VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES BA THESIS DIFFICULTIES FACING VNUA'S FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS IN SPEAKING 2 LESSONS NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM NHẤT CHUYÊN NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH TẠI VNUA TRONG CÁC GIỜ HỌC NÓI 2 Student : TRINH THI DIU Student code : 621213 Major : ENGLISH LINGUISTICS Supervisor : NGUYEN THI LAN ANH, M.A Hanoi - 2021 VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES BA THESIS DIFFICULTIES FACING VNUA'S FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS IN SPEAKING 2 LESSONS NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM NHẤT CHUYÊN NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH TẠI VNUA TRONG CÁC GIỜ HỌC NÓI 2 Student : TRINH THI DIU Student code : 621213 Major : ENGLISH LINGUISTICS Supervisor : NGUYEN THI LAN ANH, M.A Hanoi - 2021 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “ Difficulties facing VNUA’s first-year English-majored students in speaking 2 lessons”. submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor in English Language. Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis. Hanoi, July 2021 Trinh Thi Diu Approved by SUPERVISOR (Signature and full name) Date:…………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT In the process of completing this graduation paper, I have received many necessary assistances, precious ideas and timely encouragements from my teachers, family and friends.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor Nguyen Thi Lan Anh, M.A for her precious advice, practical suggestions and constant encouragement in the preparation and completion of this graduation paper. Without her help this graduation paper would not have possibly been completed. I would also like to express my great gratitude to all the teachers at Vietnam National University of Agriculture for their devoted teaching and for giving me gain valuable knowledge during the four years at this university. I would be also grateful to the teachers and K65 first-year students at the Faculty of Education and Foreign Languages, Department of Professional English was helpful and happy to answer my interview and fill out my questionnaire.
Finally, I wish to extend my special thanks to my family and my friends for their assistance and encouragement in the making of this graduation paper. Due to the limited scope and time, errors are inevitable in this BA thesis. Therefore, I look forward to receiving your comments and suggestions to further improve the graduation paper. Sincerely thanks! ii TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY.
v LIST OF ABBREVIATION. vi LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES. vii PART 1: INTRODUCTION. RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY. SCOPE OF THE STUDY. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY. DESIGN OF THE STUDY.
5 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. REVIEW OF THE PREVIOUS STUDIES (AT HOME & ABROAD). At home research. REVIEW OF THEORETICAL BACKGROUND.
Definition of English speaking skill. The importance of speaking skill. Characteristics of speaking skill. What a good speaker does.
Factors affecting speaking skill. Data collecting instruments. Data collecting procedures. 22 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION.
FINDING & DISCUSSION ON RESULTS FROM QUESTIONNAIRE. FINDING & DISCUSSION ON RESULTS FROM THE INTERVIEW. SUGGESTIONS ON IMPROVING THE STUDENTS’ ENGLISH SPEAKING PERFORMANCE. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY.
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES. 45 iv ABSTRACT Speaking skills are often identified as an important, essential skill of the process of learning a foreign language in general and English in particular. It is used largely as the medium of communication in many different fields such as science, technology, aviation, international sport and diplomacy, etc. English helps people to communicate with each other although they are from different countries and speak different languages.
Most language learners find it difficult to express themselves in spoken language. They are generally facing problems using a foreign language to express their thoughts effectively. This study aims to find out the difficulties of the first-year English-majored at the Vietnam National University of Agriculture in speaking 2 lessons, then find out the causes and give suggestions to improve the performance of their speaking English. This study will analyze the characteristics of speaking skills; the difficulties facing English learners in Speaking 2 at VNUA, the causes and suggestions on improving English students’ speaking performance.
An online survey questionnaire was conducted to answer the research question: “What are the difficulties met by the first-year English-majored students when they learn speaking skills at VNUA? “60 students completed the online survey questionnaire. Then an interview with 5 students to find out specific difficulties and causes in speaking skills. Preliminary results show that the main cause is linguistic and non-verbal problems. Based on the research results, the researcher has given some suggestions to faculty and students about classroom activities and extracurricular to develop their English speaking skills.
The study hopes that these suggestions will help first-year English-majored in particular and English learners in general become aware of the right ways to speak English fluently. v LIST OF ABBREVIATION VNUA: Vietnam National University of Agriculture TMU: Thuongmai University EFL: English as a Foreign Language vi LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 3. Difficulties facing the first-year English-majored students in learning English speaking from their own perspective. An assessment of the language difficulties of first-year English- majored students at VNUA.
An assessment of the psychological difficulties of first-year English- majored students at VNUA. An assessment of learning methods difficulties of first-year English- majored students at VNUA. Difficulties facing the first-year English-majored students in learning English speaking. ( Page 28 ) vii PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1.
RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY Nowadays, speaking is one of the most important skills to be developed and enhanced in daily lives. Speaking skill is the ability to express verbally. Speaking skill is different from other skills such as Reading, Writing, Listening in that it is a combination of many factors to make a speech. Speaking skill is a special form of human skill; it is not what’s genetic and not congenital.
It is regarded as one of the most difficult aspects of language learning. Most language learners find it difficult to express themselves in spoken language. They are generally facing problems using a foreign language to express their thoughts effectively. Speaking skill is formed and developed in the process of communication, there are many ways to express the language to be expressed.
For ordinary people, the speaker uses words to express their ideas and aspirations; for people with language impairments, they will use body language such as limbs, eyes… to express their ideas. After studying at the Faculty of Education and Foreign Languages, Viet Nam National University of Agriculture for nearly four years, I realize that the first-year students of English major still have many difficulties in their speaking skills. In the hope of finding out the difficulties of speaking that they normally get, a study entitled: “ Difficulties facing VNUA’s first-year English-majored students in speaking 2 lessons” has been conducted because of all the above- mentioned reasons. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The study is aimed to survey and research the difficulties faced by first- year English-majored at VNUA.
From there, find out the causes and suggestions to help students overcome their English speaking skills. Within my reach of understanding, I would only like to go through the Literature Review of 1 speaking, the common strategies to improve the students’ English speaking skills, then I would like to give the methodology of the study research. The objectives focusing on survey and interview to find out the difficulties that first-year students English-majored face in Speaking 2. Find out the causes of the difficulties that students are facing.
Propose suggestions to improve students' difficulties in Speaking 2 lessons. RESEARCH QUESTIONS The basic research questions for the study are: (1) What are the difficulties facing the first-year English-majored students when they learn speaking skills at VNUA? (2) What are the causes behind those difficulties? (3) What are some suggestions to improve their English speaking skill? 4. SCOPE OF THE STUDY The study is about learning speaking skills for first-year English-majored students at VNUA and focused on 4 classes K65ENGA, K65ENGB, K65ENGC and K65ENGE taught by Ha Thi Lan, M. Speaking 2 is learned by "Cambridge English Preliminary" syllabus in two credits for eight weeks of theory and three weeks of practice from 8th March to 16th May 2021 ( from two or three periods a week, fifty minutes each period.
Specifically, classes K65ENGA, C, E study theory for 8 weeks, 3 periods per week. As for the K65ENGB class, there are 6 weeks of theory, 2 lessons per week, 2 periods each lesson. All classes have 3 weeks of practice, 5 periods per week). SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY In finding out the difficulties of first-year English-majored students in learning speaking English and some suggested solutions, hopefully the research results will be used as a reference to help students learn better speaking skills in the next semesters.
In addition, the results of this study is very important significance, it not only pinpoints problems students have in speaking English but also indicates the weaknesses students have in the four macro skills of English. Therefore, the methods and suggestions of this study can address students' difficulties in order to improve their English speaking skills. I also hope that the findings of the research will really be necessary knowledge that helps me to understand more about English to improve my English language skills. DESIGN OF THE STUDY Apart from abstract, references & appendices, the study consists of three main parts: PART 1 - INTRODUCTION presents the rationale of the study, aims and objectives of the study, research questions, the scope as well as the significance of the study.
PART 2 - DEVELOPMENT is divided into 3 chapters: Chapter 1 - LITERATURE REVIEW – Review of the previous studies (At home & abroad) & Review of theoretical background for the study including definitions of English Speaking skills, the importance of Speaking skills, characteristics of Speaking skills and what a good speaker does. Chapter 2 – METHODOLOGY describes the methodology used in the research including research methodology, research setting, data collection, data analysis. 3 Chapter 3 - FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS - reports and discusses the findings of the study. PART 3 - CONCLUSION summarizes the main issues that have been addressed in the study, points out the limitations, draws pedagogical implications concerning the research topic and suggests several solutions.
4 PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1. REVIEW OF THE PREVIOUS STUDIES (AT HOME & ABROAD) 1. At home research Trinh Thi Tuyet (2019) carried out a study "Difficulties in English Speaking Skill of Thuongmai University 's first-year English-majored and Solutions" would provide background about English and English speaking. The paper also indicates some problems and difficulties that English learners have to encounter when speaking English.
Based on given theories and previously relate studies, the paper conducts a survey and makes a questionnaire to interview first-year English-majored. After data collection process, the study analyzes and indicates the importance of English speaking to first-year students. Besides, the actual English speaking level of first-year is shown in this paper as well. The study shows the frequency of learning English speaking of first-year and the main way that most of freshmen apply when they practice speaking English.
Afterwards, the study shows the advantages and disadvantages in their leaming ways and finds out some main difficulties and problems they face to. Then, to each difficulty and problem, the paper provides some solutions to deal with, solutions for students and for TMU as well. The study hopes that these solutions would help first-year students in particular and English learners in general aware of the suitable ways to master English speaking.