Factors affecting Gia Lai High school students' English speaking fluency = Những yếu tố ảnh hưởng đến sự lưu loát khi nói tiếng Anh của học sinh THPT ở Gia Lai

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

QUY NHON UNIVERSITY

DUONG TIEU LINH

FACTORS AFFECTING GIA LAI HIGH SCHOOL

STUDENTS’ ENGLISH SPEAKING FLUENCY

Field: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching

Code: 8140111

Supervisor: Assoc, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien

BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO

TRƢỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN

ĐƢỜNG TIỂU LINH

NHỮNG YẾU TỐ ẢNH HƢỞNG ĐẾN SỰ LƢU LOÁT KHI

NÓI TIẾNG ANH CỦA HỌC SINH THPT Ở GIA LAI

Ngành: Lý luận và phƣơng pháp dạy học bộ môn Tiếng Anh

Mã số: 8140111

Ngƣời hƣớng dẫn: PGS. TS. Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền

i

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I, DUONG TIEU LINH, declare that this thesis is my own work and

has been generated by me as the result of my own original research. The

thesis title is “Factors Affecting Gia Lai High School Students’ English

Speaking Fluency”.

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree at any

university.

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my thesis

deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and

research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the

librarian for the care or reproduction of the thesis.

Quy Nhon, 2022

Duong Tieu Linh

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my thesis supervisor

Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien for her invaluable instructions, helpful

suggestions, critical comments, various sources of reference and precious

corrections on my writing. This research work would not be possible without

her stimulation inspiration and cooperation.

I also would like to express my sincere thanks to the lecturers of the

Faculty of Foreign Languages of Quy Nhon University for their wonderful

and meaningful lectures and profound background knowledge, which played

an integral role in my completion of this thesis.

I am very grateful to the English teachers and students at four Upper

Secondary School in Gia Lai who have enthusiastically participated in my

research. But for their participation, my thesis could not be completed.

Also, I extend my thanks to all my colleagues at Y Don Upper

Secondary School for their continuous encouragement and support during the

course.

Finally, I wish to thank all my beloved family who always encourage

and support me in the process of doing this thesis.

iii

ABSTRACT

In terms of English language learning, speaking is known as one of the

most important skills to be developed and improved continually as means of

effective communication. However, in fact, a majority of Gia Lai high school

students find it difficult to express themselves in spoken English fluently.

Therefore, this research was conducted with the aims to investigate prominent

factors affecting fluency of Gia Lai high school students in speaking skills.

The study used mixed research methods with two data collection instruments

namely survey questionnaire and semi-structured interview. The official

participants taking part in the survey questionnaire included 150 eleventh

grade students from four high schools in Gia Lai province. The semi￾structured interviews were carried out with participation of 8 out of 150

students chosen randomly. The findings revealed four main factors affecting

students’ fluency. Automation was the most influential one, and then

followed by performance conditions, teacher’s correction and feedback and

affective factors. The study also investigated the different levels of the

impacts of those factors in terms of subfactors on oral fluency of the students.

Moreover, the research proposed a number of implications, focusing on

aiding the students to improve their speaking fluency.

Keywords: English speaking skills, speaking fluency, prominently affecting

factors, high school students, Gia Lai.

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ................................................................... i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..............................................................................ii

ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS................................................................................. iv

LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................... vii

LIST OF FIGURES........................................................................................viii

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................... 1

1.1. Rationale ............................................................................................... 1

1.2. Aim and objectives of the study............................................................ 3

1.3. Research questions................................................................................ 3

1.4. Scope of the study ................................................................................. 3

1.5. Method of the study .............................................................................. 3

1.6. Significance of the study....................................................................... 4

1.7. Organization of the sudy....................................................................... 4

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................... 6

2.1. Speaking skills ...................................................................................... 6

2.2. Speaking fluency................................................................................... 7

2.3. Factors affecting speaking fluency ....................................................... 9

2.3.1. Affective factors.............................................................................. 9

2.3.2. Performance conditions ................................................................ 11

2.3.3. Automation.................................................................................... 13

2.3.4. Teacher’s Corrections and Feedback during speaking activities.........14

2.3.5. Topical knowledge........................................................................ 15

2.4. Review of Previous Studies Related to the Topic............................... 15

v

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ............................................. 19

3.1. Research method ................................................................................. 19

3.2. Participants.......................................................................................... 19

3.3. Instruments.......................................................................................... 20

3.3.1. Questionnaire ................................................................................ 21

3.3.2. Semi-structured interview............................................................. 23

3.4. Data collection procedures.................................................................. 23

3.5. Data Analysis Method......................................................................... 24

3.5.1. Coding........................................................................................... 24

3.5.2. Reliability and Validity................................................................. 25

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ........................................... 30

4.1. Gia Lai high school students’ perception of the importance of

speaking skills................................................................................................. 30

4.2. Gia Lai high school students’ evaluation of their English speaking

fluency........................................................................................................ 32

4.3. Factors affecting students’ speaking fluency...................................... 34

4.3.1. Automation.................................................................................... 36

4.3.2. Performance conditions ................................................................ 38

4.3.3. Teacher’s feedback and correction ............................................... 40

4.3.4. Affective factors............................................................................ 41

4.4. The levels of impacts of these factors on Gia Lai high school

students’ speaking fluency ......................................................................... 44

4.4.1 The levels of impact of automation, performance conditions,

affective factors, and teacher’s feedback................................................ 44

4.4.2. The levels of impacts of detailed factors...................................... 45

CHAP TER 5 CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS................................. 49

5.1. A Summary of the Key Findings........................................................ 49

5.2. Recommendations............................................................................... 50