An investigation on difficulties in speaking english of students in grade 7th at saigon connection english center

THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

GRADUATE PAPER
TITLE:
AN INVESTIGATION ON DIFFICULTIES IN SPEAKING ENGLISH OF
STUDENTS IN GRADE 7TH AT SAIGON CONNECTION ENGLISH
CENTER

Student name: Nguyen Cao Hong Hanh
Student code: 1722202010074
Class: D17AVGD01
Course: 2017-2021
Major: English for Teaching
Lecturer: Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Thao, MA

Binh Duong, November 2020


THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

GRADUATE PAPER
TITLE:
AN INVESTIGATION ON DIFFICULTIES IN SPEAKING ENGLISH
OF STUDENTS IN GRADE 7TH AT SAIGON CONNECTION
ENGLISH CENTER

Student name: Nguyen Cao Hong
Hanh
Student code: 1722202010074

Class: D17AVGD01
Course: 2017-2021
Major: English for Teaching
Lecturer: Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Thao, MA

Binh Duong, November 2020
i


STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
Student full name: Nguyen Cao Hong Hanh
Student ID: 1722201020074
Title paper: An investigation on difficulties in speaking English of students in
grade 7th at Saigon Connection English Center
I hereby confirm that I am the sole author of the paper presented. Where the
work of others has been consulted, this is duly acknowledged in the paper’s
bibliography. I have also not consulted any other unnamed online sources. All
verbatim or referential use of the sources named in the bibliography has been
specifically indicated in the text.

Binh Duong, November 2020

NGUYEN CAO HONG HANH

ii


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To all teachers at the Thu Dau Mot University,
To be able to finish my reports, I am received the enthusiastic support from

many people. It would be remiss of me to not send my gratitude to those who
care, help and guidance me until now.
First of all, I would like to thank all of lecturers in Thu Dau Mot University for
providing me much knowledge and skills in English area via subjects in the
education program. Four years is the period of courses which are helpful to apply
important experiences to prepare for my life after graduation.
Next, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my teacher’s guidance, Ms.
Nguyen Thanh Thao, who transfers of precious experience, teaches and supports
me a lot during this work.
Many people, especially my classmates have made valuable comment
suggestions on my paper which gave me an inspiration to improve the quality of
the assignment.
Again, I sincerely thank everyone who has helped me during this time!

iii


ABSTRACT
In the era of modernization nowadays, the question whether English has
become a pivotal part of human, especially on students provoke a controversy.
Some people hold the view that it is considered as a beneficial approach for
students to boost their career prospect. English is taught in all universities in
Vietnam. Speaking plays an important part in language teaching and learning.
There are many factor influences on speaking skills. There are many activities
that are being done to help the learning overcome the difficulties but still limited.
Research to explore the speaking difficulties of 7th graders at SaiGon
Connection English Center. Furthermore, research aims to uncover the causes of
those difficulties. The researcher uses exercise methodology to identify and
measure 7th graders' speech difficulties at SaiGon Connection English Center.
Study designer questionnaire for application on sample research. Such questions

will be suggested to each student to check for speaking difficulties and the
staffing of those difficulties. The results show that there are a number of reasons
why students have difficulty in speaking for reasons such as inhibition, nothing
to say, low or uneven participation, and mother-tongue use. Researchers have
adopted some of the most important recommendations, which is to establish an
appropriate set of supports and encourage students to speak English regularly.
This report is an attempt to find out the factors for 7th graders difficulty speaking
at SaiGon Connection English Center.

iv


TABLE OF CONTENTS
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABSTRACT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF FIGURES
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 . BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
1.2 . PURPOSES OF THE STUDY
1.3 . RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1.4 . SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 . DEFINITIONS OF SPEAKING
2.2 . THE IMPORTANCE OF SPEAKING
2.3 . TEACHING OF SPEAKING
2.4 . FACTORS THAT CAUSE SPEAKING DIFFICULTIES TO EFL
LEARNERS

CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY
3.1. RESEARCH METHODS
3.1.1. Qualitative method
3.1.2. Quantitative method
3.2. POPULATION AND SAMPLE
3.3. RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS
3.3.1. Observations
3.3.2. Interviews
3.3.3. Questionnaires
3.4. DATA ANALYSIS
v


3.4.1. Identification
3.4.2. Classification
3.4.3. Description
3.4.4. Explanation
CHAPTER 4. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
4.1. THE MAIN SPEAKING DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY GRADE
7 STUDENTS
4.2.1. Inhibition
4.2.2. Mother tongue use
4.2.3. Language’s difficulties
4.2.4. The knowledge of the topics
4.3. FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE EXISTENCE OF THESE
DIFFICULTIES
4.3.1. The limit of time
4.3.2. Teaching strategies
4.3.3. Outdoor activities
4.3.4. Curriculums

CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION
5.1. SUMMARY OF THE KEY FINDINGS
5.2. LIMITATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.3. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
REFERENCES
APPENDIX

vi


LIST OF TABLE
Table 1: The teachers’ opinions about difficulties in teaching speaking

vii


LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: The students’ difficulties in speaking

viii


CHAPTER 1.
INTRODUCTION
1.1. BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Language plays an important role in human life. As the interface's approach,
language is meant to be important in presenting opinions to others. Everyone can
reveal their information and how they feel using language. The reality is that
humans are inseparable from life, language, and communication. Speaking is the
best way to communicate.

English is a necessary language which is used as an aspect of communication all
over the world. It appears in business, economy, media, travelling, communicate
activities, etc. Learning English is the best way to help us in the future. That is
the reason why we choose and follow learning English. English is a compulsory
subject learned by students from elementary to university. Speaking, listening,
reading and writing skills must be learned to get a foreign language.
Speaking is one of the most important skills that needs to be developed and
improved as an effective means of communication. Speaking English allows
people to send and receive information to others. Speaking English is not easy
for students, because in order to speak fluently and understand well, students
must learn seriously, they must learn about Vocabulary, Pronunciation, and
Grammar and they must have willingness.
Obviously, it is necessary to develop communication skills. English oral
communication skills are part of this skill set, and thus, students should be
supported to gain these skills. Learners of English at SaiGon Connection English
Center often do not have opportunities to speak English outside the classroom,
and for many of them, the course book is the only place where they have chance
to learn English. Although speaking is considered a main language skill that
students should improve, it has been widely noticed that they face many
difficulties in speaking English.
1.2. PURPOSES OF THE STUDY
The study is aimed to find out the factors which students in grade 7th faced to and
lead to the difficulties in speaking.
1


1.3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
To achieve the aims mentioned above, the research question designed are:
Research question 1. What are the main speaking difficulties encountered by
grade 7 students in SaiGon Connection English Center?

Research question 2. What are the factors that contribute to the existence of these
speaking difficulties?
1.5. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This study aims to find out the factors that difficult for 7th graders to speak
English, while also showing the factors contribute to the existence of these
difficulties at SaiGon Connection English Center. It also aims to find out the
main factors that contribute to the existence of these factors. The results of this
study may assist the curriculum organizers as well as the teachers at the center,
understand why students find it difficult when speaking English. Therefore, their
curriculum need to be changed to improve the students' speaking skills more
effectively.

2


CHAPTER 2.
LITERTURE REVIEW
2.1. DEFINITION OF SPEAKING
According to Chaney (1998), speaking is the process of building and sharing
meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbol, in a variety of
contexts. [6] Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that
involves producing and receiving and processing information (Brown, 1994) [5].
The use of English as a second language (ESL) or foreign language (EFL) in oral
communication is, without a doubt, one of the most common but highly complex
activities necessary to be considered when teaching the English language
especially because we live at a time where the ability to speak English fluently
has become a must, especially who want to advance in certain fields of human
endeavor (Alsibai, 2004) [2].
The focus of teaching speaking, of course, is to improve the oral production of
the students. Therefore, language teaching activities in the classroom should aim

at maximizing individual language use (Haozhang, 1997). [10]
In the past, oral communication instruction was neglected because of the
misconception that oral communication competence develops naturally over time
and that the cognitive skills involved in writing automatically transfer to
analogous oral communication skills (Chaney,1998). [6]
2.2. THE IMPORTANCE OF SPEAKING
English speaking skills are very important in communication as well as learning
English because the most effective way of communication is through words.
Students strongly agree that speaking English is an important part of learning
English. They are aware of the fact that speaking is an essential skill that needs
to be practiced on a regular basis. Speaking skills help us to communicate more
successfully and confidently. They also help others avoid misunderstanding what
the other is saying.
Efrizal (2012) & Pourhosein Gilakjani (2016) expressed that speaking is of great
significance for the people interaction where they speak everywhere and every
day[8]. Speaking is the way of communicating ideas and messages orally. If we
3


want to encourage students to communicate in English, we should use the
language in real communication and ask them to do the same process.
The significant of speaking is indicated with the integration of other language
skills. It supports learners develop their vocabulary and grammar skills and then
improve their writing skills. Learners can express their feelings and ideas; tell
stories; request; talk, discuss and demonstrate the different functions of the
language. Speaking has importance outside of the classroom. Therefore,
language speakers have more opportunities to find jobs in different organizations
and companies. These statements have been supported by Baker and Westrup
(2003) who said that learners who speak English very well can have greater
chance for better education, finding good jobs, and getting promotion. [3]

When learners learn English, speaking is important to support their ability to
apply the language. Speaking skill is extremely important to human success. The
importance of speaking skills is observed in human daily activities. Talking is an
interactive activity and it happens under real-time constraints. That is, people can
use words and phrases fluently without thinking much. Speaking skill enables
individuals to produce sentences for the real communication, in other words they
actually like to communicate in language to get specific objectives (McDonough
& Shaw, 1993). [14]
2.3. TEACHING OF SPEAKING
The focus of speaking is aimed to improving students' speaking skills. Therefore,
language teaching activities in the classroom should aim at maximizing
individual language use (Haozhang, 1997) [10]. In the past, oral communication
instruction was neglected because of the misconception that oral communication
competence develops naturally over time and that the cognitive skills involved in
writing automatically transfer to analogous oral communication skills
(Chaney,1998). [6]
Moreover, Ur (1996) considered speaking as the most important skill among four
skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) because people who know a
language are referred to as speakers of that language [17]. This indicates that
using a language is more important than just knowing about it because there is
4


no point knowing a lot about language if you can’t use it (Scrivener,
2005.p.146). [16]
2.3. FACTORS THAT CAUSE SPEAKING DIFFICULTIES TO LEARNERS
Zhang (2009) said that speaking is the most difficult skill to master for most
English learners, and they still do not have the capacity to communicate in
English [18]. According to Ur (1996), there are many factors that cause difficulty
in speaking: inhibition, lack of knowledge, low or uneven participation and

mother-tongue use.[17]
2.3.1. Inhibition
The first problem is inhibition. When students try to say things in a foreign
language in the classroom they are often inhibited. They are worried about
making mistakes or simply shy. Littlewood (2007) asserts that a foreign
language classroom to can create inhibitions and anxiety easily. [13]
2.3.2. Lack of knowledge
This problem maybe depends on what the topics that teachers give to students. If
it does not suitable to the students, they will unable to do that, then students have
no motive to express themselves. Motivation is a key to students’ learning
success. It is difficult for many students to respond when the teachers ask them
to say something in a foreign language because they might have little ideas about
what to say, which vocabulary to use, or how to use the grammar correctly
(Baker & Westrup, 2003). [3]
2.3.3. Low or uneven participation
Only one participant can talk at a time because of large classes and the tendency
of some learners to dominate, while others speak very little or not at all.
2.3.4. Mother-tongue use
The last problem is mother-tongue use. Learners may be affected by different
regional languages, leading to the result that difficult to pronounce certain words
correctly. According to Harmer (1991), there are a number of reasons why
learners use their native language in their speaking classes. The first reason is
that when their learners are asked to talk about a topic they do not have enough
knowledge of, they will try to use their language. The second reason is that the
5


use of mother tongue is a natural thing for the learners to do. If the teachers do
not urge them to speak in English, they will automatically use their first language
to explain something to classmates. [11]

In addition, Rababa’ah (2005) indicated that there are many factors that cause
difficulties in speaking English among learners. Some of these elements are
related to the learners teaching strategy, teaching curriculum and the
environment. Example, many learners lack the vocabulary needed to understand
their meaning, and as such, they cannot keep interacting. Competency strategy
and overall capacity interface possible. There is also another working suite that
cannot sustain interaction. [15]
Teaching strategies also contribute to this problem because they are incomplete
and inconsistent emphasis on speaking leads to meager development of this skill.
Besides, vocabulary is taught separately and the listening material is not used by
the majority of teachers because the number of teachers is too large compared to
the number of cassettes available. Teacher training programs have not been very
successful in changing teachers’ methodology (Rababa’ah, 2005).[15]
Littlewood (1981) suggested that some teachers use native language to manage
classrooms. However, this could be another factor contributing to the problem.
This is because using native language means sacrificing valuable opportunities to
use well-motivated foreign. In addition, it tends to devalue a foreign language as
a means of communication. Learners view it as being allocated for unnecessary
communication areas such as exercises or dialogue practice, while the first
language remains the appropriate means of discussing important immediate
issues. Another major reason for other teachers to use native language is
vocabulary and grammar. Although their attitudes do not agree with native
language, this is not reflected in their practice. [12]

6


CHAPTER 3.
METHODOLOGY
This study was designed to address the following 2 main questions:

1. What are the main speaking difficulties encountered by grade 7 students in
SaiGon Connection English Center?
2. What are the factors that contribute to the existence of these speaking
difficulties?
3.1. RESEARCH METHODS
This research was designed as survey research including direct observation of the
object, give questionnaires to students and interview teachers. The method used
in this research is using both qualitative and quantitative analytical research
methods.
3.1.1. Qualitative method
Qualitative research involves collecting and analyzing non-numerical data (e.g.,
text, video, or audio) to understand concepts, opinions, or experiences. It can be
used to gather in-depth insights into a problem or generate new ideas for
research. Qualitative research is commonly used in the humanities and social
sciences, in subjects such as anthropology, sociology, education, health sciences,
history, etc. There are four qualitative data collection methods such as:
 Interviews: Asking open-ended questions verbally to respondents.
 Focus groups: Discussion among a group of people about a topic to gather
opinions that can be used on further research.
 Ethnography: Participating in a community or organization for an extended
period of time to closely observe culture and behavior.
 Literature reviews: Survey of published works by other authors.
3.1.2. Quantitative method
Quantitative research is expressed in numbers and graphs. It is used to test or
confirm theories and assumptions. This type of research can be used to
establish generalizable facts about a topic. Common quantitative methods
include experiments, observations recorded as numbers, and surveys with closedended questions. There are three quantitative data collection methods such as:
7

 Survey: List of closed or multiple choice questions that is distributed to
a sample (online, in person, or over the phone).
 Experiments: Situation in which variables are controlled and manipulated to
establish cause-and-effect relationships.
 Observations: Observing subjects in a natural environment where variables
can’t be controlled.
3.2. POPULATION AND SAMPLE
The present study is a case study. The population consisted of 30 students in
grade 7th and 10 teachers in SaiGon Connection English Center.
3.3. RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS
Three instruments have been used in this study, the lesson observations,
interviews and questionnaires.
3.3.1. Observations
The class observation supported the research to find out more details about what
main speaking difficulties that students encountered in class and the teaching
speaking in class of teachers. Everything the researcher observed, heard and
experienced was noted down carefully at the results of observation.
3.3.2. Interviews
The researcher interviewed ten teachers about the factors that contribute to the
existence of these difficulties in speaking.
3.3.2. Questionnaires
The questionnaires for students were designed to know more about what factors
make it difficult for students when trying to speak in English
3.4. DATA ANALYSIS
3.4.1. Identification
The researcher identified the difficulties which the students faced in speaking
English and the factors contributing to students’ difficulties in speaking English
by using questionnaires and observations. The students and teachers had
different answers so the data in this step could be variety.
3.4.2. Classification

8


The research classified data from students and teachers’ identities. There are
different difficulties such as inhibition, lack of knowledge, low or uneven
participation and native language use which belong to students’ identities. About
teachers’ identities data, there are the limit of time, teaching strategies, outdoor
activities and curriculums.
3.4.3. Description
The researcher described the classification of the students’ difficulties in English
speaking and the factors which are considered that caused these difficulties for
students then exemplified each factors in detail.
3.4.4. Explanation
The researcher analyzed more deeply the students' difficulties and the teachers’
beliefs regarding the factors that cause difficulties to students when trying to
speak in English through their classification.

9


CHAPTER 4.
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
4.1. THE MAIN SPEAKING DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY GRADE 7
STUDENTS
*Questionnaire results
You are anxiety
You do not remember the vocabulary
You do not know how to say in sentence
You use Vietnamese to discuss
You have nothing to say

20%
27%

13%

23%

17%

Figure 1. The students’ difficulties in speaking

According to Figure 1, a majority of the students (27%) strongly agreed that they
were anxiety when speaking in front class. 23% of students were admitted that
their knowledge of vocabulary was limited. 20% of them agreed that they were
lack of knowledge. 17% of them were worried about making a complete
10


sentence when speaking. And the last 13% of the students claimed that they were
using their mother tongue to talk in class.
To get more details about the difficulties that the students in grade 7th
encountered in speaking English at SaiGon Connection English Center, the
researcher will analyze these difficulties to make obviously.
4.1.1. Inhibition
While observing the classroom, students noticed that their participation was very
low. These are for the reasons mentioned earlier for inhibition.
Up to 27% of students rated highly agreed anxiety for speaking. The observation
revealed that most students showed symptoms of anxiety. The causes of the
students’ anxiety are: fear of mistakes, lack of self-confidence, lack of

motivation and the students’ shyness.
Through the observation, the researcher discovered that when one student came
in front the class or stand in their seat to answer a question or talk about a topic,
if he had said something wrong, his classmates would laugh at him, leading to
create a fear of mistakes when speaking. Fear of mistake becomes one of the
main factors of students’ reluctance to speak in English in the classroom. With
respect to the fear of making mistake issue, Aftat (2008) adds that this fear is
linked to the issue of correction and negative evaluation. Learning English is a
means of learning how to communicate with others by speaking English. [1]
Lack of confidence in speaking English is related to the previous problem
encounter in class. Students explained that they were not confident in themselves
to speak English in front of people. Lack of confidence about themselves and
their English necessarily suffer from communication apprehension This is often
because the teacher is discouraged enough to speak English in public. Usually,
teachers discourage them from speaking English in the classroom or in front of
everyone. They learn the English language but they do not know how to speak.
Motivation is one of the keys to success when it comes to speaking. Therefore,
teachers need to pay attention to this, so find a variety of methods to motivate
their students. To help students overcome their lack of motivation, Dornyei
(2001) [7] Printer, A (2006) proposes four stages that can encourage students'
motivation, as follows: The first stage is to facilitate learning, practice and
11


teaching. This means that English teachers should create a pleasant and
supportive environment in the classroom. The second stage is to introduce
motivational techniques by creating materials that are relevant to students. The
next stage is care to maintain and protect students' motivation by offering
activities that stimulate and foster confidence, and cooperation among students.
The final stage is to turn reviews and feedback into positive experiences.

Shyness is also one of the biggest factors that prevent students from speaking
English. It is the kind of feeling that students feel when speaking English. They
are not ready in front of teachers and their friends. Therefore, paying attention on
this aspect is also quite important in order to help the students do their best in
their speaking performance in the classroom (Gebhard, 2000) [9]. In line with
this, Baldwin (2011) further explains that speaking in front of people is one of
the more common phobias that students encounter and feeling of shyness makes
their mind go blank or that they will forget what to say. Due to shyness, they are
not confident when speaking, cannot remember the correct grammar rules and
vocabulary when speaking English. Due to shyness, they feel uncomfortable and
anxious in front of people when speaking English. [4]
4.1.2. Mother-tongue use
According to Chart 1, 13% of the students claimed that they were using their
mother tongue to talk in speaking English parts. During classroom observations,
students spoke Vietnamese when they were given topics or tasks to discuss. The
researcher found some reasons contribute to the use of native language in
speaking English. The first reason was the students did not know how to express
their ideas in English so they discussed by Vietnamese to get information.
Moreover, students used their native language due to lack of vocabulary and
grammar problems in building sentences when speaking. Another reason that
belong to the teachers’ attitudes, when the students discussed in Vietnamese, the
teachers just ignored or sometimes they said the students should not be spoken
Vietnamese in class, then over.
4.1.3. Language’s difficulties
The data gathered through observations revealed that students were struggling to
find vocabulary when trying to speak English, reflecting their insufficient
12


vocabulary. The data gathered from Figure 1 had supported this because 23% of

the students affirmed they did not have ability to remember the words or how to
put it into a sentence, it is belonging to the grammar structure.
Through observation, the researcher found that the students read what they had
written on a piece of paper because they did not remember the structures and
vocabulary to speak. Through Figure 1, 17 % of the students were still confused
in the handling of the English grammar system. They confused the English
grammar and the usage of tenses. Students have difficulty understanding their
present tense, past tense, future tense. They do not know how to use
prepositions, adjectives and adverbs in a sentence.
4.1.4. The knowledge of the topics
Through the data collection, 20% of students were lack of the knowledge of the
topics. The other factors contributing to students’ difficulties in speaking English
that the research found in this research were limited vocabulary that was caused
by the laziness of the students to read the sources such books, magazines,
newspaper, stories that was provided by the teacher and learn new words because
they thought it would not necessary for them. They did not have motivation in
learning new words outside of the field of study. Students felt anxious to speak
because they did not know the meaning of words or sentences. Moreover, if they
had limited vocabularies, students found it difficult to convey what they wanted
to say. Furthermore, students were not only lack of vocabulary but also the basic
knowledge. They got the topic and they did not know how to develop the topic
because of their limited knowledge.
4.2 FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE EXISTENCE OF THESE
DIFFICULTIES
*Interview results
Question: What do you think cause the
difficulties in teaching speaking?

13

Number (%)


1. Time is limited in class

2 (20%)

2. Teaching vocabulary and grammar is
not assist students speaking

3 (30%)

3.Not much students
extracurricular activities

in

3 (30%)

4. The textbook is not focusing on
speaking English.

2 (20%)

take

part

Table 1: The teachers’ opinions about difficulties in teaching speaking
According to Table 1, a half of the teachers believed that teaching strategies

(30%) and outdoor activities (30%) were two mainly difficulties in teaching
speaking that lead to the problems that students have to face with. The other
teachers thought the limit of time (20%) and curriculums (20%) were two more
factors that lead to the existence of these difficulties.
There are a number of essential factors that contribute to the existence of these
troubles. Through observation the class and interview the teachers, the researcher
found out some basic problems, leading to the reason why students got troubles
in speaking English. There is the limit of time, teaching strategies, outdoor
activities, and curriculums.
14


4.3.1. Limit of time
All interviewed teachers emphasized the importance of teaching speaking as it is
an important skill of the English language. Although they think that teaching
speaking is extremely important, they do not spend enough time doing it, they
explain it because there is not enough time to do it. One of the teachers in
SaiGon Connection English Center said that in a lesson, he had many steps to
accomplish, he did not want to be late.
Through the Table 1, the limit of time due to the reason the center's program
manager requires that they have to follow the specific program of center and they
must complete all the steps in that program. It proves that teachers are only
concerned with the quality of their lessons and how to complete the steps given
in the program. That also means, they will ignore some important skills,
especially speaking skill.
4.3.2. Teaching strategies
Through observation, the researcher noticed that teachers focused on teaching
grammar points and vocabulary items rather than teaching speaking. There is
very little chance for students to practice talking to each other because the
average number of students in class is from 20 to 25, even with the opportunity

to work in pairs or groups, the class will be noisy, the teacher cannot listen at all
student's mistakes when pronunciation, or even if they are invited by the teacher
in front of the class to talk, a maximum of 10 students are allowed.
In addition, the interview pointed to another reason, that was 30% of the teachers
though lack strategies for teaching speaking. Teachers believe that teaching
grammar and vocabulary is enough to help students speak English. In fact, it is
not working. Moreover, teachers are not aware enough that it is not necessary to
focus on teaching according to the program, and that is why students need more
speaking lessons to improve their speaking skills.
Furthermore, it is found that teachers tend to use a lot of native language during
class, especially when they explain a grammar point or give the meaning of
certain words and sometimes the instruction of exercises. They explain this by
saying that they have no other solution to ensure that students understand the
point of view. In contrast, they can explain in English in the simplest way, for
15


instance “Color the picture, then go in front the class and talk about your
picture”, the teacher also can use body language to describe the action required.
The use of native language in the classroom has shown that the teacher, himself
does not have an appropriate teaching strategy, and uses native language as an
alternative. However, it can be sure that using a lot of native language will
reduce the amount of time speaking English between teacher and student, as well
as student to student.
4.3.3. Outdoor activities
In fact, outdoor activities can be another alternative to deal this problem. From
the interview with teachers, students are encouraged to participate in activity
conducted once a month with the foreign teacher. However, only excellent
students take part in activities, but once a month leaves limited opportunities for
using English. Even when a foreign teacher participates in the classroom at the

center, their chances of using English still do not improve, because the time is
too short, only an hour, there are only 5 days for foreign teachers, it is impossible
for them to communicate.
As the teachers have pointed out, students are not given other opportunities as
needed to use English. In other way, the students' exposure to English is mostly
limited to the classroom. Actually, speaking activities in class are discouraged,
resulting in limited speaking ability of students. The teacher thinks that there are
no place students can go and use English outside of the classroom.
4.3.4. Curriculums
During the interview, the teachers said that the 7th grade student's teaching
curriculum at the center (Solutions) mainly focuses on reading and writing skills.
They assume that speaking English in class has passed the learning process, for
example, when students read the text request, they had the opportunity to speak
English. Although there is a speaking part in each lesson, students have the
opportunity to work in pairs or groups to talk about a topic in the unit, but the
teacher cannot control whether they speak or not.
During class observation, students English speaking time is limited. They cannot
actively ask questions according to the grammar they have learned. Students fell
into a passive state, when the teacher asked, it was the time to speak English in
16