MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY ------------------------------- NGUYEN NGOC DUC FACTORS NEGATIVELY AFFECTING NON- ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS: A STUDY AT HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY Major: English Language Course code: 60220201 HO CHI MINH CITY, JUNE 2021 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY ------------------------------- FACTORS NEGATIVELY AFFECTING NON- ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS: A STUDY AT HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY Submitted to the Faculty of English Language in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in English Number of words: 23,230 Language Course code: 60220201 By NGUYEN NGOC DUC Supervised by LE VAN TUYEN, Ph. HO CHI MINH CITY, JUNE 2021 The thesis entitled Factors negatively affecting non-English majored students’ speaking skills: A study at Ho Chi Minh city University of Technology was successfully defended and approved on 29th June 2021 at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HUTECH). Academic supervisor: Le Van Tuyen, Ph. Nguyen Thi Kieu Thu, Ph.
Tran Quoc Thao, Ph. Luu Thi Mai Vy, Ph. Duong My Tham, Ph. Nguyen Ngoc Tran Chau, Ph.
Secretary Member On behalf of the Examination Committee Chair Nguyen Thi Kieu Thu, Ph. HCMC UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY POSTGRADUATE INSTITUTE ------------------------------------------ HCMC, 29th June 2021 MASTER’S THESIS REPORT Student name: NGUYEN NGOC DUC……….Sex: Male………………………… Date of birth: 07 July 1980…………………….Place of birth: Vinh Long………. Major: English Language……………………. I- Thesis title: Factors negatively affecting non-English majored students’ speaking skills: A study at Ho Chi Minh city University of Technology II- Objectives and contents: Ø To explore the factors negatively affecting the learning of English-speaking skills.
Ø To discover teachers’ attitudes, beliefs and teaching strategies with the aim of helping their students reduce the negative effects on the learning of speaking skills. The study was conducted at Ho Chi Minh city University of Technology (HUTECH). It focused on investigating the factors negatively affecting non-English majored students’s speaking skills. The participants were 176 third-year students from 4 different major classes: Marketing, Business Administration, Logistics, Control Engineer and Automation.
A mix-method design was applied to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. For data analysis, SPSS software was used to analyze the data collected from the questionnaire. In addition, thematic analysis was employed to analyze the data collect from semi-structure interviews. i III- Starting date: (as stated in the Decision issued by the University) IV- Completing date: 29th June 2021.
V- Academic supervisor: Le Van Tuyen, Ph. ACADEMIC SUPERVISOR FACULTY DEAN LE VAN TUYEN, Ph.D ii CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled: “FACTORS NEGATIVELY AFFECTING NON-ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS: A STUDY AT HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY” In terms of the statement of requirements for Theses in Master’s programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee of Faculty of English Language, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology. Ho Chi Minh City, 29th June 2021 NGUYEN NGOC DUC iii RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, NGUYEN NGOC DUC, being a candidate for the degree of Master of Arts (English Language) accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the library. In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my Master’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, 29th June 2021 NGUYEN NGOC DUC iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr. Le Van Tuyen, my supervisor, for his elaborate instructions, invaluable guidance and constant encouragement through the whole research process. Without his support and guidance, this thesis would have never been completed. Secondly, I am profoundly grateful for the enthusiastic instructions and assistance of Dr.
Nguyen Thi Kieu Thu, the Dean of English Language Faculty, Ho Chi Minh city University of Technology. I would also like to thank all of my beloved teachers for their interesting and informative lectures throughout my Master course. Thirdly, I am also grateful to the staff at Institue of Postgraduate Studies as well as my colleagues for their support, and non-majored English students at Ho Chi Minh city University of Technology for their participation in the survey and the interviews, which played a major role in the completion of my study. Finally, most especially to my wife, who has created the most favorable environment for me within the course, and during the time of writing and completing this thesis.
NGUYEN NGOC DUC v ABSTRACT In Vietnam, English is considered one of the most important foreign languages and taught formally from elementary schools up to universities. At Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HUTECH), English is taught to all students of different disciplines. English speaking skill is considered a vital skill for them to apply for a good job after graduating from the university. Nonetheless, not many of the students are confident enough and can communicate well in English.
Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the factors negatively affecting their learning English speaking skills. To achieve the aims of the study, the researcher used the following data collection instruments: First, the survey questionnaire was used for collecting quantitative data. The participants took part in the survey included 167 third-year- students from four different majors. Next, the interview questions for students were also conducted for qualitative data collection.
12 students from four classes volunteered to paticipate in the interviews. To analyze the collected data, descriptive and content analysis were employed. The findings revealed that among four major factors: student-related factors, teacher-related factors, curriculum/ textbook-related factors and class-related factors, teacher and class are the two most influential factors negatively affecting their speaking skills. Lastly, some strategies for the teachers to reduce those negative effects were also suggested with the aim of motivating and enhancing the learning process of HUTECH non-English majored students’ speaking skills.
It is expected that the findings of the study will help to find out strategies for teachers to reduce the negative effects of those factors. Furthermore, lecturers teaching non-English major at HUTECH may choose and apply appropriate teaching methods to help their students enhance speaking competence. Keywords: Factors, negatively, speaking skills, non-English majored students, strategies. vi TABLE OF CONTENT Page CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY.
iii RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS .vi LIST OF TABLES .xi LIST OF FIGURES. xii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. xiii TABLE OF NUMBER OF WORDS .xiv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.1 Background to the study.2 Statement of the problem .3 Aims and objectives of the study.5 Scope of the study .6 Significance of the study .7 Definitions of the terms .8 Organization of the study. 9 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .1 English speaking skills .2 The importance of speaking skills .3 Characteristics of speaking skills .2 Factors affecting learning’s English-speaking skills.1 Student-related factors .4 Various individual and social factors .5 Hierarchy of needs .6 Perceived well-being .7 Purposeful connection with work .8 Conscientiousness and achievement .2 Teacher-related factors.1 Subject knowledge and motivational level .4 Know your students’ abilities and build on their strengths .3 Curriculum and textbook-related factors .1 Students’ experience and achievement .3 Building students’ competency .4 Students feel connected and involved .5 Timely and relevant to real life .6 Technology and information from the Internet .4 Class-related factors .1 Engagement and considering student and teacher opinions.3 Emotionally literate environment.3 Strategy used for teaching English speaking skills.1 Definition of strategy .2 Strategies used by teachers to reduce negative effects on students’ speaking skills.1 Teachers’ attitudes and beliefs .4 Sample and sampling procedure .2 Semi-structured interview .6 Data collection procedures.7 Data analysis procedures.8 Reliability and Validity.
51 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS .2 Results of the study .1 Factors negatively affecting non-English majored students’ speaking skills……. Student-related factors .2 Teacher-related factors .3 Curriculum and textbook-related factors .4 Class-related factors .2 Students’ perspectives of what teachers should do to reduce the negative effects of those factors on students.1 Teachers’ attitudes and beliefs.2 Teachers’ teaching methods .1 The factors negatively affecting students’ speaking skills.2 Strategies that teachers should use to reduce the negative effects. 76 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS .2 Summary of the main findings of the study .3 Implications of the study .4 Limitations of the study .5 Recommendations for further researchers. 104 Appendix F: Plagiarism report.
119 x LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Demographic characteristics of students as research participants ………42 Table 3.2 Methods of data analysis in referring to the research questions and instruments……………………………………………………………48 Table 3.3: Cronbach’s Alpha indexes of the questionnaire items for students…….1: Descriptive statistics of student-related factors .2: Students’ lack of interest, motivation and willingness .3: Students’ anxiety and lack of confidence, listening ability.4: Students’ individual and social factors, hierarchy of needs.5: Descriptive statistics of teacher-related factors.6: Descriptive statistics of classroom management, teaching methods.7: Descriptive statistics of subject knowledge and motivational level .8: Descriptive statistics of teacher’s enthusiasm.9 Descriptive statistics of curriculum and textbook-related factors .10: Descriptive statistics of class-related factors.11: Descriptive statistics of four major factors that negatively affect non- English majored students’ speaking skills.12: Descriptive statistics of teachers’ attitudes and beliefs .13: Descriptive statistics of teachers’ teaching methods .14: Descriptive statistics of strategies that teachers should use to reduce the negative effect on students’ speaking skills. 74 xi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Conceptual framework of the study. 37 xii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS HUTECH Ho Chi Minh city University of Technology SPSS Statistical Package for Social Sciences EFL English as a Foreign Language L2 Second Language GPA Grade Point Average CLT Communicative Language Teaching xiii TABLE OF NUMBER OF WORDS Chapter 1 2,874 words Chapter 2 8,099 words Chapter 3 3,972 words Chapter 4 7,464 words Chapter 5 821 words Total 23,230 words xiv CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION This chapter provides the rationale for the thesis. First, it begins with the entries Background of the study and Statement of the problem, in which the researcher concerns with the issues relating to factors negatively affecting non-English majored students’ speaking skills at Ho Chi Minh city, University of Technology (HUTECH).
Consequently, it inspires the researcher to conduct this study. Next, the chapter continues with the entry Aims and Objectives of the study that leads to the design of research questions. Within this chapter, the researcher also emphasizes the Significance of the study for lecturers, educators and scholars to consider for further researches. Then, some key words related to the study are also defined clearly.
Finally, this chapter presents the organization of the study.1 Background to the study Speaking seems the most important skill in second language learning. In spite of its importance, speaking has been underestimated at schools and universities due to different reasons like numerous students in large classes, emphasis on grammar, writing and examination success. Students' speaking performance is not tested in final examination because it is difficult to carry out testing all students' speaking performance and it takes a lot of time to do it (Clifford, 1987). Speaking is a vital skill in learning both first and second language.
Learning speaking is the most essential aspect of learning a second or foreign language and the result is measured based on the ability to use English in communication (Nunan, 1995). Speaking is the most important skill in learning English because learners who learn a language are regarded as the speakers of that language (Ur, 1996). The main purpose of teaching English is to give students the ability to communicate effectively and accurately in English (Davies & Pearse, 2000). In fact, good communication skill is not only essential for good achievement in academic life but also for a successful 1 future career.
In every organization, leader, manager, supervisor, and employee, effective communication is an important element of success. It does not only help the learners get good jobs but also become more successful in the jobs they have.