Ho Chi Minh City GRADUATION THESIS Major English Language Topic IMPROVING SPEAKING SKILLS FOR STUDENTS IN CLASS 7/29 AND 7/30 – THE ASIAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL (AHS – CAO THANG CAMPUS) Instructor: Nguyen Thanh Tuan, M.A Student: Nguyen Thi Tuyet Chi ID: 97011501077 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the Bachelor’s Thesis submitted entitled: “IMPROVING SPEAKING SKILLS FOR STUDENTS IN CLASS 7/29 AND 7/30 – THE ASIAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL (AHS – CAO THANG CAMPUS)” In terms of the statement of requirements for Thesis in Bachelor’s programs issued by The Saigon International University (SIU). Ho Chi Minh City NGUYEN THI TUYET CHI RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I am NGUYEN THI TUYET CHI, hereby asseverate that this presented Graduation Thesis is exclusively prepared by me without any copies from other works. I also verify that the thesis is only prepared for my academic requirement not for any other purposes. It might not be used with the interest of the opposite party of the corporation.
Ho Chi Minh City NGUYEN THI TUYET CHI ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I had received many helps when I completed my Graduation Thesis. Keeping in mind, I would like to express my deepest sense of gratitude and special thanks to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tuan, M.A, whose encouragement, guidance and willingness motivated me from the beginning to the end and supported me to finish this work. On the one hand, I am using this opportunity to express my gratitude towards The Saigon International University (SIU) for providing me a professional learning environment and facilities.
On the other hand, I would like to give the appreciation from the bottom of my heart to all professors in the English Language major for giving enthusiasm and sympathies to teach and lift me to be a better student as I am today. Moreover, my limited knowledge, shortcomings and mistakes cannot avoid so I expect to receive helpful advices from professors to make this study more perfect. Besides, I am very grateful for the helps and supports from the managers and teachers at The Asian International Schools (AHS). By giving favorable conditions, I had a lot of opportunities to work, experience and investigate my study.
Last but not least, I also extend my special thanks to students of class 7/29 and 7/30 for joining in my research and giving me a great deal of valuable information which contribute the study. In conclusion, I truly hope this study will make senses to the secondary school students/ teachers at AHS in general, and to the class 7/29, 7/30 in specific in improving English Speaking skills. INSTRUCTOR’S COMMENTS …………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………… Mark:……………………………… Signed:……………………………. ABSTRACT Speaking fluently is one of the ambitions that English learners desire to achieve.
For learners who learn English as a foreign language (EFL) or learn English as a second language (ESL), this aim is not that easy, they might have to face with a lot of difficulties and need to find appropriate learning methods to make them enjoy their learning process. The objectives of this study are investigating the English speaking difficulties, troubles that secondary school students (grade 7) at The Asian International School (AHS) – Cao Thang Campus have; then, the researcher will reveal some effective teaching methods and practical solutions for teachers to solve these problems and support students improving their speaking abilities. Using the descriptive and analytic methods, the population in this study is 38 students from two classes 7/29 and 7/30 at The Asian International School (AHS) – Cao Thang Campus in the year 2019. Keywords: English Speaking skills, EFL, ESL, difficulties, solutions.
_______________________________ NGUYEN THI TUYET CHI ID: 97011501077 Course: 8 Class: 15DTA Major in English Language The Saigon International University (SIU) TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES. 2 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. Statement of the Problem. Purpose of the Research.
Significance of the Research. The Scope of the Research. 6 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Definitions of Key Terms.
What is English Speaking skill?. Review Previous Work. Some Difficulties of Secondary School Students in English Speaking skills. Reliability and Validity.
23 CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION. Results from the questionnaire. 35 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS. Recommendations for Further Research.
41 1 LIST OF CHARTS Chart 1: Students’ perceived the most difficult skills in English subject p.25 Chart 2: Students’ interests in learning English Speaking lessons p.26 Chart 3: Students’ frequency of English speaking at school p.27 Chart 4: Students identified the most difficulty in English speaking p.28 Chart 5: Students’ opinion whether environment is the most important factors helping them improve speaking skills p.29 Chart 6: Students’ views about the integration of listening skills and speaking skills p.30 Chart 7: Students indicated the best way to develop English Speaking skills p.32 Chart 8: Students indicated the most effective teaching aids to enhance their speaking abilities p.34 2 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AHS: The Asian International School SIU: The Saigon International University EFL: English as a Foreign Language ESL: English as a Second Language 3 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Statement of the Problem It is the fact that English is the global language or the international language. According to a quick Google search, there are 1.5 billion people reported to speak English – make up 20% of the Earth’s population. However, just about 360 million people around the world speaking English as their first or mother language (Lyon, 2017).
In addition to being globally spoken, English is by far the most commonly studied foreign language all over the world. Speaking is the second of the four language skills which are Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing. They said that speaking is one of the most challenging, exciting, and positive learning experiences that English learner may ever have. Moreover, through speaking skills learners will have a lot of opportunities to improve knowledge, self- confidence, critical-thinking skills, listening skills, organization thoughts, use of posture and voice, and improvement in giving and accepting constructive criticism.
In addition, people have more changes and able to success in many careers in many fields when they have good or excellent English speaking skills. It might be difficult for people who learn English as a second language (ESL) to speak naturally and fluently. They may find it is their greatest fears to communicate or talking in English. As the secondary students learning in International environment, class 7/29 and 7/30 of The Asian International School (AHS) – Cao Thang Campus have been told to have better opportunities and environment in learning English.
After 12-week internship being English teacher, working, researching and investigating with students in 4 these classes, this study proposes some difficulties of class 7/29 and 7/30 - AHS in Speaking skills and some specific solutions to solve these problems. Purpose of the Research With the important of speaking skills mentioned above, this study is researching the factors behind common speaking difficulties that face secondary school students at class 7/29 and 7/30 - The Asian International School (AHS) – Cao Thang Campus. Besides that, it seeks to investigate some effective solutions and teaching methods that teacher can apply in the lectures to solve students’ speaking difficulties, as well as improving theirs abilities in speaking English. Significance of the Research Considering as one of the productive skills that studiers should improve, speaking is very important and very challenging skill.
As secondary school students who learn English as a second language, communicate fluently in English might hard to a large number of students in class 7/29 and 7/30 - The Asian International School (AHS) – Cao Thang Campus. This is my recent research, which indicates some difficulties of these students in speaking process and some specific solutions to solve these problems. Research Questions Based on the problem statement mentioned above, this study is an attempt to find answers to the following questions: 5 1. What are the difficulties that the students of class 7/29 and 7/30 – The Asian International School (AHS) – Cao Thang Campus have in English Speaking skills? 2.
Why do they have these problems? 3. What are effective solutions that help these students improve their abilities in English Speaking skills? 5. Limitation This study is a result of 12-week internship and research at The Asian International School (AHS) – Cao Thang Campus. The present work will not cover all of the secondary students of AHS, due to time limit and other factors.
This research is just focuses on two classes 7/29 and 7/30. The Scope of the Research This work focuses on students in two classes 7/29 and 7/30 – The Asian International School (AHS) – Cao Thang Campus, which includes 38 students. This study is using useful techniques and procedures to find out the difficulties and solutions for the students of class 7/29 and 7/30 – AHS in English Speaking skills. To obtain correct results, descriptive analytical methodology and a questionnaire are used.
6 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW In this chapter, the researcher will present the theoretical backgrounds which relevant to the core and objectives of the study. In addition, the definitions, theories and significances of English Speaking skills are first described. Thus, following some relating studies and resources from many reliable authors, the factors causing difficulties and specific solutions in English speaking will be shown. This chapter ends with the conceptual framework of the study.
Definitions of Key Terms 1. What is English Speaking skill? 1. What is Speaking? According to Oxford learner’s dictionaries, the definition of speak includes talking to somebody about something, having a conversation with somebody. In another definition, speak is to describe or mention, people speaking of/about something/somebody.
Mohammed (2015) defined speaking is the delivery of language through the mouth. The author stated in his study: “To speak a particular language, people make sounds or voices by many parts of the body, which consist of the lungs, vocal tract, vocal chords, tongue, teeth and lips”. Beside that, speaking language is also supported by non-verbal communication such as body language (gestures, eye-contact or facial expressions). At least one listener can be required in this vocalized form of language.
The conversation is called a “dialogue” when two or more people talk or speak to each other. In this form of dialogue, the speech can transfer naturally from one person to another. In 7 addition, in a presentation or speech, people can also plan, prepare or rehearse. On the other hand, people can even speak to themselves without partners/ listeners.
Speaking can be formal or informal: - Formal speaking is typical used in academic or business situations, or in talking with people for the first time. - Informal speaking often occurs in daily/ normal situations when talking with family, friends and people who the speakers know well. What is English Speaking skill? Brown (1994) pointed out that speaking is an interactive process of conducting meaning, which involves producing, receiving and processing information. Mohammed (2015) defined in his research that speaking is considered as one of the most important and challenging skill as well as the most common way to building and creating interpersonal relations.
Nadir (2016) stated that besides knowing well some specific points of language like vocabulary, pronunciation, grammars or structures, English learners need to improve their speaking skills abilities as far as speech habits to gain success of any exchange. Speaking skills are the ability to talk at any time and in any situation. To have good speaking skills, speakers need to use public techniques and practices. As a result of having good speaking skills and verbal power, people are able to express or transfer their means, ideas, opinions or wishes.
Thus, they are able to establish, gain good connection with others, and become sociable. Difficulty definition 8 Difficulty is generally not being easy, or being hard to do, overcome or understand (definitions from Cambridge Dictionary). A difficulty is also a problem, a thing that is hard to accomplish, deal with.