VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FALCUTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THÙY DUNG DIFFICULTIES FACED BY VIETNAMESE LEARNERS OF
ENGLISH AT EQUEST ACADEMY (HANOI) IN LEARNING
IELTS SPEAKING SKILL

NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN NGƯỜI VIỆT HỌC TIẾNG ANH TẠI
CÔNG TY CỔ PHẦN HỌC THUẬT EQUEST HÀ NỘI
GẶP PHẢI KHI HỌC KỸ NĂNG NÓI CỦA IELTS

M. A Combined Program Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60.14.10 HANOI – 2012

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FALCUTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4
1. 1. The IELTS Test Battery and the Speaking Sub-test 4
1. 2. Previous studies on the IELTS Speaking Sub-test 9
1. 3. Factors influencing Speaking Test performance of EFL/ ESL learners 12
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 24
2. 0. Research approach/questions 24
2. 1. Research Participants 24
2. 2. Data Collection Instruments and Procedure 26
2. 2. 1. Data collection instruments 26
2. 2. 2. Data collection procedure 28
2. 3. Data Analysis 30
CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 33
3. 1. Types of difficulties that lower and upper-intermediate students
encounter in IELTS Speaking preparation courses at Equest 33 v
3. 1. 1. Difficulties encountered by lower intermediate students (IELTS A
students) 33
3. 1. 2. Difficulties encountered by upper- intermediate students (IELTS B
students) 40
3. 2. The extent to which IELTS A & B students shared similar types of
difficulties 43
3. 3. Reasons of Difficulties 46
3. 4. Solutions by students in class 51
 53
 54
CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS 57
4. 1. For Equest 57

students) in IELTS Speaking preparation classes at EQuest
Table 3: Difficulties encountered by upper- intermediate students (IELTS B
students) in IELTS Speaking preparation classes at EQuest
Table 4: The extent to which IELTS A & B students shared similar types of
difficulties
Table 5: Reasons of difficulties encountered by lower and upper-intermediate
students in IELTS Speaking classes at EQuest
Table 6: Solutions by students in class
Table 7s in class
Table 8      e teacher in 6 speaking
classes
1

INTRODUCTION

The International English Language Testing Systems (IELTS), since its born
-take-
want to study or work where English is the primary language of communication. As
the demand of studying and working in developed countries  those English
speaking nations has been continuously increasing as a global trend, it therefore
comes as no surprise that a large number of non-native English speakers, among
whom students occupy a considerable part, sit for the exam every year. The
candidates, in fact, invest a lot of time and money for the preparation. However, not
everyone taking the preparation courses can gain satisfactory proficiency in IELTS
due to the obstacles they face in learning for the exam. Vietnamese learners are
obviously the case.
The following tables show the extent to which Speaking band score of
Vietnamese candidates is lower than the other three skills.

Listening

5.90
Thailand
5.90
5.90
5.30
5.80
5.80
Taiwan
5.80
5.90
5.40
5.80
5.80
China
5.70
5.90
5.20
5.30
5.60
Korea
6.10
6.10
5.30
5.70
5.90

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2

Looking at the statistics above, speaking is probably the area where there has

types of difficulties?
3. What should be done to help students overcome the difficulties for even better
teaching and learning of IELTS Speaking skill at EQuest?
This research paper first begins with an introduction to the background,
rational, aim, scope as well as the significance of the research. It then goes on to
review theoretical backgrounds including the brief overview of the IELTS Test
Battery and the Speaking Sub-test in particular, previous studies in the field and a
number of factors influencing the speaking performance of EFL/ ESL learners.
Next, the paper presents the findings gathered by means of narrative frame and
interviews, together with the discussions made to interpret the findings. The
research paper concludes by some feasible solutions to the difficulties experienced
by research participants, limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies.

4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter reviews relevant essential theoretical foundation for the current
study. The chapter starts with a brief introduction to the IELTS Test Battery and the
speaking sub-test in particular in which the format, requirements and marking
criteria are made clear, continues with previous papers relevant to the topic of the

All candidates must complete four Modules - Listening, Reading, Writing and
Speaking - to obtain an individual band score for each sub-test and an overall one,
the average of the four individual bands, which is shown on the IELTS Test Report
Form. All candidates take the same Listening and Speaking Modules, while the
Reading and Writing Modules differ depending on whether the candidate is taking
the Academic or General Training Versions of the Test
(
The Speaking Sub-test is one of the four skills-focused components which
made up the IELTS Test Battery. The Speaking Paper consiting of a one-to-one,
face-to-face oral interview with a single examiner and candidate between 11 and 14
minutes aims to assess whether candidates can communicate effectively in English
especially on programmes in English-spea
            
(www.ielts.org.handbook.htm).
Table 1: Format of the IELTS Speaking Sub-test
PART
Nature of Interaction
Timing
1
Introduction and Interview
After introductions and identity check, the examiner asks the
candidate questions about familiar topics.
4  5 minutes
2
Long turn
The candidate receives a task card with a topic. S/He then has 1
minute to prepare and make notes before speaking about the topic
for 1 to 2 minutes.
3  4 minutes
3

(p. 79). To be specific, Clark (2007) briefly proposed detailed minor points within
the criterion of fluency and coherence as follows:
- Ability to produce long responses
- The amount of hesistation
7

- The speed of speech
- Use of discourse markers / linking phrases / connectives
- The amount of self-correction
(p. 18)
He also discussed the false belief held among quite a few candidates that
Fluency score is purely based on the speed and flow of speech, which is obviously a
part among many other points within the criteria of Fluency and Coherence.
Besides, Clark in his book named IELTS Speaking (2007) reported that many

             

the speed of speech, the use of connectors and discourse markers, willingness to

 Lexical Resource
The criterion of Lexic          
          
IELTS Practice Materials, p. 79). To be more detailed, candidates will be assessed
whether they have
- Ability to use less common words
- Use of idiomatic language
- Paraphrasing (explaining words that you don‟t know)
- Ability to talk about unfamiliar topics
- Ability to convey precise meaning
(Clark, 2007, p. 17)

9

- How easily the examiner understands what is being said
- Word stress
- Sentence stress
- Intonation
- Evidence of first language accent
(Clark, 2007, p. 26)
This is to explain that i
at clarity and accuracy in connected speech as well as individual words and

1. 2. Previous studies on the IELTS Speaking Sub-test
The IELTS Speaking Sub-test was first reviewed during the late 1990s and the
formal revised test was introduced in July 2001. Since then a significant number of
research aiming to uncover various aspects of the speaking test module has been
proposed and conducted. In this section, such studies will be discussed for giving a
background as well as the need to carry out the current research.
There seemed to be three commonly-exploited research areas on the Speaking
skill of IELTS, of which exploring the Speaking Test itself  it nature and
dimensions has remained to be the aim of a siginificant number of studies since the
time the revised test came into exist. Noticeably, there were 4 studies published in
IELTS Research Reports Volume 6 (2006) on the effectiveness and validity of
planning time in Part 2 of the IELTS Speaking Test by Elder & Wigglesworth;
           
organization of the IELTS Speaking Test by Seedhouse & Egbert and the lexical
dimension of the IELTS Speaking Test by Read & Nation.
Elder & Wigglesworth (2006) had ninety candidates undertake three tasks of
the IELTS Speaking Test Part 2 with no planning time, one minute or two minutes
10


transcriptions of 88 IELTS Speaking Tests recorded under operational conditions at
21 test centres around the world. The results showed that there were great variance
across the bands in term of the amount and sophistication of vocabulary use
confirming the validity of the marking criterion of Lexical Resource.
Recently, there was also a research taking the nature and validity of the IELTS
Speaking Test itself into consideration by Ducasse & Brown (2011). By comparing
transcription of taped IELTS interviews at band 6 and above to the data obtained
from observing first year classes at an Australian university and interviewing
lecturers, they found that there were overlaps between cand  
that at univeristy context implying that the candidates are prepared for their future
study or training regarding interactive communication.
Another research area on the IELTS Speaking Test is uncovering the job of
examiners and bias if any. Brown (2006), for example, made attempts to examine
the rating process in the revised speaking test. Having experienced IELTS
examiners provide verbal reports after listening to and rating a set of of Speaking
Tests, and complete a detailed questionnaire about their reactions to the approach to
assessment, she found that the examiners adhered closely to the descriptors when
rating indicating that there seemed to be no bias in marking the Speaking paper on
the part of examiners.
 an & Yang (2006) conducted a research trying to reveal
any deviations made by the examiners from a set interlocutor, the nature of these
deviations and their effect on the language of candidates. After analyzing the
transcription of 60 test recordings, the researchers uncovered that there appeared to
be no deviations in the first two parts of the test while some bias could be found in
the last part in which the number of paraphrased questions used by the examiners
are fairly noticeable. This is to argue that examiners of the IELTS Speaking Test
almost objectively do their job using the exam guides and occasionally produce
some bias with relatively minimal effects on the performance of candidates.
12


strategic competence and affective schemata (Bachman & Palmer, 1996 cited in
            
good at learning other skills but when it comes to learning to speak another
la        
125, cited in Tanveer, 2007: 1).
         
inadequate command in vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation that badly
influence the speaking performance. Dornyei and Scott (1995) classified the sources
of problems in language skills into four main categories: resource deficits,
processing time pressure, own-performance problems, and other-performance
problems in which self-
In the
first place, the most tragedic problem faced by EFL/ ESL learners is probable to do

and performance. According to Burns (2003), it is important that speakers of
English can achieve:

English)
 of what is
said)

(cited in Gilakjani, 2012: 120)
The vital role of having intelligible pronunciation has been widely recognized
bulary and the grammatical rules of the
English language, speakers would be unintelligible if they have poor
       Even when learners produce minor
inaccuracies in vocabulary and grammar, they are more likely to communicate
14



difficulty in communicating, due to low intelligibility. Word and sentence stress are
components that contribute greatly to int
former relates to the prominence given to a certain syllable in a word and the latter
refers to that allocated to certain words within a sentence to convey emphasis, new
information or intention by the speaker. There is data presented that indicate
misplaced stress resulting in miscommunication (Bansal, 1969; Hubicka, 1980;
          
managing stress is helpful if not necessary for clear com  
103).
Stress and rhythm are suprasegmental aspects that give the overall shape
to the word or sequence. If easy intelligibility is to be achieved, it is
important to give words their correct accentual pattern and rhythm.
Thus, the pronunciation of a word with the inappropriate accentual and
rhythmic pattern makes the word unintelligible not only because the
misplaced main stress distorts the shape of the word, but also because
there is no unstressing of the other syllables with the consequent
phonetic reductions.
(Sabater, 1991: 145)
Considering between stress at word and sentence level, the latter is much

right form of the word can be reconstructed 
Sabater also gave an example that the sentence you should have come to the library
is less easy to understand when pronounced
than if it is
pronounced implying that failure to
follow sentence stress rules necessarily results in communication problems. Given
the importance of mastering word and sentence stress, it remains a difficult area to
16

work on for learners and teachers alike


Another serious aspect of language acquisition is to master lexical items in the
language adequate for communication. Regarding the importance of vocabulary
acquisition, Mc Cathy (1990) asserted that no matter how well the students learn
grammar, no matter how successfully the sounds of L2 are mastered, without words
to express a wide range of meanings, communication in an L2 just cannot happen in
         
           
    



only a limited amount 
cited in Tanveer, 2007: 50).

be the second most important aspect that ESL/ EFL learners find difficult when
learnin           
research found a number of difficulties associated with grammar such as tenses,
verb form and prepositions.
Another problem probably hindering EFL/ ESL learners having good speaking
performance is their failure to ensure the speaking fluency which is defined in a
        
            
speed and smooth          
2011. There is no doubt that speaking fluency is implicated in judgments of whether
18

an L2 speaker has communicative competence (Olynak, Anglejan, & Sankoff, 1990;
Pawley & Syder, 1983; Riggenbach, 1989) cited in Gorsuch, 2011. There are some
            

communicating in other than second language, a speaker has to look for
suitable lexis, has to construct an appropriate syntactic structure and
needs to use a comprehensible accent, plus the demanding tasks of
thinking and organizing ideas and expressing them at the same time.
(Tanveer, 2007: 3)
Regarding this element in the IELTS Speaking Sub-test, Park also added that
From what I've seen, the speaking module in the IELTS (International
English Language Testing System) exam would have to be the one that
raises the most anxiety among candidates. A lack of preparation, a fear
of speaking in English for an extended period, and a lack of awareness
of how the scoring scheme works contribute to this anxiety. The impact
on a test taker's score for the speaking module can be significant.
(
When investigating anxiety in learning another language, it it worth then
having insights into the so-called terms of language and test anxiety mainly
originating from the students themselves. T      
        
2007: 13). It is a commonly held belief among test-takers that the ultimate is to win,
and this put them under a lot of pressure and nervousness before and while sitting
for exams. In context of foreign language learning, learners may feel anxious due to
problems related to communication apprehension (e.g: difficulty in understanding
       correction) and fear of
making mistakes. Bakkal (2010) in his research on the causes of speaking test
20

anxiety experienced by EFL students and the effect of test format on speaking test
anxiety found out the main reason for speaking test anxiety was studen
self-confidence because they have inadequate vocabulary or poor sentence
structures, always think that they have weaker language skills than their classmates
and tend to assess their abilities negatively most of the time. It is vital then to get