i CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the Bachelor’s Thesis submitted today entitled: “THE 8TH GRADERS’ PERSPECTIVES ON ENGLISH SPEAKING PROBLEMS IN EFL CLASSROOM: A STUDY AT THE ASIAN HIGH SCHOOL – CAO THANG CAMPUS” In terms of the statement of requirements for Thesis in Bachelor’s programs issued by The Saigon International University. Ho Chi Minh City LE TRAN HANH PHUC ii RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, LE TRAN HANH PHUC, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor (English Language) accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Thesis deposited in the Library. In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my Bachelor’s Thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Librarian for the care, loan, and reproduction for theses. Ho Chi Minh City LE TRAN HANH PHUC iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to express my deepest gratitude to Mr.
Nguyen Thanh Tuan, my supervisor, for his patience, guidance, insightful advice, and constant encouragement through the whole research process. Without his enthusiastic support and guidance, this thesis would never have been completed. Additionally, the task of writing this thesis is much easier by the support of my lecturers at The Saigon International University (SIU) for their useful lessons from which I could learn a lot of for the accomplishment of the study. It is equally important to send my sincere gratitude the Management of SIU for giving me the best help to complete this paper.
Besides SIU, I am grateful to the managers and teachers at Asian High School (AHS) for allowing me to conduct my study. In addition, I would also like to send my heartfelt thanks to of the 8th graders at Asian High School who provided me a great deal of valuable information for analysis of this study. Last but not least, I extend my special thanks to my beloved family and my friends for their love, belief, inspiration, care, support, and continuous encouragements during the time I conducted this study. There are many more acknowledgements I wish to make.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to mention all of them, but they are all in my heart. I truly hope this thesis can place some value to the 8th graders and teachers of English especially in developing speaking skill. iv INSTRUCTOR’S COMMENTS. v ABSTRACT Speaking is considered one of the most significant macro skills in the process of language acquisition.
In ELF classrooms, however, this skill is likely to be ignored, which may cause ELF learners confusion and problems when learning it. The present study aimed to explore English speaking problems perceived by the 8th graders at Asian High School (AHS) and suggest some solutions to the investigated problems. The quantitative study was conducted with the participation of 80 students who are in grade 8. In addition, the quantitative data collected from the questionnaire were processed by SPSS (19.
The findings showed that most of students “agreed” that they faced some speaking problems. Specifically, the most dominant problems included vocabulary limitation, motivation, mispronunciation, uninteresting topics, the curriculum limitation, class size and layout of tables and chairs. Besides, possible solutions are proposed to tackle such challenges in helping teachers and students in order to teach and learn English speaking skill more effectively. Finally, it is recommended that further research should assess the speaking problems by means of observation and interview, investigate the speaking strategies that the students have unconsciously used to deal with the speaking problems, explore the differences in terms of speaking problems and strategies used between proficient speakers and non-proficient speakers, and elaborately examine the links between the specific speaking problems and the specific speaking strategies.
(240 words) Keywords: English speaking skill, problems, suggested solutions, Vietnamese EFL context vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY………………………………………….i RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS…………………………………. iii INSTRUCTOR'S COMMENTS………………………………………. v TABLE OF CONTENTS. vi LIST OF TABLES.
ixi LIST OF FIGURES. xi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. xix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .1 Rationale for the study .2 Aims and objective of the study .4 Scope of the study .5 Significance of the study.6 Definition of the key terms .7 Organization of the thesis. 4 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW .1 Nature of speaking skill .1 Definition of speaking skill .2 The importance of speaking skill in English language learning .2 Speaking competence of English as a foreign language .3 Characteristics of English speaking.4 Factors that make learning speaking difficult .1 Lack of motivation .2 Lack of confidence .3 Lack of vocabulary.5 Some solutions to solve possible problems .1 Possible solutions to lack of confidence .2 Possible solutions to lack of motivation.3 Solutions to problems related to teaching methods .4 Solutions to problems related to in-class learning environment .4 Sample and Sampling Procedures .6 Data Collection and Analysis Procedure .7 Validity and Reliability.
24 CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS, DISCUSSION AND RESULT .1 Time that students have spent on speaking after school .1 Problems related to the Speaker .2 Problems related to the Teaching methods .3 Problems related to the Curriculum/ Syllabus.4 Problems related to the In- class Learning Environment .1 Solutions to problems related to the speakers .2 Solutions to Problems Related to the Teaching Methods .3 Solutions to Problems Related to the Curriculum/ Syllabus .4 Solutions to Problems Related to the In-class learning environment. 36 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS .2 Recommendations for Further Research. 44 viii APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE (ENGLISH VERSION). 46 ix LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Reliability Statistics on the Items Regarding Speaking Difficulties .1 Results of Problems Related to the Speaker (n=80) .2 Results of Problems Related to the Teaching Methods (n=80) .3 Results of Problems Related to the Curriculum/Syllabus (n=80) .4 Results of Problems Related to the In-class Learning Environment(n=80) 32 x LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 Conceptual Framework of the study……….1 Data Collection and Analysis Procedures .1 Time Spent on Speaking after School.
25 xi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AHS: The Asian High School ELF: English as a Foreign Language MOET: Ministry of Education and Training SIU: The Saigon International University 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the study English is one of the important subjects in Vietnamese education system. Students are required to study all English courses stipulated by the Ministry of Education and Training (hereafter MOET) from primary to tertiary level. After completing general English courses, students will be able to be good at four English skills including listening, speaking, reading and writing. Next, when entering university, students will learn more intensively and master vocabulary and academic English.
Accordingly, students will be able to understand, analyze and apply Basic English grammar and acquire at least 2500 words. In addition, students will be able to gain a lot of extensive knowledge of cultures, ethnicities, and people’s lives in the United Kingdom and United States when they learn English. Hence, students can communicate better in many cases and can introduce the history, culture and special features of Vietnam to the world (MOET, 2007). In 2008, Decision N0 1400/QD-TTg on approving the project entitled (tentatively translated) “Teaching and Learning Foreign Languages in National Education System within the period of 2008-2020” was passed by The Prime Minister of Vietnam.
The project includes three periods. In the first period (2008 -2010), English program has paid much attention to improving and bettering the 10- year foreign language curricula, designing foreign language course books and testing the 10- year English syllabus. In the second period (2011- 2015), MOET has begun to apply the new English program which has been improved for the whole education system in Vietnam. In the third period (2016 - 2020), the aim is rereading and revising the new curricula and developing English program for the educational institutions including vocational schools, colleges and universities.
2 Although the decisions and polices have been established in order to improve the quality of English teaching and learning, not many considerable changes have been made so far. In fact, students have been facing a lot of difficulties while learning speaking in the classrooms. In the past, teachers only needed students to remember as many words as possible and master grammar in order to pass the English tests with flying colors. However, according to the current trend, when the foreigners immigrate to Vietnam more and more, the target of learning English not only to read and write, but also to communicate verbally.
To (2006) defines that in order for students to achieve the purpose of listening and speaking in the process of studying English, the teaching of teachers is very influential. But some teachers still remain to teach the old methods such as grammar- translation, teacher-centered, book-based, and driven-exam (Le & Barnard, 2009; Tomlision & Bao, 2004; Le, 2002; Liu & Littlewood, 1997). This means that speaking is excluded from the lessons as well as tests. With this way of teaching, students will successfully complete their curriculum but fail to communicate effectively in real- life conversations (To, 2006).
As for the 8th graders at AIS, it is not an exception. Although students have been studying in an international environment, they have still got some difficulties while learning English skills, specially speaking. Being aware of the situation, the author wanted to conduct this study to learn about speaking difficulties encountered by 8th graders at The Asian High School (AHS).2 Aims and objectives of the study Based on the aforementioned reasons and the reality of teaching and learning English speaking at The Asian High School (hereafter AHS), the author conducted a study with the aim of allowing AHS students at Cao Thang Campus to share what English speaking problems they have faced while learning speaking in the classroom. 3 With the above aims, the two objectives were established as follows.
- To investigate the 8th graders’ perspectives on speaking problems in EFL classrooms, at AHS, Cao Thang Campus. - To suggest some useful solutions in order to help teachers improve their teaching methods, and help students overcome the current speaking problems and better their speaking skill.3 Research questions With the above aims and objectives, the two research questions were formulated as follows: 1. What are the speaking problems perceived by the 8th graders at The Asian High School, Cao Thang Campus? 2. What are the useful suggestions as solutions to speaking problems found in the study? 1.4 Scope of the study Because the time was limited, the present study concentrated on investigating the 8th graders’ perspectives on the speaking problems, and suggesting some solutions to the problems found in this study.
Additionally, this study would not be generalized to all the eighth graders at AHS. The present study was conducted with the participation of eighty students who are in grade 8 at AHS – Cao Thang Campus.5 Significance of the study The study is significant due to the following reasons. There have not been many studies conducted at The Asian High School regarding students’ speaking problems. Therefore, this study was carried out with the hope of enriching the source of data for the further research at AHS.
In addition, that the study finds out the speaking problems of the 8th graders helps the students recognize their own weaknesses in speaking, and helps AHS teachers to comprehend the current situation. From that, students can choose suitable strategies to better their learning and teachers can improve their teaching methods. Finally, this study is hoped to be the theoretical background to the future studies which are associated with the focus of this study.6 Definition of the key terms The following terms communicate the following meaning whenever they appear in this study as follows. - Speaking: the way of conveying ideas, information or expressing someone's thoughts and feelings in spoken language.
- Problems: difficulties/challenges in speaking and factors making speaking difficult.