subject and later in their work. According to Chivers
and Shoolbred (2007, p. 5), “doing presentation is very good learning experience.” In
the end of oral presentation, the speakers give their audience the opportunity to ask
about things that are not clear to them. The speakers answer them to complete their
work.
In addition Mandal (2000, p. 8) states, “presentations are speech that is
usually given in a business, technical, professional, or scientific enviermment. The

audience is likely to be more specialized than those attending a typical speech
event.” There are different between normal speech and oral presentation. The later is
a type of speech, but the former is more nature than oral presentation.

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2.1.2 Types of oral presentation
According to Chivers and Shoolbred (2007, p. 2) understanding the style of
presentation will help you to explore the main goal of giving this presentation.
Therefore, according to the aim of the presentation the speakers can decide the type
of their presentation.
2.1.2.1. Informative oral presentation
This type of presentation has a primary goal, which is to make the audience
learning something new. The speakers use in this type of presentation an informative
speech. The aim of informative presentation is to be communicating with the
audiences and giving them much information in a limited time. The purpose of
informative presentation can be to describing a new political event, organize a set of
something that is so important or giving a report about a given topic in a form of
research (Chivers, Shoolbred, 2007, p. 5).
Moreover, in this type of presentation the speakers use an informative speech
to explain a concept, instruct the audience, demonstrate a process, or describe an
event in an academic setting. In addition, speakers may be choosing the topic by
themselves. Chivers and Shoolbred (2007, p. 5) say, “This type of presentation
[informative presentation] is used in many organizations where students or employs
are expected to report progress at key stages of a project.”
In sum, the speaker’s aim of this presentation is to give the result of their
research in informative way. Moreover, they answer the audiences’ questions about
their topic.
2.1.2.2. Persuasive oral presentation

Persuasive speech is to influence the audience in their thinking about a topic,
which may be given or chosen. It usually used to make the audience do some
reaction or discuss with the presenter about the topic. According to Chivers and
Shoolbred (2007, p. 3) in this type of presentation, speakers need to have a strong
content and present it in a clear way.
In addition, the speakers should try to show the audience that they have a

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confidence. The Speakers can use some emotions when it is necessary. Moreover,
Baker (2000, p. 76) states that persuasive has three elements, which are:
* Logos
In persuasive presentation, the topic needs to be logical. Tacy (2008, p. 9)
claims that when speakers want to talk about their topic, they should organize the
ideas from the more important point to less one. The presenters need to link those
ideas together in coherent statements or arguments.
Moreover, logos mean the speakers organize what they are going to say from
the beginning to the end in a logic way.
* Character (ethos)
Character or ethos is the speakers’ beliefs and personality. According to
Tarcy (2008). This [ethos] refer to your character, ethics, and your believability
when you speak. Increasing your credibility with your audience before and during
your speech increase, the likelihood that the listening will be accepted your argument
and talk action in your recommendations. (p.9)
Ethos means the one speak use their character to influence the audience.
* Passion (pathos)
Pathos is the speaker’s use of their emotions. It is the most important
elements that speakers can use, to make the audience support their argument; also,
pathos can make the audience change their opinions and take a positive action about

the speakers’ topic.
In sum, if students do these types of presentation they will have confidence in
their performance and they will learn how to deal with any reaction that may be
happen as a response from their audience (Chivers & Schoolbred, 2007, p. 3).
Persuasive presentation is a very complex process in which the speaker needs to be
logic in his deliver also he/ she needs use his /her emotion to influence the audience.
2.1.3. The benefits of using oral presentations in the language classroom
Oral presentations have been shown to be extremely successful with respect
to improving learners’ second language skills, and increasing their autonomy. For

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example, Girard, Pinar and Trapp (2011) found that using oral presentations
in their classroom lead to greater class interaction and participation, an increased
interest in learning, and noticeable improvements in their students’ communication
and presentation skills. King (2002) adds that oral presentations have been shown to
help bridge the gap between language study and language use; that presentations
require students to use all four language skills in a naturally integrated way; and that
presentations have been shown to encourage students to become active and
autonomous learners.
For most language teachers the five major benefits to use oral presentations in
the classroom are: They are student-centered.
• They require the use of all four language skills.
• They provide students with realistic language tasks.
• They have value outside the language classroom.
• They improve students’ motivation.
One of the main benefits of using presentations in the classroom is that oral
presentations are student-centered. When students are asked to give an oral
presentation it is one of the few times in the language classroom that the students

themselves have direct control of both the content and the flow of the classroom
(Apple & Kikuchi, 2007). This is because the students who are presenting have the
ability to choose the topic that they want to talk about, select the language items that
they want to use to talk about that topic, and decide how they will explain that topic
to their classmates. With little or no intervention from the teacher, a properly
scaffolded presentation can result in multiple opportunities for students to improve
their English in a context in which the students themselves are acting as both
teachers and learners Interactions between the presenters and the audience provide
both sets of participants with numerous opportunities to practice their English
abilities with other students in an authentic manner.
Oral presentations also provide students with a process-driven activity that

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requires them to use English, not just while they are giving the presentation itself,
but also while they are preparing to present. One good example of this is group
presentations. Group presentations require students to work together to plan and
prepare for their presentation. During group work students can be encouraged to use
English to negotiate meaning with the other members of their group and to work
together, in English, to plan how they will present their ideas to the other members
of the class. This facilitates English use to meet a specific goal, in an authentic way,
and with very little intervention from the teacher.
Another benefit of oral presentations is that they require students to use all
four language skills; writing, reading, speaking, and listening. Most teachers
recognize the spoken component of presenting, as students are required to speak
when

giving

their

presentations.

However,

properly structured

academic

presentations also require students to research and plan out their presentation. This
requires students to use their reading and writing skills. Students also have the
opportunity to practice their writing skills when they are asked to give presentations
that include some types of visual component. When they are preparing for these
presentations students will have to write out the appropriate information on their
poster or in their PowerPoint slides. Finally, students have the opportunity to practice
their listening skills when they act as the audience members for the other groups’
presentations. If these students are given a simple task to do during the presentation,
or are expected to use the knowledge disseminated through the presentation for a
specific purpose, this will allow them to use this opportunity to practice their
listening skills. The communicative nature of presentations also allows audience
members to improve their listening skills more than listening to a tape or a lecture
would because they are able to confirm their understanding by asking questions and
interacting with the presenters.
Oral presentations provide realistic language tasks for students to engage in.
This is important because speaking tasks that have no relation to real-life language
use “are poor preparation for autonomy.” (Thornbury, 2005, p. 91). Presentations

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also provide a more authentic way of practicing English than simple speaking drills.
This is because they require students to use their L2 to understand the topics they are
presenting on and communicate this understanding to others. This is closer to real
language use and gives students an opportunity to develop research and critical
thinking skills, as well as linguistic and communicative skills
Presentations have also been shown to improve students’ abilities in ways
that can be beneficial for their future employment (Zivkovic, 2014). This is
especially true in the EAP or ESP context, where there is a much higher chance that
students will be asked to use English to present in their future jobs (Bruce, 2011).
However, even beyond the EAP and ESP context, experience with oral presentations
can be beneficial to students future careers because many potential future employers
place a high degree of importance on the communication skills that students learn
during a presentation class. Nowadays, many employees are looking for candidates
who have the ability to give formal presentations, and the skills that students learn
when they are presenting in English are transferable to their L1 (Pittenger, 2004).
The final benefit of using oral presentations in the language classroom is that
they can provide students with additional motivation to study English. Oral
presentations do more than just give students an opportunity to practice language
skills; they also give students an opportunity to teach something to their peers. If the
activity is properly scaffolded, students will be able to work independently to
produce an effective presentation. This can lead to higher levels of motivation for the
students involved, as they are able to see the results of their hard work when they are
successful in the presentation that they give. One of the joys of teaching a
presentation class is seeing students gain confidence, self-esteem, and autonomy
while they are working independently, or as a small group, to produce and give an
effective presentation.
2.1.4. Students’ common oral presentation problems
Oral presentation is considered to be one of important skills of speaking,
regarded as one of the most difficult skill to master for the majority of EFL students

10


who are still incompetent to communicate orally in English. As Loama (2004, p. 1)
states: “Speaking in a foreign language is very difficult and competence on speaking
takes a long time to develop ”. So, during the oral classes, learners encounter many
obstacles that hinder their learning process of such a difficult skill.
According to Thornbury (2005), being skillful in oral presentation requires
having some kind of speaking knowledge that can be categorized either as
knowledge of features of the language (linguistic knowledge) or knowledge that is
independent of language (extralinguistic knowledge). It is valuable to notice that the
linguistic knowledge plays a basic role in oral presentation skills.
Beside these linguistic factors such as: lack of vocabulary, mispronunciation,
grammatical mistakes, the use of the mother tongue, students may face with
psychological factors. These problems are speech anxiety and group boredom
Students often meet these factors as follows:
2.1.4.1. Linguistic factors
Lack of vocabulary
The knowledge of vocabulary is the prior requirement that the students
should have about the language they want to speak. However, they face difficulty
because their vocabulary is limited, so they are unable to communicate effectively in
the target language. Students find themselves uncomfortable when they intend to
express their ideas in a clear manner. It is due to the lack of vocabulary and limited
knowledge.
To reach oral proficiency, students require to select words appropriately
while they are speaking, and manipulate these words accurately. Thornbury (2005, p.
22) argues that “spoken language also has a relatively high proportion of words and
expression”.
Therefore, learning any foreign languages requires a great knowledge of its

vocabulary. The situation in our EFL classes is that many students often find some
problems when they try to express themselves because they struggle to find the
necessary vocabulary item which carries trying to get the appropriate meaning; this

11


reflects their limited vocabulary repertoire. Hence, this inadequate vocabulary affects
the rate of their participation in oral activities and make them unable to share their
ideas with others in a comfortable manner.
2.1.4.1.2. Pronunciation mistakes
They are defined by Kelly (2000, p. 11) as: “A consideration of learners’
pronunciation errors and of how these can inhibit successful communication is a
useful basis on which to assess why it is important to deal with pronunciation in the
classroom.”
Besides the learners’ problems in vocabulary, there is a noticeable problem
which is mispronunciation of words, which leads to problems in reception or
comprehension of an utterance’s meaning. Actually, students may fail to produce an
effective oral communication because of their pronunciation mistakes. Instead of
conveying certain meaning, they convey others, so they do not feel at ease when
speaking in front of their classmates and; consequently, reduce their oral
participation.
Pronunciation is the most significant skill in foreign language learning since
it helps EFL learner to be more competent in communication. Furthermore, the level
of pronunciation proficiency represents the main criteria that EFL students can be
judged on and assessed. Hence, they must practice the correct pronunciation forms
and be aware of the various rules of sounds as stress, intonation ...etc. Morley (1991,
p. 488) emphasizes the importance of pronunciation in speaking proficiency:
“intelligible pronunciation is an essential component of communication competence
”.

Although many EFL learners studied grammar for many years, they are
unable to speak like native speakers due to their improper pronunciation of the
sounds of words which cause misunderstanding and ineffective communication.
Therefore, mispronunciation is a serious problem to overcome that non-native
English speakers face when they try to reach a high level of fluency. In addition,
mispronounced speech reflects students’ poor experience with supra-segmental

12


features English sounds, such as rhythms, intonation and word stress, this is due to
student’s lack of listening to native speakers or to teacher’s mispronunciation as nonnative speaker. In addition, the inadequate official sessions for practicing
pronunciation make students unconscious about their mispronunciation mistakes.
Moreover, the intermixture of the American and British accents leads learners to be
confused with their pronunciations. So, pronunciation mistakes are one of the main
factors that hinder the students’ freedom in classroom interaction.
2.1.4.1.3. Grammar mistakes:
Grammar is an essential element of a language, According to Harmer (2001,
p. 12) grammar is defined as: The grammar of a language is the description of the
ways in which words Can change their forms and can be combined into sentences in
that language if grammar rules are too carelessly violated, communication may
suffer [...,] creating a good grammar rule is extremely difficult. Linguists
investigating Native-speaker speech ..., over the years, devised various different
systems to describe how the language works.
It is also defined as “the way a language manipulates and combines words (or
bits of words) in order to form longer units of meaning”. Students must care about
any sound they produce when speaking the target language (TL), hence, they face
difficulties in combining words correctly; for example the misuse of tenses when the
student says “I’ am boring”, instead of saying, “I’m bored”. It is a serious problem
since making such grammatical mistakes may change the whole meaning, this is

similar to producing pronouns, singular and plural forms appropriately.
Consequently, it is difficult for students to speak in the target language and this
creates very embarrassing situations. The result is that they keep their ideas for
themselves because they cannot speak out the information accurately.
One of the most important aspects of being skillful in oral production is
possessing grammar knowledge; therefore, EFL learners must acquire this
knowledge in order to improve their oral proficiency. Therefore, many students are
unable to produce correct grammatical forms of sentences; this is due to the

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unawareness of rules and instructions such as: the mixture between tenses, the misuse of modifiers, the use of double negatives in the same sentence, the production of
fragment sentences. Therefore, inappropriate grammar leads to misunderstanding in
communication.
Moreover, EFL learners often prefer to keep silent rather than producing
ungrammatical structures because they are afraid of being ridiculed in front their
teachers and classmates. As Davies and Pearse (2000, p. 82) argue:
‘‘Many people do not like speaking in front of large groups of people. This is
especially true in a foreign language, because we may worry about producing
utterances with many errors or oddities in them”
Therefore, a grammatical mistake is one of the linguistic obstacles that
prevent EFL learners’ participation.
2.1.4.1.4. The use of the mother tongue
It is obvious that EFL learners often use the mother tongue inside and outside
classrooms because they are less exposed to the target language and feel demotivated
to communicate. Students tend to borrow words from their native language when
they fail in expressing their thoughts in the foreign language due to the lack of
vocabulary in this language. According to Baker and Westrup (2003, p. 12):
“Barriers to learning can occur if students knowingly or unknowingly transfer the

cultural rules from their mother tongue to a foreign language”. Therefore, the use of
mother tongue lessens the students’ speaking capacity and leads to breakdown of
communication in the classroom. In addition, they will find it difficult to use the
target language accurately if they keep on borrowing words from their native
language which is caused by the lack of foreign language vocabulary.
In addition, when poor speaking competence is reported, one tends to blame
the students for having low ability or making insufficient effort for learning.
Nevertheless, there are other important external factors in the academic settings that
should be taken into consideration. We can mention the attitude of the teachers and
students toward the subject, teachers' inappropriate teaching methods, overcrowded

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classes and the insufficient class time allocated for teaching speaking.
2.I.4.2. Psychological factors
2.1.4.2.1. Speech anxiety
During the oral presentation, psychological sources were also held
responsible for language learners’ high as well as low levels of apprehension. There
are various psychological variables that make EFL learners anxious in setting where
they are required to speak English, to do oral presentation. These diverse
psychological variables e.g. learners’ personality traits, and learners’ self-perception
that have been highlighted by the subjects. Analyzing the stuydents, the research
found that personality traits, such as extraversion as well as introversion are directly
linked to low or high level of anxiety. The introvert language learners are more
vulnerable and expected to be anxious in circumstances where they have to
communicate in English. During the interview with the researcher, one of the high
anxious subjects replied, “I am not friendly, I do not like talking to people, and
mixing up with them. I am not very talkative” Some previous researchers on
language anxiety have reached the conclusion that learners’ apprehension may be

aggravated by their perfectionist tendencies (Gregresen and Horwitz, 2002) and
learners self-related perception (Krashen, 1985). After analyzing the interviews, the
current research has also diagnosed a few self-related perceptions among the subjects
of this study which is consistent with the findings of previous researchers on
language anxiety. Tobias (1986) found that highly apprehensive learners think
negative about their own selves and have low-perceived self-esteem about their own
performance in the target language. The same negative thoughts about their selves
are very clear in the remarks of highly anxious subjects during the interview. One of
the participants said, “And during speaking I feel that if I speak wrong, all the people
will laugh on [at] me and then I can’t speak English correctly”.
Impact of speech anxiety makes language learners frightened and shakes their
confidence which results in avoidance and withdrawal from speaking activities
especially oral presentation in EFL classes. One of the high apprehensive subjects of

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