Reasons Hampering Students in English Major at HUFLIT from Getting High Scores in Speaking

Examinations

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

----o0o----
HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES –
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (HUFLIT)

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Reasons Hampering Students in English Major at

HUFLIT from Getting High Scores in
Speaking Examinations

(Những lý do cản trở sinh viên chuyên ngành Ngôn Ngữ Anh
đại học HUFLIT trong việc đạt điểm cao trong các kỳ thi nói
tiếng Anh)

Instructor: Vo Le Thuy Nga (M.A.)

Student: Dao Hong Ngoc
Student’s code: 21DH718357
Class: TA2127

Ho Chi Minh City, March 21st, 2024

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Name: DAO HONG NGOC

Student’s code: 21DH718357

Email address: [email protected]

Phone number: 0834080903

Subject: Research Methodology

Date submitted: 21/03/2024

Word count: 4734 words

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INSTRUCTOR’S ASSESSMENT
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DECLARATION

I certify that the attached material is my original work. No other person’s

work or ideas have been used without acknowledgement. Except where I have
clearly stated that I have used some of this material elsewhere, I have not presented
this for assessment in another course or unit at this or any other institution.

Date: 21/03/ 2024

Writer’s Signature and Full name

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ABSTRACT

English-speaking skills are considered one of the most important ones among
the four basic English skills. Besides, speaking abilities seem to be the most
complicated ones because those skills require learners to perform their abilities
actively, and students are not allowed to correct their mistakes like the other skills.
The purpose of this research is to investigate many reasons why HUFLIT students
specializing in English have not received satisfied results in many speaking
examinations at this university. This analyzed in depth the origins of learners’
difficulties and suggested some effective solutions to help those individuals improve
their speaking skills. There were fifty participants joing this survey, and they were
given a questionnaire to show their opinions about various aspects of the topic. The
results showed that the vast majority of respondents had a tendency to be hesitant to
perform their speaking abilities in the tests with the forms of discusing and
presenting individually. In addition to this, their reasons of failing in the speaking
examinations mainly resulted from mental issues, such as worrying about making
mistakes or not being confident with speaking abilities instead of other objective
factors. As a result, this study suggests HUFLIT learners some effective methods,
so they are able to not only enhance their speaking skills, but also develop English
abilities in general, allowing those individuals to achieve excellent results in many
examinations related to this global language.

Key words: English-speaking skills, HUFLIT students, reasons, difficulties

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LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURES 4.1. Forms of Speaking Tests at HUFLIT Considered the Most
Difficult…………………………………………………………………………..10
FIGURES 4.2. Students’ Common Obstacles When Practicing English-
speaking…………………………………………………………………………..11
FIGURES 4.3 (Caption).……………………… ................................. ……..page z

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
1.2 Literature Review
1.3 Scopes/Limitations
1.4 Objectives
1.5 Organization
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 General Statement
2.2 Grammatical errors and some kinds of feedback.......................... ...................10
2.3 Common mistakes in writing........................................................... ................11
2.4 On-going debates on the good ways of conducting the correction in
writing............................ ........................................................................................11
3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY……...….…......……..…………………12-13
3.1 Description of the Subjects...............................................................................12
3.2 Procedures of Data Collection..................................................... .....................12
3.3 Statistical Treatment................................................................... ......................13
4. RESULTS................................................................................................... .14-17
4.1 Teachers’ Survey....................................................................... .......................14
4.2 Students’ Survey...............................................................................................17
5. DISCUSSION...............................................................................................20-23
5.1 Purpose of the Study.........................................................................................20
5.2 Findings and Explanation....................................................... ..........................20
5.3 Limitations........................................................................................................21
5.4 Implications.............................................................. ........................................21
5.5 Recommendations...................................................... ......................................21

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5.5.1 Recommendations for Teachers.............................. ......................................21

5.5.2 Recommendations for Students............................... ......................................22
REFERENCES......................................................................................................24
APPENDIX A: OUTLINE....................................................................................26
APPENDIX B: TEACHERS’ QUESTIONNAIRE.......................................... ...2

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CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background
In modern society nowadays, international integration has been a global trend,
allowing countries to collaborate and develop several fields like economy, politics,
and diplomacy. In order to establish useful relations with different nations, people
have to be exposed to various languages, so their collaboration will become more
effective and successful. Although there are different languages used in many parts
of the world, English is considered a global one. With the exception of nations
considering English their official language, it is just the second most common
language in a number of countries. However, English will be the most spoken
language when native and second language speakers are taken into account, with
over 1.8 billion speakers worldwide (IELTS, n.d.). Therefore, the number of people
participating in English courses has increased dramatically recently. When studying
English, learners are required to practice the four basic skills, including reading,
listening (passive skills), writing, and speaking (active skills). Most people believe
that the active skills are likely to be more difficult than the passive ones, and
obviously, speaking skills are more complicated than writing skills. When doing a
writing test, examinees are able to spend time outlining their ideas and having
chances to correct the mistakes. However, in speaking examinations, people are
required to respond to the examiner’s questions immediately, and certainly, they do
not have much time to prepare for their speeches, and they also cannot make up for
their mistakes. As a result, speaking skills have become the concern of most English
learners, and they always have to find effective solutions to improve the skill as well
as their speaking grades in examinations.

1.2. Literature Review

Most individuals learning English as a foreign language believe that speaking
skills seem to be more complicated than others. According to Hafsa Riyaz and Aban
Parvaz Mullick (2016), speaking is the most important language skill because it can
help learners develop proficiency. They can use speaking for many purposes like
describing things, expressing ideas or even complaining about negative problems.
Leong and Ahmadi (2017) considered speaking skills one of the most difficult

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aspects of language learning, and many language learners find it difficult to express
themselves in spoken language. They generally face problems using the foreign
language to express their thoughts effectively. Also, Natasia (2022) agreed that
many students, especially those who learn English in a foreign language context,
encounter difficulties mastering speaking. It is also a fact that many students who
have learned English for many years still have difficulties speaking in real-time
situations when it is demanded.
1.3. Scopes/Limitations
Several studies highlighted the importance of learning English and the four
basic skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), and most of them just mention
the four skills in general like how to study effectively, tips to pass the exams with
high scores or available sources of materials. However, little research has been done
about speaking skills in detail and the reasons why learners find it difficult to practice
speaking. Therefore, more study needs to be conducted to ascertain learners’
concerns about speaking skills, and it specially focuses on students in the English
major at HUFLIT.
1.4. Objectives
The purpose of this study is to identify difficulties that HUFLIT students in
the English major are facing when practicing speaking and expressing themselves in
speaking examinations. Moreover, it also finds out the reasons why learners have
these difficulties and suggests many effective solutions to help them overcome the
situation.
1.5. Organization
This research paper begins with an introduction to a general overview of the
importance of English and four basic skills that learners have to practice. However,
most people, and more clearly, HUFLIT students in English majors, specially pay
attention to speaking skills, and they consider it the most difficult one. The following
chapter is devoted to the literature review, which involves the general matters of the
idea. It then goes to how the research is executed, which contains detailed
information about the research conduct and how its data is collected and put into
profound analysis. The next chapter is presented with the research’s possible
findings and a discussion. The coming-after chapter of the research is dedicated to

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recommended effective solutions that help HUFLIT students improve their speaking
skills and pass examinations with a satisfied result. The final part of this research is
wrapped up with references to reliable resources and indexes.

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CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. General Statements

Many experts have provided several definitions of English-speaking.
According to Maji, Samanhudi and Mokoagouw (2022), speaking skills are defined
as productive skills. It means that in speaking activities, a speaker produces a
language that is in the form of the sound of words. It has meaning and can be
understood by listeners and audiences. A good speaker is the person who not only
possesses a huge range of vocabulary, idioms or complicated structures, but also
applies word and sentence stress rules, intonation and body languages in
communicating to transfer his or her ideas to the listeners understandably and
effectively. Besides, according to the definitions of Ilham, Bafadal and Muslimin
(2019), speaking is the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of
verbal and nonverbal symbols in a variety of contexts. Speaking is the ability to
utilize language in a suitable way to convey one's thoughts, feelings or opinions in
order to exchange information and knowledge with other communicators. Speaking
is one of the four language abilities that students learning a foreign language should
be able to master since it is necessary for day-to-day activities and a part of oral
communication, which is a two-way exchange between speakers and listeners
(Amiruddin, Razaq, Satriani, Widistari, Khas, 2022). This indicates that speaking is
an extremely important skill and an indispensable tool in communication. If learners
have a desire to master in any language, especially English, they have to possess
excellent speaking ability.
2.2. Reference to previous research
2.2.1. The importance of speaking English
English speaking is probably the language skill that most language learners
wish to perfect as soon as possible because it is used to evaluate whether someone
has succeeded in learning a language or not. Speaking is also a powerful tool for
learners because it can help them meet several purposes. When talking, we form
words and sentences with distinct sounds and also apply intonation, stress, and pitch
alteration to communicate various meanings. Speaking is expressing ideas through
words or phrases that the listener processes to comprehend the speaker's meaning

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and the recipient attempts to identify. The integration of the other language abilities
demonstrated the importance of speaking. Speaking is a more effective way for
students to improve their vocabulary and grammar than writing. Pupils are able to
use language to converse, request, share stories, convey their feelings and
demonstrate its many uses (Lestari, 2021). RAO (2019) emphasized the importance
of speaking English in communication and that, in today's globalized world,
effective communication is an essential key to success in many aspects of life.
Therefore, one instrument for communication is language. People cannot
communicate perfectly without following a language. Moreover, without employing
appropriate language when communicating, people cannot accomplish their
ambitions, objectives, and goals. As a result, a language is required in order to
converse with people who reside all over the world. Also, Leong and Ahmadi (2017)
agreed that it is necessary to pay attention to strengthening speaking skills when
studying English as both a first and second language. Practicing speaking skills is
the most important aspect of learning a language because the success of an English
learner is measured based on his or her ability to perform a conversation in the
language. The speaking skills are considered active and more difficult than the three
other skills. With the reading, listening or writing examinations, learners can still
receive the support of other people or have opportunities to correct their mistakes,
but they are required to express their ability immediately in the speaking one.
Therefore, their English levels will be appreciated through the speaking tests.
2.2.2. Evaluating the English-speaking abilities of learners
Over the past decades, many studies have highlighted the significance of
speaking proficiency for communication in second or foreign languages; however,
speaking a foreign language still seems to be difficult for ESL (English as a Second
Language) or EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners (Shen & Chiu, 2019).
Those in countries that do not consider English as an official language seem to suffer
from several challenges in studying it. When participating in many speaking
activities, these individuals have a tendency to use their mother tongue to generate
their ideas and then translate what they think into English (Trinh & Pham, 2021). It
may be a negative habit preventing learners from mastering English. Besides, there
was an interview about English learners’ difficulties accomplished by Sawir (2005).
The report revealed that participants were international students in Australia coming
from several different nations, including Indonesia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam

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and Japan. Surprisingly, most of them admitted that they found it complicated to
communicate when studying in Australia for years. There is a fact that countries that
do not consider English as an official language are likely to have no ideal methods
for learners to master this language. Most secondary and high schools only focus on
teaching theoretical concepts like grammar or vocabulary rather than pushing
students to have practical experiences.
2.2.3. Difficulties preventing learners from getting high scores in
English speaking examinations
In their report, Jaya, Petrus and Pitaloka (2022) showed that there are three
major problems that are faced by the students when speaking English. They could
be divided into affective-related problems (e.g., attitude, self-confidence, classroom
conditions and family background), socially-related problems (e.g., comprehension
to practice English inside and outside the classroom) and linguistically-related
problems (e.g., pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary). Obtaining the ability to
speak English fluently is most learners’ dream and the best motivation is pushing
them to make an effort to master English. However, it seems to be not easy. Nguyen
(2021) supposed that one of the issues we have to notice is that students’ speaking
environment at school is quite poor, especially those coming from provinces. The
common number of students in a normal class usually ranges from forty to forty-five
individuals, resulting in a lack of time for all of them to have opportunities to speak
in front of the class during the class sessions. Therefore, teachers are only allowed
to prepare theoretical lessons and focus on teaching vocabulary or grammar instead
of practical English skills. According to Hosni (2014), the main factors related to
students’ speaking obstacles are inhibition, having no idea how to make a speech,
low or uneven participation and mother-tongue use. Inhibition involves the students’
state of worrying about making mistakes and being laughed at or criticized by
teachers and other classmates. Nothing to say may be caused by personal reasons.
They do not devote time to gaining knowledge of various topics, so they have no
ideas to discuss in many conversations. Besides, low or uneven participation is
nearly like the inhibition problem. Students have a tendency to express themselves
in speaking classes, so they seem to object to the responsibility to speak English in
discussions. Finally, mother-tongue use may be the major problem because this is a
numerous learners’ mistake. In an English-speaking class, when being required to
discuss any topics, those individuals increase their chances of using their mother

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tongue to have conversations. It seems to be easier for learners to brainstorm and

share their ideas with partners.
2.3. Gap in research
In modern society today, English, a global language, has become one of the
most prevalent topics for research projects. There are several studies discussing
aspects of studying English like learning methods, developing strategies or reliable
sources of materials. Moreover, focusing on the four basic skills in English is an
important and indispensable duty for each learner wanting to be exposed to this
language. As a result, there are discoveries related to the four English skills,
especially the speaking ones that have been revealed by several studies on causes,
consequences and awareness. The majority of research, however, just used data from
a few years ago and was carried out solely in various regions of the world. They also
frequently interview people at all ages and all levels. Moreover, few studies have
been conducted on speaking abilities in Vietnam and at HUFLIT specifically. The
figures are expected to update some changes due to a more state-of-the-art society
as well as Vietnam’s varied cultures or diverse lifestyles, and the objects paid
attention to in this research are graduates at HUFLIT.
2.4. Reference to present research
This research paper attempts to complement the aforementioned literature by
concentrating on exploring three main objectives. Firstly, identify common
challenges preventing English learners from mastering speaking English.
Secondly, this study will discover the causes of those obstacles and evaluate their
impacts on learners’ academic processes. Finally, suggesting those individuals
solutions and effective learning strategies in order to improve their speaking
abilities is also an essential problem. Focusing on undergraduates is an ideal
selection since people of all ages have already developed an awareness of the
importance of being exposed to English, especially their speaking skills. They are
able to understand complicated concepts and advanced knowledge, so they
increase their chances of achieving the skill more effectively. This study will be
carried out among university students at a particular location, which is HUFLIT.

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CHAPTER 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1. Overview of experiment

The study aims to investigate the English-speaking difficulties of students
who are studying in English major at a language university, namely Ho Chi Minh
City University of Foreign Languages – Information Technology (HUFLIT). They
are given a questionnaire that is related to the problems of their speaking skills and
must answer the questions honestly. The questionnaire for research will be carried
out for two weeks.
3.2. Subjects of the experiment
The subjects of this study were chosen randomly from a group of fifty students
whose major is English at HUFLIT. These individuals' range in age from 18 to 22
are both male and female and have an English level ranging from A1 to C2. The
purpose of the study is to investigate how HUFLIT students perceive speaking
abilities and what they think about speaking examinations in various forms at
HUFLIT. The students who meet the above criteria specialize in English, so they
gain a lot of advanced experience in this foreign language, especially in speaking
skills. Moreover, they are also taught how to apply effective speaking strategies by
HUFLIT lectures in order to make an impression on examiners, but some of them
seem to fail to apply these methods. Therefore, when attending this survey, they are
able to give trustworthy answers to all questions based on their experiences.
Furthermore, this questionnaire will insist that they become more open-minded
about the reasons hampering these individuals from obtaining satisfying results in
speaking tests.
3.3. Materials
The research was conducted on the base of quantitative approaches. To
investigate reasons why HUFLIT students in English major did not get high scores
in speaking examinations, a brief questionnaire was administered from the beginning
to the end of the experiment. The questionnaire, which had all twelve questions,
consisted of two sections. In the first one, participants were required to provide their
personal information, like gender and academic year at HUFLIT. The second section
had ten questions, including dichotomous, multiple-choice, and rating scale ones. In

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this section, the researcher encouraged the respondents to express their thoughts
about many aspects of English-speaking problems. The questions could be directed
at each student’s point of view. The questionnaire was written in both Vietnamese
and English so that all the participants could understand all the questions
comprehensively.
3.4. Procedures
The research process included four steps. In the first one, the researcher
created a questionnaire by using a Google Form. The questions made should be
simple in order to ensure their clarity and allow everyone to get access to the survey
easily. The next step was that the creator provided the Google Form link via
Facebook and Zalo for each academic year group. Almost all the students possessed
technical knowledge, so they were able to use their Google accounts or personal
emails to approach the survey with no difficulty. A two-week long-term limit was
set for respondents to complete the form, with a request for honest and careful
answers. The survey form was available for two weeks until the total number of
students participating in the survey reached the number of 50 responses. After the
deadline expired, researchers compiled the responses in Microsoft Excel for
analysis. The collected data would be carefully analyzed and examined in order to
provide clear findings and results. Moreover, the researcher also applied visual
means in Microsoft Excel, such as creating charts, graphs or columns so as to make
the data more understandable and clearer.
3.5. Statistical Treatment
The data collected from the questionnaire would be analyzed using descriptive
statistics, such as frequencies and percentages, so the creator is able to provide an
overall picture of student attitudes toward various aspects of English-speaking
problems. The researcher utilized Google Form for all analyses and then converted
the data into statistics and diverse charts displaying participants’ responses via
Microsoft Excel to make it easier to understand.

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CHAPTER 4. RESULTS

FIGURE 4.1. Forms of Speaking Tests at HUFLIT Considered

the Most Difficult

According to the results of a survey with the participation of 50 students, the

worries of respondents toward English-speaking tests at HUFLIT are analyzed in
Figure 4.1. The majority of learners had a tendency to be afraid of attending
examinations in the form of discussing in pairs or groups, with the porpotion
occupying 50%. Following the figure, there was also a large percentage of
participants considering individual speaking tests the most difficult ones, and the
figure accounted for 40%. By contrast, only 10% of learners acknowledged that they
had problems with speaking tests presented in pairs or groups. Overall, the results of
this survey show that most students in the English major at HUFLIT are worried
about speaking examinations with the forms of speaking individually and discussing
because those tests require students to perform their speaking abilities actively.

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FIGURE 4.2. Students’ Common Obstacles When Practicing

English-speaking
64% 70%

44%

28%
20%
10% 10%

Figure 4.2 displays a number of common difficulties that HUFLIT students

specializing in English encounter when practicing speaking, and the participants are
able to choose more than one selection. The vast majority of learners had the issues
of worrying about making mistakes and lacking vocabulary, with percentages of
70% and 64% respectively. In contrast, only 44% of students have problems with
their pronunciation. Notably, there was a tendency that the proportions of
participants encountering challenges like lacking ideas, being unable to listen well,
lacking sentence formation skills and lacking motivation to speak were only 28%,
20% and 10% respectively. The results above suggest that the common fears of the
majority of students at HUFLIT toward English-speaking skills are related to
subjective factors.

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FIGURE 4.3. Reasons for Students’ Common Difficulties

Figure 4.3 gives information about many reasons why HUFLIT students in
English major face the challenges mentioned above in Figure 4.2, and the
respondents are encouraged to select more than one option. Surprisingly, being
unconfident with speaking abilities seemed to be the biggest concern of learners,
with the number of 30 students, meaning that the figure accounted for over 50% of
50 individuals. Besides, the number of participants who found it stressful with
specialized knowledge such as topical ideas or linguistic knowledge was also
remarkable, ranging from 18 to 28 individuals. Meanwhile, issues related to listening
skills and the support of partners did not affect too negatively students’ speaking
abilities, and these reasons only engaged 9 and 4 joiners respectively. Overall, there
is a tendency that the number of HUFLIT learners suffering from mental and
knowledge problems is greater than that of individuals encountering objective
factors.

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FIGURE 4.4. Solutions Considered Effective to Improve

Students’ Speaking Skills

According to the results of the survey with the participation of 50 individuals,

effective solutions considered effective to help learners improve their speaking
capabilities are analyzed in Figure 4.4. Also, this question allows respondents to
express their opinions by choosing various selections. Notably, most respondents
agreed that practicing speaking more frequently, even on a daily basis could help
them enhance their skills, with the number of 46 individuals. Moreover, significant
numbers of participants chose gaining practical knowledge, focusing on improving
linguistic knowledge, imitating other people’s pronunciation and spending more
time on listening skills. Their figures were 39, 38 and 34 learners respectively.
Overall, the number of HUFLIT students with a desire to develop English-speaking
skills seems to be considerable because the figures of those who agree with these
solutions have a tendency to range from 34 to 46 respondents, meaning that they
account for about 70% of 50 students in total.

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CHAPTER 5. DISCUSSION

5.1. Purpose of the study

Nowadays, studying English seems to have become a popular choice for many
people for various purposes, and English learners are required to practice the four
basic skills. However, most individuals acknowledged that they found it the most
stressful when practicing English-speaking. Therefore, the main idea of this research
involved speaking abilities, which were considered the most complicated ones
among the four basic English skills. Speaking was an active and productive skill,
meaning that learners had to perform their abilities actively and immediately
whenever they attended conversations in English. Besides, it is a fact that people
have a tendency to evaluate someone’s success in language learning by considering
how well they perform in their spoken language abilities. Meanwhile, the number of
students who were confident in their speaking capabilities seemed to be small, and
those individuals were not willing to express themselves in speaking tests due to
various reasons. Consequently, the purposes of this study were to identify reasons
for HUFLIT learners’ common obstacles that hampered them from getting high
scores in speaking tests and then, provided them with academic methods so as to
overcome speaking challenges and gain satisfied results.
5.2. Findings and explaination
Based on results of the survey with the participation of 50 HUFLIT students,
there was a tendency that over 70% of respondents agreed that English-speaking
skills were difficult, and they also found it stressful when practicing this productive
skill. As a result, these findings revealed that there were a huge number of learners
having issues with their speaking skills, and these obstacles affected their English
abilities so negatively. This study showed two significant contributions. Firstly, the
forms of speaking tests at HUFLIT that most students worried about were discussing
and presenting individually. Examinations with the forms of discussion required the
young to attend many conversations in English, so except for speaking, those people
also had to not only possess a good listening skill, but also understand what their
partners said. Besides, speaking individually was also a big concern for students
because they would perform their abilities without the support of other people.

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Secondly, the survey also showed teenagers common difficulties. Worrying about
making mistakes was the obstacle engaging the most participants, with 35
individuals, and the reasons for this were being unconfident with speaking abilities.
There was a fact that the vast majority of schools in Vietnam did not have the
intention of allowing their students to express themselves with productive English
skills, especially speaking ones. Vietnamese education only focused on teaching
theoretical knowledge like vocabulary or grammar instead of developing practical
skills. Therefore, when students attended university, they would be hesitant to
perform themselves with speaking capabilities, resulting in mental problems like
nervousness or the fear of making mistakes. Also, those learners seemed to be
confused about achieving a large range of vocabulary because they were not able to
memorize various vocabulary related to synonyms, antonyms and paraphrases or
distinguish words with similar spellings. With those difficulties, most of them
believed that the solution of practicing more frequently was the best selection for
them to improve their English-speaking skills effectively. Their figures were 34
individuals. Besides, there were also 27 people who agreed that they should spend
more time improving their linguistic knowledge to have a firm English foundation.
Those results mentioned above clearly and understandably reflected students’
attitudes toward various aspects of speaking abilities.
5.3. Implication
These findings lead us to believe that English-speaking abilities are really
difficult, and they take a lot of time to master. If learners have a desire to improve
their speaking or even their English capabilities in general, they have to not only
gain linguistic knowledge, but overcome mental barriers as well. Even though there
are several limitations, this research paper is expected to be useful for HUFLIT
students specializing in English because they will have opportunities to identify the
reasons why they have not performed their speaking skills well and discover
effective methods in order to resolve their difficulties.
5.4. Limitations
Although the study has shown the common reasons for failing to get high
scores in speaking tests among HUFLIT students, it still has several limitations.
The first downside is that the deadline for this paper is two weeks, but HUFLIT
students are on Tet holiday at this time. Therefore, the author can only create the

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questionnaire and send it to learners in English major through social media

platforms like Facebook, Messenger or Zalo, so the results are likely to not be
highly accurate. The second limitation of this study is the number of participants.
There were only 50 participants asked to answer questions, but in reality, the
number of students in English major at HUFLIT is more than one thousand
individuals. Hence, the findings given are not representative of the entire student
body. The last disadvantage is the lack of reasons provided. In fact, there are
several reasons that hamper students from achieving satisfied results in speaking
examinations, but in order to avoid the problems of lack of control in data analysis,
the participants are only given seven common reasons. Moreover, they are just
asked to answer whether they agree with these reasons or not instead of
encouraging them to give their own reasons. In conclusion, there are still numerous
limitations that the author needs to overcome so as to carry out better research.
5.5. Recommendations
Understanding the limitations of the research, the writer suggests that the
future study with the sample topic is advised to enlarge the number of subjects in
order to make the results more accurate and objective. In addition to this, besides
sending questionnaires, observations and interview instruments should also be added
to discover more information about students’ attitudes toward English-speaking
skills. Moreover, future research is supposed to add more kinds of questions,
especially open-minded ones to encourage learners to express their own opinions.
As a result, there will be an increase in the number of answers for each question
instead of a limitation in creating questions, and respondents just need to answer
whether they agree or disagree with the author’s statements.

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REFERENCES
(A.P.A style)

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APPENDIX A

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APPENDIX B

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