THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH FACULTY ------ GRADUATION PAPER FACTORS AFFECTING ENGLISH SPEAKING COMPETENCE FOR THE FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS AT THUONG MAI UNIVERSITY Supervisor: Pham Thi Phuong, M. Student: Doan Thi Hoang Yen Class: K50N3 Student’s number: 14D170199 Hanoi - 2018 Luan van HÀ NỘI - 2016 ABSTRACT Nowadays, English plays an important role in Vietnam, especially during the period of international and global integration. Because of desiring a high-paid job and good job opportunity, every student always makes effort to improve and enhance their English in four skills including listening skill, speaking skill, reading skill and writing skill. However, the English speaking comprehension of students during and after graduation are still poor, and many graduates are not thoroughly equipped with necessary language skills.
As a result, more than half of the graduates do not meet enough requirements of recruiters. Spoken language production is often considered one of the most difficult aspects of language learning (Brown & Yule, 1983). Students have a number of difficulties in speaking English. To find out the common obstacle for learning speaking, this study was conducted for first-year English-majored students at Thuong Mai University, Ha Noi, Vietnam to find out the factors affecting speaking English competence.
It is a combination of both qualitative and quatitative methods with questionnaires and interviews. Based on the research findings, some recommendations and suggestions for not only the students to improve English speaking skill but also the teachers to teach effectively were made. The study was expected to help students know more about the difficulties and improve their performance in speaking English. ii Luan van ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Mrs.
Pham Thi Phuong, who helped, supported and encouraged me enthusiastically while I conducted this study. Without her helpful comments, valuable advice and considerable assistance, this study could not have been completed. Moreover,would like to thank the teachers at English Faculty of Thuong Mai University for providing me best conditions to fulfill my study. I also want to express my appreciation to the first-year English-majored students at TMU who helped me to conduct collect data for the study to make my study more detailed.
Last but not least, I would especially thank my family, my close friends and my classmates who supported and encouraged me to conduct this study. Ha Noi, 10th April, 2018 Student Doan Thi Hoang Yen iii Luan van TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT.iii TABLE OF CONTENTS.iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.vi LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES.vii CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY. Aims of the study. Scope of the study.
Organization of the study.4 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Definition of speaking. Definition of speaking. Definition of competence for speaking.
Components of speaking process. Types of speaking. Partially interactive speaking. Non-interactive speaking.
Preparation before speaking. Be a good listener. Structure speaking process in mind. Manner and attitude.
Factors affecting to speaking process. Pronunciation and accent.11 iv Luan van 2.17 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS. Procedures for conducting questionnaire survey and interview. Procedure for conducting questionnaire survey.
Procedure for conducting interviewing. Analysis of research findings. Students’s real situation of learning English. Students's attitudes toward English speaking competence.
Student's problem in learning speaking English process. Difficulties affecting English speaking comprehension of students. Activities for improving English speaking skill of students. Main findings and discussion.29 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS.36 REFERENCES APPENDIX v Luan van LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Order Abbreviations English Meaning Vietnamese Meaning number 1 TMU Thuong Mai University Trường đại học Thương Mại 2 Q.
Question Câu hỏi 3 QS Questionnaire survey Bảng câu hỏi khảo sát vi Luan van LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES TABLES Table 3.1: The questionnaire results of students' years on learning English.2: Figures for strengths of students in speaking English skill.3: Figures for weaknesses of students in speaking English skill. Figures for listening comprehension of students at class. Figures for activities of students in improving speaking English.1: Students' assessment of learning speaking English skill.2: Numbers of students who determine the degree of importance' factors affecting speaking English skill.3: Time for self-study speaking English a day at home of students. The percentage of students's mood when speaking in English with four kinds of listeners.27 vii Luan van CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.
Rationale There are many reasons why the author chose this topic for studying: First, a great number of non-English speakers as well as native English speakers use English as an important standard of international communication in every part of the world. English is recognized as the international language which people in many countries use to communicate with each other. Listening and speaking skills are more and more essential to communicate with foreigners. As a consequence, it is necessary for Vietnamese people to be able to use English effectively.
Without a doubt, the ability to communicate in English in real life situations will remain essential, and students are expected to be able to communicate in the English language. The purpose of learning English is, thus, to communicate in English efficiently in the real world. Second, speaking English skill provides learners or students with several distinct advantages. It is the capacity to express one's thoughts, opinions and feelings clearly and skillfully in the form of words put together in a meaningful way.
It also brings back good opportunities for Vietnamese students to work in an international environment. The last but not the least, speaking plays a more important role than other skills in overall communication. Spoken language production is often considered as one of the most difficult aspects of language learning. Students have a number of challenges in speaking English.
However, they do not know which learning method is appropriate to follow, the efficiency and the result are not clear. With the three main reasons presented above, it is reasonable to say that English speaking is an important skill that learner needs to improve besides their mother tongue. However, there are many problems that learners have to encounter when learning and many factors which affect speaking English competence. Therefore, the author conducted this study with the objective of first-year English-majored 1 Luan van students at Thuong Mai University, helping them first improve their speaking English skill.
Previous studies There are many studies about factors affecting competence for speaking English. However, the author would like to study whether those are suitable for the first-year English-majored students at Thuong Mai University or not. The research conducted by Tanveer (2007) is a widely-known one which examined the factors caused anxiety for learners in learning speaking ability and the impact of anxiety on target language communication. The obtained results indicated that learners’ feeling of stress and anxiety stop their language learning and performance abilities.
The researcher emphasized that the high anxiety lowers the learners’ speaking performance. Ali Dincer & Savas Yesilyurt (2013) in their study Pre-Service English Teachers’ Beliefs on Speaking Skills Based on Motivational Orientations. They showed that “Students’ ideas about the importance of speaking skills among the four language skills are diverse; this diversity is associated with the students’ motivational orientations and students’ feeling competent/ incompetent in speaking. Also, students’ self-assessment about their speaking ability was generally negative and they expressed themselves as incompetent speakers.
Few of them said that, "compared to other students, they had a better position both in participating in speaking activities and speaking English", (p. Lukitasari (2008) conducted a study focusing on the students’ strategies in overcoming speaking problems in speaking class. The population of her study was the first semester students of Muhammadiyah University of Malang in Indonesia. The findings revealed that students often feel not confident enough when speaking or presenting before class because they are shy and afraid of their wrong or bad pronunciation.
Feyten (1991) conducted a study to examine whether there is a relationship between 2 Luan van listening ability and speaking ability. The results show that there is a significant relationship between listening and speaking, they support each other and affect directedly each other because communication need both listeners and speakers. 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. Aims of the study Realizing the importance of speaking English skill besides natural language and the difficulties that first-year students have to face when learning speaking, the researcher decided to do research to find out which factors affecting to their English competence. The researcher would like to give some suggestions and recommendations to help them improve their speaking comprehension and develop themselves. The study was carried out in order to answer and solve some following questions: 1.
What are the problems that the first-year English-majored students at Thuong Mai University encounter when they learn to speak English? 2. What are the factors that affect their speaking performance? 3. What are effective methods of studying English, especially speaking skill? 4. What do first-year English-majored students have to do to improve speaking English skill? 1.
Research subjects 3 Luan van In this study, the researcher would concentrate on making inquiries about the challenges which first-year English-majored students at TMU deal with when they speaking English and discover factors affecting competence for speaking English. Moreover, the author would examine related aspects of speaking performance in order to support first-year English-majored students at TMU to learn English, especially speaking skill and make them feel comfortable and confident instead of being shy or afraid of speaking wrong. Scope of the study This study was conducted with first-year English-majored students at Thuong Mai University, which includes English faculty and some teachers who teach English subjects with many experiences. Research methodology The methods the author choosed was a combination of the two following ones: Questionaire survey and Interview.
They have some following features in common: - Data Collection: First-year English-majored students at TMU - Samples of the study: Select randomly some students and teachers to create a sample frame and results for the study. The questionnaire survey and interview questions are attached in Appendix. The questionnaire survey was designed for first-year English-majored TMU students only and the interview was conducted with teachers at language practice subject at Thuongmai University too. These domains may reflect the factors that negatively affect speaking skills at Thuong Mai University for first-year English-majored students.
Organization of the study 4 Luan van This study was divided into four main chapters including chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3 and chapter 4 named "Overview of the study", "Literature review", "Research findings" and "Recommendations and suggestions" respectively. Depending on the content and idea of each main part, there are other small parts which support for the main one. In Chapter 1, there are seven small parts, including "Rationale", "Previous studies", "Aims of the study", "Research subjects", "Scope of the study", "Research methodology", and "Organization of the study." It shows some general information about the study so that readers could have an overview of the entire study. In Chapter 2, the author prestents some theories of the content of the study and other related sides.
In Chapter 3, the author shows the research findings according to questionnaire survey and interview. In Chapter 4, the author gives some recommendations and suggestions of how to help students improve their English speaking competence. 5 Luan van CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2. Definition of speaking 2.
Definition of speaking According to Oxford Dictionaries, speaking is defined as the action of conveying information or expressing one's thoughts and feelings in spoken language. It is also the activity of delivering speeches or lectures. Speaking is basically one of the four skills in learning foreign language besides listening, reading, and writing. David Nunan, Guralnik, loc.