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Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to take the chance to express my great gratitude to our teachers at the Postgraduate Department of Vietnam National University, Hanoi College of Foreign Languages for providing us with precious knowledge from their practical and helpful lectures. Secondly, I owe a debt of gratitude to my supervisor, Nguyen Thi Thuy Minh, PhD for her valuable feedback, close guidance, criticism, as well as her generous assistance in the process of completing my thesis. Special thanks must also be given to three of my friends: Do Thi Thanh Ha from Vietnam National University, Hanoi College of Foreign Languages, Le Thi Bich Thuy from English Department of Phuong Dong University and Tran Thi Ngoc Ha from Hanoi Industrial University for their precious advice and comments which inspired me much to carry out this paper. And I am also indebted to all my dear colleagues in English Department of Phuong Dong University for their enthusiastic involvement in the study; to my beloved students for their enthusiastic cooperation in the data collection process. Finally, I would like to thank my families for supporting me during my study, especially, I owe my deep thanks to my husband, Bui Thanh Binh for his typing this paper for me while I was nursing our little son. Without their great help this paper could not have been completed! Nguyen Thi Van Ha i Declaration I declare that this thesis is my own work and has not been submitted in any form for another degree or diploma at any university or other institution of tertiary education. Information derived from the published or unpublished work of others has been acknowledged in the text and a list of references is given. Nguyen Thi Van Ha 27/08/2007 ---------------------------------------- ----- ---------------------------- Signature Date ii Abstract In an attempt to investigate Phuong Dong University’s second-year students’ oral presentations difficulties in the classroom setting, the research was aimed at finding out: (1) the students’ assessment of the importance of oral presentation skills in their future work, (2) the problems they might encounter when giving presentations, and (3) factors causing their difficulties and their suggested solutions. Specifically, the study has been conducted in the form of survey research, with the informants of the study being the sixty two students of two classes, English Department, Phuong Dong University. The survey questionnaire completed by the students was the main instrument employed for the collection of data. The research reveals that the students’ low language proficiency including unclear pronunciation, their bad voice quality, lack of confidence all made it difficult for them to be understood. Besides, the data from the study confirm the fact that the infrequent and inadequate feedback and assessment from teacher(s) and the institution’s lack of conductive facilities also contributed to these students’ poor presentation performance. For those reasons, the study, finally, recommends that in order to improve the students’ presentation skills, students, teacher(s) and institution should make greater efforts in learning and teaching oral communication skills. On the part of the second-year majors, for example, in order to be effective learners of English in general and effective speakers in particular, they need to improve their knowledge of the target language and personality traits during the process of their language proficiency development. iii Table of contents Page Acknowledgements i Declaration .ii Abstract iii Table of Contents iv Part 1: Introduction 1 1. Rationale of the study .1 2. Aims and objectives of the study 2 3. Scope and significance of the study 2 4. Methods of the study 3 5. Organization of the thesis 3 Part 2: Development . 4 Chapter I: Literature Review 4 1.1. Introductory Remarks . 4 1.2. Knowledge and Skills . 5 1.3. Speaking Skills . 6 1.3.1. Nature of Speaking 6 1.3.2. Types of Classroom Speaking Performance 9 1.4. Oral Presentations 10 1.4.1. Definition and Characteristics 10 1.4.2. The Importance of Oral Presentations . 11 1.4.3. Oral presentation Composition 12 1.4.4. Types of Oral Presentations 13 1.4.5. Teaching Oral Presentation Skills . 15 iv Chapter II: The study 18 2.1. An Overview of the Current Situation of Teaching and Learning Speaking at English Department, Phuong Dong University (PDU) . 18 2.1.1. Introduction of English Department, Phuong Dong University 18 2.2. 2. The Syllabus for Speaking 19 2.2. The study 20 2.2.1. The Research Questions 20 2.2.2. The Informants 20 2.2.3. The Questionnaire and Procedure . 22 2.2.3.1. The Questionnaire 21 2.2.3.2. The Procedure . 23 2.3. Data analysis and Discussion of the Findings 23 2.3.1. Data Analysis 23 2.3.2. Discussion of the Findings 24 2.3.2.1. The students’ assessment of the importance of oral presentation skills in their future work 24 2.3.2.2. The students’ evaluations of their success 25 2.3.2.3. The students’ perceived difficulties in making oral presentations 26 2.3.2.4. Factors causing the students’ difficulties . 34 2.3.2.5. The students’ suggested solutions . 37 2.3.2.5.1. For the students . 37 2.3.2.5.2. For the teacher(s) 38 2.3.2.5.3. For the institution 40 Chapter III: Implications and Suggestions . 42 3.1. For Students . 42 3.1.1. Setting up good speaking habits 42 v 3.1.2. Learning from their presentations . 45 3.2. For Teacher(s) 46 3.2.1. Improving students’ nonlinguistic skills . 46 3.2.2. Building up students’ confidence 47 3.3. For the Institution: Conducting oral presentation-oriented testing . 49 Part 3: Conclusion and recommendations 51 References Appendices Appendix 1: The questionnaire for the students Appendix 2: The topics for the fourth term for PDU majors of English Appendix 3: Samples of model presentations Appendix 4: Suggested models of language for an oral presentation Appendix 5: Checklists Appendix 6: Pre-speech Evaluation Form Appendix 7: A sample final speech evaluation form Appendix 8: Suggested pronunciation exercises Appendix 9: A marking sheet for speaking test vi . Besides, the data from the study confirm the fact that the infrequent and inadequate feedback and assessment from teacher(s) and the institution’s lack of conductive. ---------------------------- Signature Date ii Abstract In an attempt to investigate Phuong Dong University s second- year students’ oral presentations difficulties in the classroom