ABSTRACT
Nowadays, with the development of the world economy, English is not only the
language used solely in English speaking countries but also the international language
used throughout the world. This language is also currently playing more important role
in this global integration in which most of international business deals using English as
the mean of communication among enterprises or business men. Along with the
demand of global integration, learning foreign languages for international
communication has become more and more vital to Vietnamese students.
Apart from the importance of English, many Vietnamese learners still face a lot
of difficulties when making presentation in English. It is not easy for learners in this
context to achieve their fluency and proficiency in English presentation activities. Data
used for analysis in this graduation paper were gathered through survey questionnaires
and analyzed by both qualitative and quantitative methods. 100 first year students of
English Faculty were chosen to be research participants. This study was conducted
with the aims of figuring out the difficulties in the English presentation activities and
also proposing some useful solutions to improving effectively presentation skills. In
addition, on the basis of the findings, the researcher hopes that this study would be a
meaningful material and offer useful suggestions for further studies.


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
During the process of completing this graduation paper, I have encountered
with many problems in English, as well as the way to express my idea. However,
with the great help, assistance and encouragement from teachers, family and friends; I
have overcome these difficulties and completed this graduation paper successfully.
First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Mrs. Le Thi Tuyet
Nga, M.A. who is my supervisor from English Faculty at Thuongmai University who
has not only given me many invaluable suggestions and comments but also provided
me with valuable materials.
In addition, I would like to thank all teachers of English Faculty at Thuongmai
University for their precious and useful lessons during my four-year study which have

been then the foundation of this study. Last but not least, my sincere thanks are
delivered to my parents and friends for their encouragement and assistance during this
time.
Because of limited time, knowledge and practical experience, the study’s errors
are unavoidable. Therefore, I honestly look forward to receiving comments and
suggestions to make it be perfect.
Ha Noi, December 4th 2020

Bui Thi Oanh


TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT..................................................................................................................i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................................ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS...........................................................................................iii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS......................................................................................v
LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS............................................................................vi
CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY..........................................................1
1.1. Rationale................................................................................................................ 1
1.2. Previous studies.....................................................................................................2
1.2.1. Studies abroad.....................................................................................................2
1.2.2. Studies in Vietnam..............................................................................................3
1.3. Aims of the study...................................................................................................3
1.4. Research and objective subjects...........................................................................4
1.5. Scope of the study.................................................................................................4
1.6. Research methodology..........................................................................................4
1.6.1. Data collection instruments................................................................................4
1.6.2 Data collection procedures..................................................................................5
1.7. Organization of the study.....................................................................................5
CHAPTER 2: THE THEORETICAL BASIS............................................................7

2.1. The definition of presentation and presentation skills.......................................7
2.1.1. The definition of presentation.............................................................................7
2.1.2. The definition of presentation skills...................................................................7
2.1.3. Components of English presentation skills........................................................8
2.1.4. The important roles of English presentation skills............................................8
2.2. The definition of limitation.................................................................................10
2.3. The definition of limitation in English presentation skills...............................10
2.3.1. Objective factors................................................................................................10
2.3.2 Subjective factors...............................................................................................10
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS..................................................................12
3.1. Data Analysis.......................................................................................................12


3.1.1. General information.........................................................................................12
3.1.2. English usage and general evaluation..............................................................12
3.2.1. Difficulties and solutions to improving English speaking skills......................16
3.2.2. Difficulties and solutions to improving English listening skills.......................22
3.2.3. Difficulties and solutions to improving public presentation skills (Soft-skills).....26
3.2.4. Difficulties and solutions to improving physical settings.................................29
CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS............................32
4.1. Recommendations for university and teachers.................................................32
4.1.1. Recommendations for the university................................................................32
4.1.2. Recommendations for teachers.........................................................................32
4.2. Recommendations for students..........................................................................33
4.3. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies..........................35
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................36
REFERENCES
APPENDIX



LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Abbreviations
TMU
DNU
Q&A

English meaning
Thuongmai University
Da Nang University
Question and Answer


LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS
Chart 3.1. Students’ evaluation of English presentation activities................................12
Chart 3.2. Students’ time spent on English self-learning each day...............................13
Chart 3.3. Students’ participation in activities of using English at university..............14
Chart 3.4. The general evaluation of difficulties in presentation activities..................15
Chart 3.5 Students’ willingness to talk to foreign partners...........................................16
Chart 3.6: Difficulties faced when speaking in English...............................................17
Chart 3.7. Learning methods used to improve English speaking skills........................19
Chart 3.8. Listening difficulties encountered...............................................................22
Chart 3.9: Learning methods used to improve English listening skills........................24
Chart 3.10. Public presentation problems....................................................................26
Chart 3.11. Solutions to improving public presentation skills (Soft-Skills).................28
Chart 3.12. Physical setting problems in using English presentation skills..................29
Chart 3.13. Conversational group practice method......................................................30


CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY

1.1.

Rationale

With the development of the market economy, English nowadays is considered as
an international language which is spoken by millions of people around the world.
People use English for working, learning, researching and anything. In other words,
English is known as one of important tools or links for our lives. However, in many
countries which English is not their mother tounge, it is rather difficult to learn English
and understand this language. They must take many times to practice English so that
they can communicate fluently with foreigners.
For Vietnam, we see the importance of learning English also. Large international
companies and universities in Vietnam often use English to communicate each other.
Learning English becomes much more necessary than ever to catch up with the
globalization trend and to bring the image of the country world-wide. As for those
people who are working, apart from using the language as a tool for communication,
they have desire to use it for their jobs and studies. In reality, one of the desires is to
present in English.
As a matter of fact, giving an effective presentation requires a mastery of broad
range of skills and techniques .You need effective presentation skills to present your
ideas, projects, plans, strategies, and products in front of audience, group. Presentation
skills help you to communicate more and more effectively and professionally with
your audience, boss, team members, students and teachers.
In addition, presentation also becomes a teaching and learning method
implemented in almost universities around the world. That implementation makes
students can develop the skills of exploration, creation, the ability to work in group
and the ability to think critically. Most of students impressed by this method, however,
they find it difficult to make it fluently. To achieve the objectives of the presentation,
the presenter is supposed to master techniques of identifying the purpose, topic, theme,
organization and so on. In addition to that, the usage of intonation, stress, emphasis,

articulation, pacing, etc., to get the audience’s attention and concentration is
considered essential to contribute to his/her success.
Vietnamese students in general and first year students of English Faculty at
Thuongmai University in particular, still meet many difficulties in the process of


learning English, especially when making presentation in English. English Faculty
students are the ones who will use English in the real work environment later.
However, English at classes is a big difference from English for presentation used in
practice.
The above- mentioned problems is the researcher’s primary concern and also the
motivation for doing the thesis. Therefore, I chose “Difficulties in English presentation
skills of first year English major students at Thuongmai University and some
suggested solutions” for my graduation paper.
1.2. Previous studies
The research related to the issue “English presentation skills” has been studied by
many different researchers around the world in general and in Vietnam in particular.
1.2.1. Studies abroad
The study “English Presentation Skills of Thai Graduate Students” by
Thitibhada Sukithanaporn, the Language Institute of Thammasat University,
Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand (2013) show that there are some
statistically significant differences between English presentation skills of the students
who studied Effective Presentations and those who did not. The study also explore the
ways to improve graduate students’ English presentation skills.
The research “Developing Presentation Skills in the English Language Courses
for the Engineering Students of the 21st Century Knowledge Society: A Methodological
Approach” by Canata Elisabeta Simona (2015) is the second thesis that I would like to
mention. The reasearch shows six prerequisites for English successful presentations:
 Planning the aprroach of the topic so that the audience finds it interesting amd
challenging.

 Planning the number of points to be focused on, the structures ,the ways to
finish the presentation
 Planning strategies to arouse the audience’s interest in the topic: rhetorical
questions, introducing amazing facts, making polite, humorous remarks.
 Giving explanations in short, clear sentences , speaking slowly, clearly, fluently,
convincingly and keeping eye-contact with the audience


 Rehearsing the presentation well in advance, relying more on the
presenter’skills than on the Powerpoint support that should display only keywords and
not the whole presentations content to be read.
 Answering the audience’ questions at the end of the presentation.
1.2.2. Studies in Vietnam
The study “ English Presentation Skills of Fashion Design Major at National
University Of Art Education” by Le Thi Hien (2018) pointed out some important notes
when making presentation including manners, eye-contact, adjustment of voice.etc,
This study also gives some suggestion for students to improve English presentation
skills. Students should practice some soft-skills such as listening skills, communication
skills, team work skills and so on.
Another study on English presentation skills was completed by Nguyen Thi
Phuong Huyen(2008): English Presentation Skills of Third-Year Students of English
Department at the College of Foreign Languages, Danang University- Statement and
Suggestions”. This research find out the roles of English presentation skills at Danang
University in general and at English Department at the College of Foreign Languages
in particular. This research also pointed out some errors when making English
Presentation.
Overall, these studies have mentioned quite clearly and cleared many problems
and difficulties when making presentation in English of students in different fields, but
there have been no studies on presentation difficulties of TMU students. Therefore, I
conduct research on the difficulties of Thuongmai University first year students in

presentation and propose suitable solutions to improve their English presentation
skills.
1.3. Aims of the study
When choosing and carrying out this study, I expect to clarify main issues:
 To identify some difficuties in English presentation skills which first-year
English major students at TMU face.
 To suggest some possible solutions to these probblems in order to help students
improve presentation skills in English.
In order to achieve the aims, this study is seeking answers for the following
questions:


 What are the main difficulties in presentation skills in English of first-year
English major students at TMU?
 What are some solutions to improve their presentation skills?
1.4. Research and objective subjects
Research subjects: This study researches difficulties in English presentation
activities faced by first year English major students at Thuongmai Univesity.
Therefore, I determined that the research subject of study is the difficulties of first year
English major students when making presentation in English.
Objective subjects: first-year English major students at Thuongmai University.
1.5. Scope of the study
Within the scope of this study, I only conduct research on difficuties in English
presentation skills for first-year students of English faculty at Thuongmai University.
Other skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing are not within the scope of
the research.
Besides, because of the large number of students at TMU as well as the limitation
of time, resources and my knowledge, this study also does not explore the difficulties
in presentation skills of second year, third year or final year student of English Faculty
or non-English major student of Thuongmai University.

This study is conducted for 100 first year students of the English Faculty at
Thuongmai University.
1.6. Research methodology
1.6.1. Data collection instruments
This study is carried out in both qualitative and quantiative methods. Therefore, I
conduct the research to some following steps:
● Secondary data: (data collected from books, documents and previous studies)
Firstly, I search some necessary documents in web sites and library at Thuongmai
University. Besides, I read some previous studies related to presentation skills. In
addition, I borrow books from book stores to orient for my study. Therefore, I gain the
basic knowledge and useful information to complete my research better.
● Primary data: (data collected by the researcher through surveys, interviews or
observations)
Secondly, the study includes survey questionnaires for students who are first
year students of English Faculty at Thuongmai University. The survey investigates 100
students at TMU.
Survey questionnaire is a method of data collection that has been implemented
for the surveyed students. The questionnaires are designed for in the way that the


researcher finds information easily as well as to summarize and analyze the data. This
method is more convenient, takes less time, is cheaper and easily answered by
students. Survey questionnaire also help find necessary information for research as
well as provide useful solutions.
1.6.2 Data collection procedures
The data collection process is designed with 3 main steps (For primary data
only):
Step 1: Designing the questionnaire
In this step, the researcher begins researching and designing questions for
participants. The questions must be short, concise and easy to understand for

participants. It includes questions related to common mistakes made when making
presentation , the factors cause them and their solutions to improve. After designing,
the researcher sends the questionnaire to the supervisor for comments. After that, the
researcher drafts a complete questionnaire.
Step 2: Delivering questionnaires
Seeking help from friends who are English major students, especially first-year
students. For the most objective results, the researcher asks them to pay attention and
seriously answer the questions in their own views.
The questionnaire is conducted through an Internet statistics application system,
or hand-out papers.
1.7. Organization of the study
The construction of this study includes four parts as follows:
Chapter 1: Overview of the study
The introduction gives the rationale, the aims of the study, the research and
objective subjects, the scope of the study, methodology and the organization of the
study
Chapter 2: The theoretical basis
The theoretical basis review shows up the background literature relevant directly
to the study being discussed.
Chapter 3: Research results and discussion
Research results and discussion include the results from the study, suggestions
and discussion from the survey questionnaire.
Chapter 4: Recommendations and suggestions
The research gives the recommendations and suggested techniques for improving
English Presentation skills of first year English major students at Thuongmai
University.



CHAPTER 2: THE THEORETICAL BASIS

2.1. The definition of presentation and presentation skills.
2.1.1. The definition of presentation
According to Wikipedia, a presentation is the process of communicating a topic to
an audience. It is typically a demonstration, introduction, lecture, or speech meant to
inform, persuade, inspire, motivate, or to build good will or to present a new idea or
product. The term can also be used for a formal or ritualized introduction or offering,
as with the presentation of a debutante. Presentations in certain formats are also known
as keynote address.
A presentation program is often used to generate the presentation content, some
of which also allow presentations to be developed collaboratively, e.g. using the
Internet by geographically disparate collaborators. Presentation viewers can be used to
combine content from different sources into one presentation. Some of the popular
presentation products used across the globe are offered by Apple, Google and
Microsoft.
Skillsyouneed.com defines the definition of presentation as a means of
communication that can be adapted to a various speaking situations, such as talking to
a group, addressing a meeting or briefing a team. From Skillsyouneed.com we also
know that a presentation can also be used as a broad term that encompasses other
“speaking engagements” such as making speech at a wedding, or getting a point across
in a video conference. A presentation requires you to get a message across to the
listeners and will often contain a persuasive element. It may, for example, be a talk
about the positive work of your organization, what you could offer an employer, or
why you should receive additional funding for a project.
2.1.2. The definition of presentation skills
UBC Wiki gives the definition of presentation skills as the skills you need in
delivering effective and engaging presentations to a variety of audiences. These skills
cover a variety of areas such as the structure of your presentation, the design of your
slides, the tone of your voice and the body language you convey”



Presentation skills have real purposes: to give information to those who don’t
know about the topic yet (to inform) and to persuade people to use something they
already know (to persuade). Even when a lesson is focused on developing reading and
writing skills, presentation skills should be integrated into the lesson.
Furthermore, research on second language acquisition suggests that more
learning takes place when students are engaged in relevant tasks within a dynamic
learning environment rather than in traditional teacher-led classes (Moss & RossFeldman, 2003).
2.1.3. Components of English presentation skills
Presentation skills are always with the participation of many factors. These
factors both creating the presentation itself and governing the presentation skills.
These factors are:
- Context: it means when we start creating a presentation, we should ask
ourselves some following questions to develop a full understanding of the context of
the presentation. (1) When and where will you deliver your presentation?, (2) Who is
your audience?, what will you present?,….
- Presenter: the role of the presenter is to communicate with the audience and
control the presentation
- Audience: the audience listens and receives the presenter’ message.
- Message: the message or messages are delivered by the presenter to the
audience. As always, the message is delivered not just by the spoken word (verbal
communication) but can be transformed by body language, gestures, eye-contact.
- Method: it means the way the presentation will be delivered.
2.1.4. The important roles of English presentation skills
Nowadays, some immigrants, such as parents, elders, or people who work in
isolated environments (like housekeepers and babysitters) may feel lonely and
experience depression or have low self-esteem. They may begin to feel that they will
never learn English or never feel comfortable. Offering well-designed and wellexecuted presentation skills can help turn the English classroom into an active, safe,
and enjoyable place where literacy and beginning level learners can learn what they
need and want to learn.



In addition, as English becomes a global language, learning English has become
more and more important, not only for graduates looking for a work but also for
students who are still sitting in their school. Studying and practicing to improve
presentation skills become more important in many schools and universities. To keep
up with the changing world, students are also encouraged to read more English texts
and find opportunities to enhance presentation skills. Moreover, teachers encourage
their students to participate in English presentation skills. Direct presentation with
native speakers helps students be more and more energetic, active and socialize with
other people who have similar interests. As a result, students gain valuable experiences
and learn more useful things during study progress and extracurricular participation at
university.
In addition to manual work such as waiters or waitresses in restaurants, sales
assistants selling goods in shops, if they are confident in English and good
presentation skills, they can apply for positions such as English teaching assistants,
translators, interpreters, freelance guides, saleman at travel agencies. It is not only a
wonderful opportunity for students to earn money but also lets them keep practicing
and developing their English skill.
An English-speaking employee can get promotion in work because he/she is able
to communicate and learn advanced techniques effectively through presentation with
foreigners. These language skills can help him/her ensure a better job opportunity than
someone who only possesses original technical skills. Even before becoming an
employee in the workplace, students need to have the ability to communicate well in
English to start interviews and the final purpose is getting the high appreciation from
the employer. Therefore, good presentation skills in English will give an advantage in
job interviews.
In short, companies want people who can basically read, understand and speak in
English. They can increase their marketability by learning how to converse in English
fluently. If they want to stay ahead in the game, they will need to increase English
skills. In the professional world, this is very important for student to represent in

company meetings, conferences, and interactions with stakeholders. A professional
look has to be substantiated with effective English presentation skills.


2.2. The definition of limitation
Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries defines limitation is the act or process of limiting
or controlling someone or something. In other words, we can understand limitation as
a limit on what someone or something can do or how good they or it can be.
According to Cambridge Dictionary, if someone or something has limitations,
that person or thing is not as good as he, she, or it could be.
2.3. The definition of limitation in English presentation skills
The definition of limitation in English presentation skills is known as the
difficulties presenters encounter when presenting by English to audiences. There may
come from objective factors or subjective factors.
2.3.1. Objective factors
● Environment
The presentation environment is one of the important factors in the practice of
presentation skills which contributes to the success in improving the training quality of
English major of universities. All of students feel fear when speaking at crowd.
Perfecting English skills is the ultimate goal to build and develop a favorable, healthy
communication environment, and create best factors for English students to learn
English.
According to Gardner (1973) - the author of the theory of intelligence, the ideal
learning environment is the place where students communicate, interact with friends,
teachers, play, exercise, sing, dance, tell stories, or do it manually. Learning in such
environments helps learners remember more than 80% of what they learn in a year
later. Because in an English environment, we do not learn passively but actively. The
pressure in the English listening and speaking environment forces us to focus on
listening comprehension and converting from the source language (Vietnamese) into
the target language (English). Developing the presentation environment is to increase

the favorable factors to help the presentation process achieve higher quality and
efficiency.
2.3.2 Subjective factors
From my point of view, some of the following factors may cause common
serious limitation when making a presentation.


- Lack of knowledge: Knowledge is the factor affecting directly to the quality of
the presentation. Students need to take time to improve their English related skills such
as listening and speaking which involve in presentation activities. Listening and
speaking always go together to create good presentation. When learning any language,
the ultimate goal is to be able to present naturally and fluently with native people.
Therefore, studying in class, returning home to do exercises, trying to learn grammar
must always be accompanied by the process of speaking English. Therefore, students
should improve both in terms of cultural knowledge and also vocabulary and grammar
to be able to making presentation better.
- Not familiarizing yourself with the Venue and Equipment: Imagine that your
presentation starts in an hour. You arrive at the venue and, to your horror, the projector
won't work with your laptop. The slides you spent hours preparing are useless. This is
a disaster. You can avoid a situation like this by taking time to familiarize yourself
with the venue and available equipment at least once before your presentation.
- Ignoring your audience: Sometimes, the audience feel uncomfortable when the
presenter ignore them when making presentation. Therefore, some thoughts passed
through their head that the presenter don’t respect them.
Start your presentation by telling your audience what to expect. Let them know
what you will cover first, whether and when you'll stop for a break, if you'll be taking
questions during the presentation, and so on.
- Avoiding Eye contact: As we know, eye-contact is situation in which two people
look directly into each other’s eyes. Eye contact is considered to be an important part
of effective presentation. Lack of eye-contact during a presentation is sometimes

thought to be an indicator that the presenter is lying. This leads to the failure of the
presentation.


CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS
3.1. Data Analysis
3.1.1. General information
The survey was conducted with 100 first year students of English Faculty at
Thuongmai University. Students come from many parts of Vietnam, 54% from rural
areas and 46% urban ones. Therefore, the time learning English and level of the
students will vary. For students in the city they have a good environment to learn
English from kindergarten or primary school. They have the opportunity to approach
to the English learning environment from childhood. This is very useful for developing
English skills. Meanwhile, students from rural areas have been exposed to English
quite late, at the beginning of secondary school.
Besides, the conditions of facilities and teacher qualifications are still limited.
With most of the students from the countryside, the English learning is mostly selftraining at home because there is no condition to learn in English centers or attending
in professional English clubs.
3.1.2. English usage and general evaluation

Student's evaluation of English presentation activities
10.00%
1.00%

25.00%

64.00%

Very important


Quite improtant

Important

Not important

Chart 3.1. Students’ evaluation of English presentation activities


Being able to present in English fluently is the significant and ultimate goal when
learning English. Specially, good presentation skills are the best impression in later
working environment. As mentioned in chart 3.1, of 100 students surveyed, 64% of the
students say that presentation plays a very important role in learning English. 25% of
the students also quite highly appreciate the role of presentation skills when choosing
“quite important” and 10% of the students choose the “important” option. This shows
that most students are aware of the importance of improving their English skills. They
will be potential candidate in recruitment in any company who come into the working
environment soon.
That is the reason why first year students of English Faculty spend much time
learning English as well as improving presentation skills. The following chart shows
the amount of time students spend studying English every day.

Students' time spent on English self learning each day
8.00%

29.00%

4.00%

59.00%


1 hour

2 hours

3 hours

more than 3 hours

Chart 3.2. Students’ time spent on English self-learning each day
As can be seen from chart 3.2, most English Faculty freshman at Thuongmai
university are learning English so hard. They spend at least 1 hour each day studying
English. A large number of students (59%) spend one to two hours learning English,
which means that the use of English at home of the students have not been focused a
lot. Only 8% of the students spend more 3 hours self-studying English.


The English Faculty of Thuongmai University trains mainly with specialized
economics, trade, business and specialized subjects. Many lessons are taught entirely
in English. Consequently, the amount of time to study English for an English major
should be greatly increased compared to that of non-professional students. There are
not only the common and simple grammar and vocabulary for students to cultivate but
also learn more about economics and commerce, culture by English. Therefore, it is
necessary for students that require more time to practice at home because of limited
time in class.
Spending time studying English from 3 hours or more surely helps the skills of
most students much better than non-major students.
However, the data show that although time for students learning English is quite
a lot, most of them study theoretically to complete the exercises in class, learn more
grammars for the important skills of English exam. Before, the university also requires

a TOIEC or IELTS certificate for graduating. This makes the students neglect
presentation activities.
Students have not spent much time participating in activities outside school to
improve soft skills as well as English skills. The following table lists the Englishspeaking activities that students participate in during their study and practice at
university.

Chart Title
Other answers

22

Semniar

57

English speaking contest

67

Interview

75

Presentation

100
0

20


40

60

80

100

120

Chart 3.3. Students’ participation in activities of using English at university


Chart 3.3 illustrates the activities of using English at Thuongmai University such
as: presentations, seminars or English presentation contests, interviews. Almost 100%
of the students being asked take part in English presentations in class. This activity is
considered to be quite efficient for students because it is a combination of specialized
knowledge along with the ability to connecting knowledge and words to create a
successful presentation activity.
Besides, basic activities such as participation in a seminar, speaking contest and
interview of first-year students at Thuongmai University account for an average of
66%. The Freshmen have a lot of time so they can take part in some part-time jobs
related to English to gradually familiarize themselves with the environment as well as
using English knowledge.
Overall, there are many forms of practicing presentation activities that students
can choose to improve their skill. In addition, these activities can help students learn
more about specialized knowledge as well as practice other presentation skills.
The out-door activities have not been applied much by the students after school
to interact with the specific environment as well as increasing presentation skills and
interest in presenting in English for the students.



3.2. The reality of English presentation skills nowadays.

14.00%
29.00%

33.00%
Listening skill

Speaking skilll

Public presentation skill

Physical settings

Chart 3.4. The general evaluation of difficulties in presentation activities
According to chart 3.4, there are four major difficulties in presentation activities:
listening skill, speaking skill, public presentation skill and physical settings. To be
more specific, speaking skill is considered as the most difficult skill in learning
English. 33% of the asked students remark that speaking is a challenging skill for
them, following is 29% of the students who say that listening is the challenge for
practicing presentation activities. They find that listening and understanding
audience’questions and suggestions are really difficult. 24% of students feel public
presentation isn’t really easy when they presenting. They don’t know the way to use
eye contact, body language. All of them afraid the crowd of audience. In addition to
that a small number of the students (14%) say physical settings are obstacles in
acquiring English.
Factors affecting student’s improving presentation in English are categorized into
different sources including problems related to speaking skill, listening skill,public

presentation skill and physical settings. The collected data are analyzed in detail.


3.2.1. Difficulties and solutions to improving English speaking skills.
3.2.1.1. Speaking difficulties
One of the main reasons of this study is to figure out the obstacles that students
are encountering in speaking English. Hence, the first question of this part was
released to identify the degree of students’ willingness to talk to their foreign partners.

6.70%
6.60%

86.70%

I Always

I Often

I Sometimes

I Never

Chart 3.5 Students’ willingness to talk to foreign partners.
The statistics from chart 3.5 clearly show that a majority of the students (87%)
sometimes feel willing to speak to their foreign partners. However, only 13% of the
students in total state that they are always or often willing to communicate with
foreigners. As a result, this unwilling attitude in terms of communicating with foreign
partners does cause a lot of disadvantages to the effectiveness of study and work. Or
speaking in the different way, there are some obstacles preventing them from the
willingness of speaking to foreign partners. Students have few opportunities to talk to

foreigners, but when they have the opportunity, they are afraid and not ready.
It is absolutely essential to ask students about the difficulties as well as the
degree of those difficulties that they have encountered when speaking English. The
results from the questionnaire are shown as follows:


100%
87%

90%
80%

77%

74%

70%

64%

60%
5 0%
40%

33%

3 0%
2 0%

20%


16%

10%
0%

A

10%

7%

6%
0%

0%
Always

3%

3%
B

C
Often

Sometimes

0%


0%

D

Never

Chart 3.6: Difficulties faced when speaking in English.
Notes: (A= Being unable to find words and structures; B= Being unable to find
ideas for the topic of the conversation; C= Being afraid of making pronunciation and
grammar mistakes; D= Being too shy and tense to speak with/ to partners)
● Being unable to find words and structures
As can be seen from chart 3.6, a majority of the students feel that they run into
troubles when trying to find suitable words and structures for their speech.
Approximately 20% of the respondents say they always face the difficulty in coming
up with words and structures and 74% of the respondents state they frequently face
this kind of obstacle. Meanwhile, there are only 6% of the participants who think that
they sometimes got troubles in looking for suitable words and structures and none of
them say that they have never ever experienced that obstacle.
As the lack of vocabulary, it takes a long time for students to find suitable words
to express their thoughts and ideas to the partners.
● Being unable to find ideas for the topic of the conversation
As presented in chart 3.6, over three fourths (77%) of the students feel that they
have not got any troubles into finding ideas for the topic while 16% and 7% of the
respondents state that they sometimes and often had difficulties in looking for the topic


ideas. It ends up as they frequently have ideas in their mind, however, other obstacles
prevent them from speaking out loud.
● Being afraid of making pronunciation and grammatical mistakes
Appropriately 33% of the respondents say that they always feel afraid of making

pronunciation and grammatical mistakes and 64% of the respondents report they often
run into the same kind of trouble when speaking with foreigners. Next, only 3% of the
students think they sometimes feel scared of making pronunciation and grammatical
mistakes and none of them think that they never experience that obstacle. As the result,
the fear of making mistakes is definitely a huge problem stopping them from
presenting effectively.
● Being too shy and tense to speak with/ to partners
It is not surprising from the chart that 86.7% say they are frequently too shy or
tense to speak with foreign partners and 10% of the respondents say they sometimes
run into this obstacle. Only a few students think that they are not shy or tense in terms
of talking with the partners, especially native speakers (accounting for 3.3%).
In summary, as the result received from the questionnaire (chart 3.6), it can be
seen that there are three main obstacles to students as being unable to find ideas for the
topic of the conversation, afraid of making pronunciation and grammatical mistakes
and too shy and tense to talk with native speakers. In the conversation, the students
may come up with many ideas and thoughts. However, due to lack of vocabulary and
inability of finding words and structures, students are unable to express their opinions.
Furthermore, the fear of making mistakes leads to students’ hesitance in speaking
English. The fear that partners could not understand what they say and other
Vietnamese people laugh at prevents the students from confidence in communicating
with partners. In addition, being too shy and tense to communicating is also known as
the common obstacles to the students. A majority of them frequently feel shy and
worried to speak or express themselves. Another receive result: being unable to find
ideas for the topic of the conversation is not a common obstacle and do not cause
many troubles for students. Being aware of those obstacles as well as their degree, the
researchers could suggest some useful solutions with the aim of helping them improve
their English speaking difficulties.