VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATES STUDIES KREKKKEKKEKEKEK TRAN THI THU BUILDING UP STUDENTS’ SELF-CONFIDENCE IN LEARNING SPEAKING SKILLS AT A UNIVERSITY IN HANOI: A SURVEY OF METHODS một trường đại học tại Hà Nội: Khảo sát về các phương pháp) M. Minor Programme Thesis : English Teaching Methodology : 60 14 10 Hanoi, 2013 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATES STUDIES KEKEKKEKKEKEEKE TRAN THI THU BUILDING UP STUDENTS’ SELF-CONFIDENCE IN LEARNING SPEAKING SKILLS AT A UNIVERSITY IN HANOI: A SURVEY OF METHODS (Xây dựng sự tự tin cho sinh viên khi hoc kỹ năng nói tiếng Anh ở M. Minor Programme Thesis Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60 14 10 Supervisor : Dr. Tran Thi Thu Hién Hanoi, 2013 DECLARATION I hereby declare that the thesis entitled: “Building up students’ self-confidence in learning speaking skills at a university in Hanoi: A survey of methods” is the result of my own research for the degree of Master of Arts and has not been previously submitted for a degree or diploma at any other university or institution wholly or partially.
To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference is made in the text. Signature Tran Thi Thu ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Ms. Tran Thi Thu Hien, for her guidance, helpful suggestions, invaluable critical feedback and encouragement during the time I tried to complete this thesis. I would like to sincerely thank the lecturers of the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their useful lessons that have helped in the clarification of my points.
I am also grateful to all the teachers and the students at Hanoi University of Industry, who have contributed data to my study. Without their enthusiastic cooperation, and assistance, I would never have been able to conduct my research. I would also like to thank all the members of my family for their love, care and encouragement. Last but not least, I would like to thank all those who read and comment this work in manuscript.
il ABSTRACT Speaking is considered an important skill among the four language skills and self-confidence in learning speaking skills plays an essential part to learner’s success. However, in reality, the level of self-confidence in speaking English of non-English major freshmen at Hanoi University of Industry is not high. The study focuses on factors affecting non-English major freshmen’s self- confidence in speaking English and methods to build up their self-confidence in learning speaking skills. The subjects in the study are 150 non-English major freshmen randomly selected and twelve teachers teaching English for these faculties’ students.
Findings from the questionnaires and interview show that non-English major freshmen at Hanoi University of Industry are not self-confident in learning speaking skills due to students’ factors, teachers’ factors and objective factor. Besides, three methods have been applied to increase freshmen’s self-confidence in speaking English namely designing pair or group work activities, letting students practice through many speaking activities and giving interesting topics of speaking. Based on such findings, some suggestions are given with the hope that they might be useful for teachers as well as non-English major freshmen at Hanoi University of Industry in particular and other universities in general to develop non- English major freshmen’s self-confidence in learning speaking skills. ill TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DECLARATION.
- co con HH ni ni ni ninh nh ii 0c (00 he. 11 TABLE OF CONTIENTTS.- --- on co HS HH HH Ki Họ H ni Hi ni Bi 096 Iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.--- HH nh nh ni ni ni ni nu mm vil LIST OF TABLUES.- -- - - =G c SH Họ Hi HH ni ni Hi ni 58 Vili LIST OF FIGURES.--- SG cọ nh KH Ki HH Hi ti Hi 1X PART I: INTRODUCTION.-- con Go HH HH ni km 8® 1 8c nh he.-- -- cc HS Họ KH HH ni Ki HH Ki Hinh ni i9 06 3 4. Methods of the studyy. Significance of the study.-- -- -c cọ HS HH Kim ni min ni mê 4 7.
Structure Of the SfUỞY. - - co con n9 9 9 SH 9 9 9 09 09 9 06 4 PART II: DEVELOPMBENÏT.---- c con HS HH SH HH HH Hi me 6 CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND. English speaking teachỉng.-- -s sc cm SH 1n Si Ki 1 Y1 vS, 6 1. Definition of SD€QĂÌH.
- co ch Ki In Ki Bi Hi Bi 6 1. The components of speaking sĂiÏÏ. -o «co co nó nón 1i Ki 1i PM. Problems with speaking dCẨVIfGS.- «co cóc cm mm HH mm mm 09 8 1.
Stages of teaching SD€AWÌH. co c cm nọ 9 9H 9H. Definition of SGσ“COHÏ(ÏCHCC. - c co có nọ Họ 9 9.
Importance of self-confidence in speaking EHglÌish. Factors affecting students’ self-confidence in speaking CÏASS. Students’ ÍACÍOFS. civ cà cà nà cee tenets ences eee nhe teste LI 1.
cece cee cee hen. Objective fACtOTS ae. Methods of building students’ self-confidence in speaking English. The context of the sfudy.---- cm mm SH HH ni n mm ni mm 3n 2.--- - co HH HH HH BI BI B0 BI i0 Bi i9 08 PIN | 1/000) 0) 6.- co HH HH II In I9 0960960016001 018 PL.
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Data collection pFOC€dUF€. CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION. Data anaÌySÌS.---- cc c Go HH SH Họ Họ Họ Họ HH HH 9 Hi Bi i0 609 06 3. Students’ general attitudes towards learning EHglish.
Students’ attitudes towards learning to speak EHgÌisÏi. Students’ awareness about the importance of English speaking. Comparison of teachers’ and students’ assessment of the importance of self- confidence in learning speaking SKills. Teachers’ and students assessment of students’ level of self-confidence in Speaking English.
Factors affecting students’ self-confidence in learning speaking skills. Comparison of teachers’ and students’ judgment of the students’ factors affecting students’ self-confidence in speaking English. Teachers’ and students’ judgment of the teachers’ factors affecting students’ self-confidence in speaking EHglish. cee cen cee cence cee cae cee cenaee cen aee TH Xin eee eee 29 3.
Comparison of teacher’ and students’ opinion of the objective factors affecting students’ self-confidence in speaking English. cee cee cà ness 30 3. Students’ comments on teachers’ applied methods to increase students’ self- confidence in learning speaking sÌiÏÏs. - - co con nh HH ni 1n n9 KP an ee.
CHAPTER 4: MAJOR FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS. - - co con c nọ HH HH Họ Họ Họ HH HH ni n0 4. Factors affecting the non-English major students’ self-confidence in speaking [2/14/3. Teachers’ applied methods to increase students’ self-confidence in learning .SD€AKÌH SĂÌÏÏS.
- Go co no HH Ọ HỘ 9.- - -c con HH HH HH II BI BI 0 ii 0 Bi i9 0 36 4. SUGGESTIONS FOF SÍMH(ÏCHS. SUGGESTIONS FOF ÍCQCÌHCF. Suggestions for the đHHÌHÍSÍTGÍOFS.
co co on SH mm ni ni 38 4.- SH HH BH BI In 0 BI Bi gi Bi 0 988 38 PART III: CONCLUSION.-- - non ni ni ni ng 39 1.- - -c c cọ nọ HH Họ ni Bi 4 Bi 08 38 2. Limitations and suggestions for further studies. Go HH KH Ki Ki ni Bi BI 0 04 40 APPENDIXES.-G Go HH HH 0009 08 I Mái LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CLT : Communicative Language Teaching HaUI : Hanoi University of Industry MA degrees : Master of Arts degrees vil LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Students’ awareness about the importance of English speaking. 25 Table 2: Comparison of teachers’ and students’ assessment of the importance of self- confidence in learning speaking skills.
cece cee cc ec eceee ne eee eae eaeeeteen teers 26 Table 3: Teachers’ and students’ assessment of students’ level of self-confidence in speaking English EGAẦaadiidiiẳiiẳiaiẳiiii. En EEE 26 Table 4: Comparison of teachers’ and students’ opinion of the objective factors affecting students’ self-confidence in speaking English. 30 Vili LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1: Students’ general attitudes towards learning English. 23 Figure 2: Students’ attitudes towards learning to speak English.
24 Figure 3: Comparison of teacher’ and students’ judgment of the students’ factors affecting students’ self-confidence in speaking English. 27 Figure 4: Teachers and students’ judgment of the teachers’ factors affecting students’ self-confidence in speaking English .--c--ccccc sec cs2 28 Figure 5: Students’ comments of teachers’ applied methods to increase students’ self- confidence in learning speaking skIlls.------- << este nae eas 31 1X PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Nowadays English has become one of the most important languages in the world. Speaking English has always been considered the most essential skill to be mastered.
(1996:120) states that “of all the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), speaking seems intuitively the most important.” According to Pattison, P. (1992), when a person learns a language, he intends to be able to speak the language. The need for speaking mastery in English has been dramatically increasing because of the confirm position of English as a language for international communication. Many language learners think that speaking ability is regarded as the measure of knowing a language.
Fluency in English as the ability is to converse with others, much more than the ability to read, write, or comprehend oral language. They regard speaking as the most important skill that they can acquire. In Vietnam, the issue of how to speak English fluently has also gained much concern in recent years. However, Vietnamese students have to face many difficulties in managing this skill.
Today an alarming situation in Vietnam is that many Vietnamese students graduating from colleges, universities cannot speak simple English sentences or are not confident to communicate in English. This is a problem that universities in general and HaUI in particular have been considering and trying to find out effective methods in order to improve the quality of teaching English, especially speaking skills. According to the article “Students lack confidence to use English” by Hieu (2011), Vietnamese students are not confident to speak English due to the following causes as limited amount of vocabulary, incorrect pronunciation, fear of mistakes, shyness, focusing much on learning grammar and little using English in reality. The goal of teaching speaking skills is communicative efficiency.
Learners should be able to make themselves understood, using their current proficiency to the fullest. According to Kelly, L. (1986:4), students’ confidence is one of the important factors to improve their learning. Chen (2003) adds that confidence is a direct factor that affect students spoken English.
In fact, language learners who lack confidence in their ability often listen in silence instead of participating in oral activities. HaUI is using New Headway Elementary (the third edition) as the course book for non-English major freshmen. Although the book covers all four skills in English, most of non-English major freshmen feel embarrassed and unconfident in speaking skills. It seems that it is very difficult for them to speak English fluently.
Besides, HaUI is doing the innovation of improving the quality of education and training, especially teaching English. Thus, teachers of English need to research and enhance the methods of teaching, and students need to have new styles of learning to raising the learning outcomes. All above reasons have urged me to do research to figure out methods to increase non-English major freshmen’s self-confidence in learning speaking skills.