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TABLE OF CONTENT

DECLARATION i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii
ABSTRACT iii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv
LIST OF TABLES iv
LIST OF FIGURES iv
TABLE OF CONTENT v
PART A: INTRODUCTION 1
1. Rationale 1
2. Objectives of the study 1
3. Research questions 2
4. Scope of the study 2
5. Methods of the Study 2
6. Design of the study 2
PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4
1.1. Theoretical background of speaking 4
1.1.1. Definition of speaking 4
1.1.2. The importance of speaking skill 4
1.1.3. Nature of speaking 4
1.1.4. Characteristics of a Successful Speaking Activity 5
1.1.5. Learners’ participation 6
1.2. Factors hinder students’ participation in speaking activities 7
1.2.1. Students’ factors 7
1.2.1.1. Students’ learning styles 7
1.2.1.2. Students’ attitude and motivation 8
1.2.1.3. Students’ second language level 9

3.2.8. Forming a habit of speaking English in the class 41
PART C: CONCLUSION 42
1. Conclusion 42
2. Limitations and suggestions for further research 43
REFERENCES I
APPENDIXES III

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
L2: Second Language
M.A: Master of Arts
B.A: Bachelor of Arts
CFL: College of Foreign Language
VNU: Vietnam University
TOEIC: Tests of English for International Communication
ESP: English for Special Purposes
CLT: Communicative Language Teaching
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Factors prevent students’ participation in speaking lessons
Table 2: Students’ attitude when participating in speaking activities
Table 3: Students’ difficulties in speaking lessons
Table 4: Speaking activities teachers often use to increase students’ participation
Table 5: Speaking activities teachers often conduct in speaking lessons
Table 6: Activities motivate students to take part in speaking lessons
Table 7: Activities teachers use to increase students’ participation
Table 8: Suggestions for teachers to increase students’ participation
Table 9: Teachers’ attitudes towards unwilling students
Table 10: Students’ participation
LIST OF FIGURES

contents of activities, etc. Unfortunately, this is not only the situation in my university but also
the case for many other universities in Vietnam.
This has given me the desire to conduct a research to identify the factors that hinder
students‟ participation as well as to find out the techniques and activities to increase students‟
participation in speaking activities at Ba Ria – Vung Tau University.
2. Objectives of the study
The study is carried out to find out the factors hindering the university students‟
participation in speaking lessons, and why these factors have negative effect on university
students‟ participation in classroom speaking activities. Based on the findings, the researcher
will analyze activities and techniques often used by the teacher to increase students‟
2
participation. Furthermore, the researcher will give some suggestions for teachers to stimulate
students in speaking English and overcome the difficulties they have to face with in teaching
speaking English for university students.
3. Research questions
The study will answer the following questions:
1. What are the factors affecting university students‟ participation in speaking lessons?
2. What should teachers do to increase students‟ participation in class speaking activities?
4. Scope of the study
First, the subjects of this study are second - major students of English at Ba Ria - Vung
Tau University. Second, the study only covers the speaking skill. Third, the study focuses on
finding out the factors including teachers‟ factors, students‟ factors and learning – teaching
conditions hindering students‟ participation in classroom activities.
5. Methods of the Study
In the study, both qualitative and quantitative methods are used. The data will be
collected by means of questionnaire, interview and classroom observations. After the data is
collected, analyzed and discussed, some conclusions will be drawn and some suggestions will

Part C: Conclusion
The conclusion will include the summary, the limitations of the study and suggestions
for further research. 4
PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Theoretical background of speaking
1.1.1. Definition of speaking
Speaking is a skill which language teachers, quite rightly, believe is particularly
important. By speaking, individuals can express needs, opinions and feelings, understand and

speaking a foreign language is a complex skill.
The nature of speaking has been discussed by many researchers. Byrne (1976:8)
clarifies, “speaking is a two-way process between speakers and listeners involving the
productive skills of understanding”. Byrne (1995: 10) gives a diagram to show what happens
in a speech situation and incidentally, therefore, what is involved in oral activity.
Initiate
Speak
Oral ability
Respond
Listen
Another author- Bygate (1987) shows that in order to be able to speak a foreign
language, learners not only need to understand some grammar, vocabulary but also know how
to use knowledge as well as language on deciding what to say and how to say.
One more thing concerning the ability to speak is that of fluency and accuracy.
Accuracy involves the correct use of vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation, fluency can be
thought as the ability to keep going when speaking spontaneously (Roger Gower, 1995:99).
Furthermore, Nunan (2003:55) wrote, “accuracy is the extent to which students‟ speech
matches what people actually say when they use the target language, fluency is the extent to
which speakers use the language quickly and confidently”.
1.1.4. Characteristics of a Successful Speaking Activity
Classroom activities would be an important component of a language course.
Successful speaking activities in class can result in great improvement of students‟ speaking
skills. According to Ur (1996: 120), there are four characteristics for a successful speaking
activity.
First, students talk a lot. It means that learners always have to be the center of all
speaking activities and teachers only play the role as guides.
Secondly, participation is even. Classroom discussion is not dominated by a minority
of talkative participants; all learners get a chance to speak and contributions are fairly evenly
distributed.
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One of the factors that seems to determine the quality of learner participation in
classroom environment is the degree of control the learners exercise over the discourse.
Cathcart (1986) found that situations where learners had control of the talk were characterized
by a wide variety of communicative acts and syntactic structures, meanwhile the situations
where the teacher had control seemed to produce single – word utterances, short phrases and
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formulaic chunks. Also, the differences in the quality of learners‟ participation depended on
the kinds of activities they were involved in.
1.2. Factors hinder students’ participation in speaking activities
Students‟ participation usually means students speaking activities in class, for
example, answer and ask questions, make comments and join in discussion. It is also shown
through interactions between students and students, between teacher- students when working
together. Students‟ participation can be affected by various factors coming from students,
teachers, and classroom. In the following section, some of the factors will be discussed.
1.2.1. Students’ factors
1.2.1.1. Students’ learning styles
Successful language learners are usually people who have a personal learning style or
positive learning strategies. It means that good learners must have some awareness of their
preferred techniques, and modify them in the light of their own or other people‟s experience.
Learning style is an individual‟s natural, habitual, and preferred way of absorbing,
processing, and retaining new information and skills. Skehan defines learning styles as
“ cognitive, affective, and physiological traits that are relatively stable indicators of how
learners perceive, interact with, and respond to the environment” (Skehan, 1991). Learning
styles, according to Spolsky, B. (1998: 108) are terms to describe identifiable individual
approaches to learning situation.
Recently, Harmer (2001) emphasizes the importance of understanding that there are
different individuals in our class if we are to plan suitable kinds of activities for them.

(1999) define motivation in terms of two factors: learner‟s communicative needs and their
attitude towards the second language community.
Gardner and Lambert (1972) identified motivation as integrative motivation and
instrument motivation. Integrative motivation refers to an interest in learning a second
language; for example; want to learn English in order to communicate with people of other
cultures who speak it. And instrument motivation refers to the practical value and advantages
of learning a new language, for example, want to learn language because it will be useful for
practical goals such as reading novels, newspapers or passing an entrance exam, etc.
Motivation can also be divided into two kinds: extrinsic and intrinsic. Extrinsic
motivation comes from the learners‟ desire such as: to get external reward, to pass an exam, to
get a good job or to avoid of punishment. Intrinsic motivation comes from the learners‟
internal factors such as the enjoyment of learning process itself or by a desire to learn the
target language.
No one can deny the importance of motivation towards the success in learning a foreign
language. According to Caroll (1962), motivation decides the amount of time a learner will
spend on the task of language learning. She claims, “The more motivation a learner has, the
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more time he or she will spend learning an aspect of a second language”. Lalonde (1982) also
makes a conclusion that motivation is an important factor that helps to determine the level of
proficiency achieved by a learner.
Clearly, motivation plays an important role in the success of language learning in
general but we may wonder how much or to what extent motivation accounts for students‟
participation in oral activities. We may not give the correct answer but we can see that if
learners perceive a goal and if that goal is really attractive, they will be strongly motivated to
do whatever necessary to reach that goal. Therefore, the more motivated students are, the more
actively they will participate in oral activities.
1.2.1.3. Students’ second language level

individually (Harmer, 2001).
Brown (2000) argues that personality is one of the affective factors that are equally
important for explaining differential success among second language learners. While
extroversion is associated with risk-taking, introversion is subsumed under the concept of self-
esteem. In addition, students from Galvan and Fukada‟s (1997/1998) study explained they
were unable to participate in class because they were not used to a student-centered class
setting. Myers (1962) also suggested that extroverts tend to prefer learning situations that
afford interaction while introverts tend to prefer small group. Barrett and Connot (1986) stated
that introverted students are least involved in school activities and have lower academic
achievement.
1.2.1.5. Students’ anxiety
Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defines anxiety as the state of feeling nervous
or worried that something bad is going to happen. Empirical research shows that anxious
foreign language students are less willing to participate in learning activities, and have lower
performance than non – anxious students (Gardner, 1991).
Young (1991) presented six types of sources of foreign language classroom anxiety
such as: personal and interpersonal anxieties, learner beliefs about language learning,
instructor beliefs about language learning, instructor-learner interactions, classroom
procedures, and testing. Besides that, Bailey also identified sources of anxiety, including test
and learners, perceived relationship with their teachers.
When anxiety occurs relating to the use of second language, it seems to be restricted
mainly to speaking and listening, reflecting learners‟ apprehension at having communication
automatically in the target language. We can see anxiety in speech in a greater degree of
pausing, in a lack of coherence, and in an increased number of false starts.
Horwitz and Cope have identified three components of foreign language anxiety. They
are: communication apprehension, fear of negative evaluation, and test anxiety (Horwitz,
Horwitz and Cope 1986). He also explains that students who exhibit communication
apprehension do not feel comfortable communicating in the target language in front of others
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effect on students‟ participation. Understanding the different learning styles and strengths and
weakness of male and female can help teachers better understand and work with students with
disabilities and gifts and talents.
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In conclusion, those are the main factors coming from students‟ side that may hinder
students‟ participation in classroom activities. The degrees of effect of the above factors may
be different for each student. The first factor is students‟ learning styles. The second factor is
students‟ motivation and attitude. The third factor is students‟ language level including
knowledge of English proficiency and knowledge of other fields. The fourth one is students‟
personality. One more factor is students‟ anxiety. The language anxiety of students may affect
their participation because foreign language speaking anxiety in the English classroom may
stem from fear of making mistakes and the consequent fear of negative evaluation, and
students‟ perception of low ability in relation to their peers. The last one is the gender
diffrence.
1.2.2. Teachers’ factors
1.2.2.1. Teachers’ teaching methods
Stern (1983) lists out some main teaching methods as follows:
 Grammar-translation or traditional method: This method is used for the purpose of
helping students read and appreciate foreign language literature. Most of the interaction in the
classroom is from the teachers to the students. There is a little student initiation and little
student-student interaction. Consequently, students learn rules of grammar and vocabulary
without much feeling of progress in the mastery of the target language. This cannot motivate
them to learn of the target language because they have little opportunity to express themselves
through it. They just learn what they have to learn without any creativeness. As a result,
students who are passive recipients become structurally competent but communicatively
incompetent.
 Audio – lingual method: The first point of this method is to develop students'

classrooms and ultimately on what students learn. Breach (2005) shows that the teacher is a
fountain of knowledge and their main responsibility is to impart knowledge to students.
Grossmann (1990) points out the categories of teachers‟ knowledge including general
pedagogical knowledge, subject matter knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge and
knowledge of context. Ferguson (1997:85) affirms that teacher should have knowledge of the
culture and values of the discipline, knowledge of the epistemological basis of the different
disciplines and knowledge of the genres and discourse patterns.
Thus, being a teacher, we should have:
 General pedagogical knowledge: Teacher should understand how to moderate
discussions, design group work, organize materials for student use, utilize texts and media,
etc.
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 Linguistic knowledge: Teachers need a basic working knowledge such as knowledge
of the nature and functions of language, knowledge about the systems and structure of English
such as: phonetics, syntax, semantics, discourses, etc.
 Specialist knowledge: English teaching in Vietnam can be divided into two types:
Teaching General English and English for Special Purposes (ESP). ESP teachers teach special
content due to the demands of the fields involved like business, tourism, technology,
informatics, accounting, etc. In order to teach ESP, besides general knowledge, teachers must
have the knowledge of the subject he (or she) teaches.
Clearly, teachers need to understand the subject matter deeply and flexibly to teach all
students. They need to see how ideas connect across fields and to every life. This kind of
understanding provides a foundation for pedagogical content knowledge that enables teachers
to make ideas accessible to others.
1.2.2.3. Teachers’ characteristics
Besides the knowledge and teaching methods, teachers‟ characteristics may have a
great influence on students‟ participation. There are two sets of qualities that characterize a

1.2.2.4. Teachers’ roles in speaking activities
Teacher role refers to the different functions a teacher can have in a class. The role
usually implies the relationship between the teacher and learner, particularly in terms of the
autonomy learners have over their learning.
Pine and Boy (1997) express “pupils feel the personal emotional structure of the teacher
long before they feel the impact of the intellectual content offered by that teacher”. It is evident
that teachers‟ performance will have an influence on their students. A teacher who lacks self-
esteem will find it difficult to develop self-esteem of his students. A teacher who does not lead
a warm atmosphere at class will find low learning spirits of students. So the teachers‟ roles are
very critical in language teaching. According to Harmer (2001), a teacher can have the
following roles:
 The teacher as a controller
The teacher plays the role of controller when he is totally in charge of the class. He
controls not only what the students do, but when they speak and what language they use.
 The teacher as an assessor
Clearly, a major part of a teacher‟s job is to assess the students‟ work, to see how well
they are performing or how well they performed. The teacher will correct students‟ errors and
mistakes. His function, it is suggested, is to show where incorrectness occurs and help the
student to realize what has gone wrong and how to put it right.
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When assessing students‟ performance, the teacher waits until an activity or task has
been completed and then tells the students how well they did. The teacher tells the students at
what degree they have come up to our expectations and points out their mistakes so that they
can avoid the next time.
 The teacher as an organizer
The main aims of the teacher when organizing an activity is to tell the students what
they are going to talk about, give clear instructions about what exactly their task is, get the

students. The teacher guides students to identify the key issues, checks the understanding and
achieves their learning goals.
 The teacher as an observer
The teacher observes what the students do, especially in oral communicative activities
so that he (she) can give them useful feedback. When observing students, the teacher should
be careful not to be intrusive by hanging on their every word, by getting too close to them as
students may be distracted from the tasks they are involved in.
In brief, students‟ participation can be hindered by the factors coming from teachers
such as teaching methods, teachers‟ knowledge, teachers‟ characteristics and teachers‟ roles in
classroom activities. Each factor plays an important role in students‟ participation.
1.2.3. Teaching and learning conditions
1.2.3.1. Physical conditions
Among many factors affecting the participation of students in speaking activities,
physical learning environment is also considered to be an important factor. Physical conditions
in the classroom such as the classroom size, chairs, tables, lights and boards affect students‟
participation either positively or negatively.
Effective classroom managers create orderly, safe environments where students feel
valued and comfortable, thus setting the stage for teaching and learning. To achieve that, they
strategically arrange classroom space to support a variety of independent, small and large
group activities (Crane, 2001). If a classroom is not properly organized to support the type of
schedule and activities a teacher has planned, it can hinder the functioning of the day as well
as limit what and how students learn. However, a well-arranged classroom environment is one
way to more effectively manage instruction because it triggers fewer behavior problems and
establishes a climate conducive to learning.
The spatial structure of the classroom refers to how students are seated, where the
students and teacher are in relation to one another, how classroom members move around the
room, and the overall sense of atmosphere and order. Weinstein (1992) suggest that
classrooms should be organized to accommodate a variety of activities throughout the day and
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the detailed description of the methodology and the procedures of the study.

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CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY
2.1. An overview of the current situation of learning and teaching speaking at
English department, Ba Ria – Vung Tau University.
2.1.1. Introduction of English section, Ba Ria – Vung Tau University.
The English section of Ba Ria-Vung Tau University was founded in 2006. It is
considered to be the biggest group in the Faculty of Foreign languages. There are 12 teachers
of English whose ages range from 25 to 40. All of them graduated from the English
Department The College of Foreign Languages of and International Studies (CFL), Vietnam
National University (VNU). Five of them have got Master of Arts degree (M.A). Five are
doing M.A and the rest hold Bachelor of Arts degree (B.A). Besides teaching professional
subjects for major-students, teachers of English in the department teach TOEIC for non-major
students coming from other faculties.
Ba Ria-Vung Tau University is a private one. The students‟ academic results at
entrance examination are very low. The levels of English proficiency of the students of
English section at Ba Ria – Vung Tau University are generally different. Most of the students
come from rural areas such as Nghe An, Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, etc. with a little chance for
speaking English. As a result, when they entered university, it is quite difficult for them to
become confident in speaking English as expected.
2.1.2. The Syllabus and Materials for Speaking
At Ba Ria – Vung Tau University, English majors have to study four skills in seven
semesters. Each semester contains 15 weeks, the students have 3 speaking periods peer week
and each period lasts for forty-five minutes. Speaking syllabus is designed to help students
develop English-speaking skill both accuracy and fluency. By the end of the course, the
students must be able to communicative effectively in job-related situations as well as daily

grammar, not speaking. They can do grammatical exercises very quickly and well but they
cannot speak fluently. They are not used to working in peers, groups or taking responsibility
for their learning. They often feel shy in the public as most of them come from countryside
and have little social contacts.
There were 9 teachers involved in this study. Eight of them were females and one was
male. Most of them had over 4 years of experience as English teachers. Some have taught
English for over ten years. English teachers at Ba Ria-Vung Tau University are energetic and
willing to devote their time and energy to teaching. Most of them have a high appreciation to
teaching speaking. However, they have to face a lot of difficulties in teaching speaking
because students seem to be passive in all speaking activities.
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2.2.2. Data collection instruments
The main instruments used in this study to collect data were questionnaire, interview
and observation.
Two questionnaires, one for teachers and the other for students, were delivered to the
nine teachers and 50 second-year major of English from Ba Ria-Vung Tau University
respectively. The researcher mainly used the close- ended questions in the questionnaires.
2.2.2.1. Questionnaire for students
The first questionnaire, consisting of 12 questions, was delivered to 50 second-major
students of English at Ba Ria – Vung Tau University (Appendix 1). The aims of them were to
elicit:
(1) The students' attitudes towards speaking skill (questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
(2) Factors making the students reluctant to speak English in class (questions 6,7)
(3) The students‟ difficulties in speaking activities (questions 8, 9)
(4) The students‟ attitudes about teaching techniques to increase participation in
speaking activities (questions 10, 11, 12)
2.2.2.2. Questionnaire for teachers

students and the teachers or among the students and noted down the information on the
observation sheet.
2.3. Results and Analysis of Data
The research was mainly based on quantitative approach. The data was converted into
statistical numbers and percentages. The results were presented by means of numbers and
tables or charts.
2.3.1. Teachers and students’ perception on learning speaking English
2.3.1.1. The importance of speaking skill in English classes.

Question for students: What do you think about the importance of speaking skill?

Question for teachers: How important is speaking skill to your students?
The questionnaire‟s results showed that most students and teachers admitted the
importance of speaking skill. Surprisingly enough, 94% of the students and 100% of the
teachers gave speaking skill much importance in learning English. 60% of the students and
77.8% of the teachers found it “very important” and 34% of the students and 22.2.% of the
teachers found it “important”. These results also proved that the students and teachers at Ba
Ria-Vung Tau University were well aware of the necessity and the particular role of speaking
skill among the four language skills.
2.3.1.2. Students’ interest in speaking English in class

Question: How do you feel interested in speaking English in class?