BANKING ACADEMY OF VIETNAM FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY GRADUATION THESIS A STUDY ON FACTORS AFFECTING THE SPEAKING SKILLS OF FRESHMEN IN THE FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AT BANKING ACADEMY Supervisor : MR. NGO TUNG ANH Student name : NGUYEN THI QUE Class : K20 ATCB Faculty : Foreign Languages Student code : 20A7510146 Hanoi 2021 1 17014128959661000000 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis is one of the things that makes me extremely proud and also one of the greatest achievements that I have got during my learning time at Banking Academy. However, it also makes me feel worried about whether I can be able to complete it in a good way. Fortunately, I have received plenty of supports, guidance, encouragement, helps from many people during the process of completing this paper thesis.
First and foremost, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to Dr. Ngo Tung Anh for his expert guidance during the journey of writing this thesis. He has read, discussed, and gave critical feedback and suggestion for every aspect and section of this thesis with enthusiasm. He even helped me to fix grammatical and spelling mistakes for the thesis.
His recommendations also helped to shape the form and contents of the final version. I have to say that, without his guidance, I could not complete my graduation thesis. Next, I would like to also thank my very dear mother who gives me unconditional love, encouragement, and support. She plays an important role in my life because She is not only my lovely mother but also my best friend.
I would not have been who I am today without her. Last but not least, extra special thanks go to all participants who take part in the survey. Without their cooperation and assistance, my research would not have been finished. Hopefully, that this thesis will be useful information for readers can get useful information from this thesis even this thesis is far from being perfect.
Moreover, any criticisms, ideas, and suggestions for the improvement of this thesis are greatly welcomed. i CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I declare that this graduation thesis is my own research, under the guidance of Mr. Ngo Tung Anh. The research contents and results are accurate and have never been published in any study works before.
The references are properly cited as prescribed in the reference section. Hanoi, 23th MAY, 2021 Signature Nguyen Thi Que ii ABSTRACT The title of the thesis: A Study on Factors Affecting the Speaking Skills of Freshmen in The Faculty of Foreign Languages at Banking Academy Author: Nguyen Thi Que Advisor: Mr. Ngo Tung Anh Key words: Speaking, factors, freshmen. Abstract: Nowadays, English is acknowledged as an international language all over the world.
If students are good at English, they can have opportunities to broaden their horizons and get lucrative jobs in the future. However, out of the four language skills, speaking is considered the most important skill but also the most difficult one. This study aims at exploring the learners’ speaking problems and finding out the main factors causing them then suggesting some useful and effective techniques to improve the freshmen’ oral skills. In order to fulfill those purposes, questionnaires and documents were used as the main research instrument to collect data.
Findings proved that there were two main kinds of factors that affected the freshmen’s speaking skills called internal factors and external factors. The internal ones related to the factors coming from the students themselves and language itself, such as lack of active vocabulary, mispronunciations, topical knowledge, listening ability, grammatical knowledge, anxiety, lack of motivation, lack of self- confidence. Meanwhile, the external factors were from the outside aspects such as the habit of using Vietnamese, time pressure, the standard of performance, teachers' feedback, lack of environment to practice. Additionally, the study also suggested some recommendations to improve the students’ oral skills.
iii Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.i CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY. iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .vi LIST OF FIGURES. vii LIST OF TABLE. viii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION .2 Background of the Study .3 Objectives of the Study .4 Significance of the Study .5 Scope and Limitation of the Study .3 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW.1 Concept of Speaking Skills .1 Definition of Speaking .2 Aspects of Speaking .3 Function of Speaking.4 The Importance of Speaking Skills .2 Non-linguistic Problems .3 Factors Affecting Speaking Skills of Freshmen in the Faculty of Foreign Languages at BA .27 CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.
Locale of the Study .4 Data Gathering Procedures .35 iv CHAPTER IV: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION .1 Freshmen Attitude toward Speaking Skills .2 Common Problems of Speaking which First Year Students Face .3 Factors Affecting Speaking Skills of Freshmen in Faculty of Foreign Languages at BA .4 Effective Techniques and Solutions to Help Freshmen Improve Their Speaking Performance .45 CHAPTER V: SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION .1 Summary of Findings.2 Factors Affecting Freshmen Speaking Skills .3 Appropriate Methods to Improve Speaking Skills .1 Recommendations for Students .2 Recommendations for School .3 Recommendations for Further Research. 58 v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ACRONYMS WORD’S MEANING BA Banking Academy vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Gender of respondents Figure 2 Years of learning English Figure 3 Respontdent’s attitude toward speaking skill Figure 4 Linguistic problems that freshmen tend to make Figure 5 Non-linguistic problems that freshmen tend to make Figure 6 Linguistic factors Figure 7 Psychology factors Figure 8 External factors vii LIST OF TABLE Table 1 Effective techniques to improve speaking skill viii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction This final thesis paper was conducted to figure out various factors which affect the speaking skill of freshmen in the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Banking Academy (BA). In this chapter, therefore, the researcher has provided information about the background, objectives, significance, scope and limitation of the study.2 Background of the Study In the last decades, English has been become more and more popular and therefore played an extremely critical role in communication. It is undeniable that English is the most common spoken language for people all over the world.
In fact, around 400 million people use English as their mother-tongue and 54 countries which cover all five continents from Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia to Australia recognize English as an official language. In addition, English is considered as the most popular second language choice of languages learners. English as a foreign language is learned by more than 1 billion people and it is also taught at primary schools, secondary schools and especially universities either public or private in hundreds of countries all over the world. Therefore, being able to use English is not just about communicating with native speakers, but also being in communication with English learners.
Moreover, English is an international language in many fields such as business, science and technology, life and entertainment and English is also the language of the Internet because most of the information on the Internet is written in English. Thus, if you want to access the treasure trove of human wisdom, you have to learn English. Speaking is a vital skill for expressing thoughts, feelings, opinions as well as ideas and it is also the fastest way to convey knowledge directly. Speaking is one of four skills (speaking, reading, listening, writing) in English and it is deemed to be the most important and necessary one.
Brown and Yuke (1983) say, “Speaking is the skill that students will be judged upon most in real life situations”. We always assume that one person who knows a language is someone who has the ability to speak that language properly, accurately and fluently. Therefore, all English 1 Language teaching's main purpose should focus on providing learners the competence to speak English effectively in day-to-day basic communication. Unfortunately, many English learners after a long period of time trying to study English still cannot speak English properly, even in normal conversation, because they do not have the suitable way and necessary knowledge.
English is now taught in most schools in Vietnam as a second language. The majority of students, however, still cannot speak English fluently. That is because Vietnamese learners tend to focus on learning reading and grammar in order to serve for their exams such as final exams, entrance exams. And in the Banking Academy of Vietnam, English is a compulsory subject which all students have to accomplish if they want to graduate, but the competence to speak English with foreigners seem to be impossible for most students who are not majoring in English language and even students who are majoring in English language still feel afraid of speaking English in front of people.
Vietnamese learners have many difficulties with English pronunciation and other factors which affect speaking skills and that is also the main problem of first year students in the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Banking Academy. Therefore, in order to understand this problem in depth, the author has decided to choose this title for the final thesis: “A study on the factors affecting the speaking skill of freshmen in the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Banking Academy ''.3 Objectives of the Study With a strong desire and hope to help freshmen students in the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Banking Academy of Vietnam improve their speaking skill and be more and more confident when using English orally, the final thesis paper aims at figuring out factors which influence the lack of ability in speaking skill as well as how those factors affect first year students at BA. In addition, some of the most common problems that freshmen have to face when speaking English is also discovered. Moreover, some appropriate methods for them to speak English effectively have been suggested.4 Significance of the Study The significance of this study may hopefully be useful for students, teachers and researchers.
Firstly, for students, this final thesis paper may help them to raise their awareness about the importance of speaking skill as well as difficulties when speaking English. From this study students can not only figure out some of the most common speaking problems which they are likely to face, but also find out factors affecting their speaking competence, so that they can discover the effective methods in order to improve their speaking ability. Last but not least, some solutions to overcome speaking weakness found from this study are expected to apply for students to help them deal with problems and also help them to improve their speaking skill and perhaps master their English. Secondly, the result of this study hopefully could be used by teachers who take a vital role in the success of students’ journey of mastering English.
Teachers as instructors have to provide necessary and creative methods to help students improve and develop their speaking competence. Therefore, this study may help teachers find out some effective ways which can apply for their teaching methods in order to create the best and the most effective lessons. Thirdly, other researchers could also use this final thesis paper as a reference when they create similar studies.5 Scope and Limitation of the Study The study will be taken place in the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Banking Academy. It is one of the best Universities in the field of banking and languages which located in Hanoi the capital of Vietnam.
In terms of the participants for the research, a total of 205 first-year students in the Faculty of Foreign Languages will join in this study. Even though they are new to the University environment, they are reported to be hard-working and obedient students. However, their English skills are not really good, especially speaking skills. Within the scope of the paper, the study only concentrates on revealing factors affecting students’ speaking skills, some common problems, and then suggesting some effective solutions to improve English speaking for freshmen.