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Luận văn tiếng Anh:Factors affecting oral presentations of the second-year English major students at Hanoi University of Industry = Những yếu tố ảnh hưởng kỹ năng thuyết trình của sinh viên chuyên Anh năm thứ hai trường Đại học Công nghiệp Hà Nội. M.A Thesis Linguistics:
PART I: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 1
1. Rationale ............................................................................................................... 1
2. Aims of the study .................................................................................................. 2
3. Scope and significance of the study ...................................................................... 2
4. Methods of the study ............................................................................................. 2
5. Design of the study ............................................................................................... 2
PART B: DEVELOPMENT .................................................................................. 4
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................................... 4
1.1. Knowledge and skills ......................................................................................... 4
1.2. Speaking skills ................................................................................................... 5
1.2.1. Nature of Speaking .............................................................................. 5
1.2.2. Types of Classroom Speaking Performance ........................................ 6
1.3 Oral Presentations ............................................................................................... 7
1.3.1. Definition and Structure ....................................................................... 7
1.3.2. Types of Oral Presentations ................................................................. 8
1.3.3. Presenting techniques .......................................................................... 10
1.3.4. Characteristics of a good presentation ................................................. 11
1.3.5. Teaching Oral Presentation skills in the language classroom .............. 12
1.3.6. Factors affecting oral presentation skills ............................................. 14
1.3.6.1. Students’ language proficiency ............................................ 14
1.3.6.2. Students’ personality ............................................................ 15
1.3.6.3. Teacher’s role ...................................................................... 16
CHAPTER II: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ......................................................................... 17
2.1. Context of the study ........................................................................................... 17
2.1.1. The teachers ........................................................................................ 17

2.1.2. The students ........................................................................................ 17
2.1.3. Learning and teaching facilities .......................................................... 18
2.1.4. Speaking syllabus ............................................................................... 18
2.2. Research Methods .............................................................................................. 19
2.2.1. Research questions .............................................................................. 19
2.2.2. Participants .......................................................................................... 19
2.2.3. Data collection instruments ................................................................ 19
CHAPTER III: MAJOR FINDINGS AND DICUSSIONS .......................................................... 21
3.1. Results of the survey questionnaire and interviews ........................................... 21
3.1.1. Students’ attitudes towards oral presentation skills ............................ 21
3.1.2. Students’ evaluations of their own presentation skills ........................ 21
3.1.3. Factors affecting the students’ oral presentations ............................... 22
3.1.3.1. Students’ language proficiency ............................................ 22
3.1.3.2. Students’ personality characteristics .................................... 25
3.1.3.3. Teacher factor ...................................................................... 26
3.2 Results from Class Observation .......................................................................... 29
3.3. Students’ suggestions ......................................................................................... 32
CHAPTER IV: RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................................................................... 34
4. 1. Recommendations for students ......................................................................... 34
4.1.1. Having thorough preparation .............................................................. 34
4.1.2. Taking part in self-evaluation and peer evaluation activities ............. 35
4.2. Recommendations for teachers .......................................................................... 35
4.2.1. Improving students’ oral proficiency .................................................. 35
4.2.2. Improving students’ nonverbal skills .................................................. 35
4.2.3. Building up students’ confidence ....................................................... 36
PART III: CONCLUSION .................................................................................... 38
1. Summary of the study ........................................................................................... 38
2. Limitations and suggestions for further study ...................................................... 38
REFERENCES
APPENDIXES
2. Put up a large calendar so that students can pick up the date they prefer.
3. After the break of every class session, have one student come forward and
speak about the topic he or she chose.
4. During the speech, sit in the audience.
5. Have each student speak for about five minutes.
6. Have the other class members hold their questions and comments until the
speaker has finished.
7. After each speech, give the speaker some feedback.
Oral presentations can also be carried out as class activity. Students work in a small group
to discuss a topic. After the discussion, each representative from each group will present
his/ her group’s ideas or each member will take turn to be responsible for each part of the
presentation.
To sum up, teaching oral presentations skills is an important task for teachers so as to help
learners develop the ability to speak to an audience which is necessary for them in the
future.
1.3.6. Factors affecting oral presentation skills
1.3.6.1. Students’ language proficiency
It is obvious that students’ language proficiency is one of the factors contributing to the
success or causing the failure of an oral presentation. Language proficiency is the ability of
an individual to speak or perform in an acquired language. Rod (1985) defines:
“Proficiency consists of the learner’s knowledge of the target language; it can be
considered synonymous with “competence”. Proficiency can be viewed as linguistic
competence or communicative competence. Second Language proficiency is usually
measured in relation to native speaker proficiency.” According to Stern (1992), proficiency
can be looked at as a goal and thus be defined in terms of objectives or standards. These
can then serve as criteria by which to assess proficiency as an empirical fact, that is, the
actual performance of given individual learners or groups of learners. He states that
“proficiency ranges from zero to native - like proficiency… Complete competence is
hardly ever reached by second language learners”. Bachman (1990) defines language
proficiency as the language ability or ability in language use. Maleki and Zangani (see
website www.asian-efl-journal.com/March_07_am&ez.php) suggest that the grading
criteria for assessing speaking proficiency in second language are pronunciation
(intonation, word stress, and sentence stress), fluency, and accuracy (grammar and
vocabulary). Regarding to speaking skill in general and presentation skills in particular,
accuracy and fluency are the two most concerning aspects.
Accuracy is the ability to produce correct sentences using correct grammar and vocabulary.
In terms of language knowledge, students need introducing language areas such as the use
of linkers and connectors, referring to graphs and charts, emphasizing and minimizing
information, and the contrast between written and spoken language.
English fluency means being able to use the language with ease. Fluency is the ability to
read, speak, or write easily, smoothly, and expressively. In other words, the speaker can
read, understand and respond in a language clearly and concisely while relating meaning
and context. Language teachers who concentrate on fluency Giúp their students to express
themselves in fluent English. They pay more attention to meaning and context and are less
concerned with grammatical errors.
The emphasis on accuracy or fluency has changed a lot. About a hundred years ago,
language teaching and learning was almost entirely about accuracy. Today, we can say that
the mastery of communication is the main objective, in other words, grammar is the
support system for communication, not an end in itself. The fact is, however, that self
conscious learners don't like making mistakes and that is the reason why they have to strike
a careful balance between accuracy and fluency.
1.3.6.2. Students’ personality
It is obvious that the presenter plays the most important role in making his oral
presentation successful or not. In the classroom, students with different characteristics,
especially different levels of anxiety - an aspect of personality (Scovel, 1978) may result in
different levels of success. According to many researchers, feelings of anxiety,
apprehension and nervousness are commonly expressed by foreign language learners in
learning to speak a foreign language, particularly when they have to make an oral
presentation in that language.
General anxiety is defined by Spielberger (1983) as “the subjective feeling of tension,
apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with an arousal of the autonomic nervous
system”. According to Horwitz and Cope (1986) foreign language anxiety belongs to
situational-specific anxiety: “a distinct complex of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and
behaviors related to classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the
language learning process”. Psychologists make a distinction between three categories of
anxiety: trait anxiety, state anxiety, and situation-specific anxiety. Trait anxiety is
relatively stable personality characteristic while state anxiety is a transient anxiety, a
response to a particular anxiety-provoking stimulus such as an important test. The third
category, situation-specific anxiety, refers to the persistent and multi-faceted nature of
some anxieties. It is aroused by a specific type of situation or event such as public
speaking, examinations, or class participation. King (2002) considers speech anxiety is one
of the major problem that lead to learners' oral presentation failures. This anxiety comes in
part from a lack of confidence in the general linguistic knowledge, the embarrassment of
exposing the language imperfections in front of others. Besides, learners’ personality traits
such as shyness, quietness, and reticence are considered to frequently precipitate
communication apprehension. It is obvious that such feelings in the learners may prevent
them from achieving the desired goal.
1.3.6.3. Teacher’s role
King (2002) emphasizes that working with students on oral presentations is a challenging
job for teachers because it not only involves training in other disciplines such as speech
communication and public speaking, but also demands more of teachers in terms of time
and effort in lesson planning and teaching strategies. Furthermore, the importance of
creating a supportive learning atmosphere, acquiring interaction skills, incorporating
project work, developing cooperative learning skills and applying computer/technology in
enhancing teachers' facilitative skills should be emphasized. The teacher is the guide,
organizer, consultant, resource person, and supporter. The teacher's role in oral
presentations not only involves preparing detailed guidelines, organizing groups, helping
students to select topics, guiding their research and helping them learn the use of various
visual aids, but also holding of Question & Answer sessions, providing feedback on the
sequencing of ideas, and evaluating their performance.
Conclusion
The chapter so far has presented literature concerning the subject matter of the study. It
dealt with the knowledge and skills, especially speaking skill. The focal point of the
chapter was on oral presentation skills with some aspects related. Furthermore, some
factors related to oral presentations of students in the classrooms have been reviewed as
well.
CHAPTER II: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
2.1. Context of the study
Hanoi University of Industry is one of the universities that has a long tradition of training
qualified practical engineers in the fields of mechanical engineering, chemical technology,
and electronics. However, to meet the demand of the modern society with globalization
trend, some new majors have recently been taken into the training programme, one of
which is English. The Faculty of Foreign Languages was established in 2006, it is
responsible for teaching English to both English majors and non-English majors.
2.1.1. Teachers
In connection with the teaching staff, there are 50 teachers in the Faculty, among whom 11
teachers are regularly in charge of working in the English major Division. Their ages range
from 23 to 37, all of them graduated from the English Department - College of Foreign
Languages or Hanoi University of Foreign Languages and have been teaching for the
Division at least one year. Six people have got an M.A degree, three are doing M.A course.
One of their difficulties is that a teacher has to deal with different subjects related to
English at the same time due to the lack of teachers. However, all of them are energetic,
inquisitive and always try to apply effective methods of teaching to increase teaching and
learning quality.
2.1.2. Students
In respect of the English major students, about 80 students are enrolled each year, based on
their results of the university entrance examinations. Their levels of English proficiency
are generally various and not very high. Firstly, this can be seen from their English marks
at the entrance examinations mainly ranging from 3 to 6 (the statistics provided by the
Faculty’s assistants). Secondly, many of them still apply a passive way of learning,

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