A STUDY ON HOW EFL STUDENTS HANDLE THEIR
SPEAKING PROBLEMS
THESIS
Submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Diesta Stela Eveliana 112012063
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROGRAM
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN SATYA WACANA
A Study on How EFL Students Handle Their Speaking Problems
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Diesta Stela Eveliana
112012063
Approved by:
Gita Hastuti, M.A. Yustinus Calvin Gai Mali, M.Hum.
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
No part in this thesis contain previous material which is published or submitted by
any other person except where due reference is made in text.
Copyright@2016. Diesta Stela Eveliana.
This thesis does not contain any part which reproduced by any means without the
permission of at least the copyright owners or the English Department, Faculty of
Language and Literature, Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE………...i
APPROVAL………....ii
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT……….iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT………..iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS……….v
LIST OF APPENDICES……….vi
ABSTRACT………...vii
I. CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Background of the study, statement of the problem, research question, objective of the study, scope of the study, and significance of the study………...…………1
Background of the study, statement of the problem, research question, objective of the study, scope of the study, and significance of the study………2
Background of the study, statement of the problem, research question, objective of the study, scope of the study, and significance of the study………3
II. CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE How ESL Students (In SWCU English Department Public Speaking Classes) Handle Their Speaking Problems?...4
ESL Students………..4
Speaking……….4
Problems in speaking English……….5
Overcoming problems in speaking English……….6
References………..8
III. CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Method……….9
Participants………...9
Data Collection Instruments……….9
Data Collection Instruments………...10
Data Collection Procedure……….10
Data Analysis Procedure………10
IV. CHAPTER IV FINDINGS Questionnaire……….11
Questionnaire……….12
Kuesioner………...13
Kuesioner………...14
A Study on How EFL Students Handle Their Speaking Problems Diesta Stela Eveliana
Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana
Abstract
This research is about the factors of how English Department students, especially in Public Speaking classes of Faculty of Language and Arts handle their problems in speaking English. In this study, the data had been collected approximately in two weeks. The participants of this research were Public Speaking students that were studying English in the English Language Education Program of the Faculty of Language and Arts in Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana. In collecting the data, a questionnaire had been given in Indonesian. According to the result, there are various ways that the students used in handling their problems in speaking English. Students who have grammar problem, most of them handle it by learning grammar more. While those who have vocabulary and pronunciation problem, they choose to learn more new vocabularies from the dictionary and doing more practice in pronouncing English words. The significant of this study for students who face problems in learning speaking English is to learn from the previous experiences by other students.
Introduction
Every person cannot live without having any communication in their life.
Communication has become a part of people‟s life. However, when people want
to communicate, they need to have a well speaking first. Sari (2012) said that
speaking is the main element in making a communication. The reason is without
speaking, there will not be a good communication.
In general, the successful level of the students in speaking English really
depends on the way students handle their speaking problems. It was supported by
a study done by Sari (2010) in a private course which is preparing their students to
speak English fluently and properly. The purpose of Sari‟s study was to describe
the problems faced by the learners in speaking classes. According to Sari, by
knowing the problems and how to solve them, it can help other students to give
ideas in handling their problems in speaking English.
Since English is an international language, mastering this language is a
must to cope with globalization. Learning English at formal institutions, like
schools, English language centers is a good effort to obtain a good English skill. A
lot of students hate English in spite of the fact that there are also students who
love learning English as their foreign or second language. Getting bad mark in
English speaking practice causing students hate English. They think that speak
English is very difficult, so they cannot speak English well. In other hand, those
who love English are those who get a good mark in their English speaking
who get bad mark in their English practice do not merely mean that they have no
efforts to learn how to speak English well. Actually, some of them also have tried
to speak English fluently, but they still faced problems and difficulties in speaking
English. Considering that in this globalization era, people have to able to speak
English well, this research is conducted to investigate the problems in speaking
English and the way to solve them. Hopefully it can help senior high school
students who still get bad mark in English or cannot speak English well to be able
to improve their speaking skill.
It is the same as the researcher‟s own experience when she was teaching in
a private course. She taught in speaking classes. She met students who had their
own difficulties in speaking English. The students still had varied difficulties
although they had already learnt hard to speak English well. When the researcher
taught them, especially in speaking classes, there were some students who still
looked nervous when they did their speaking in front of the class. Their lack of
vocabulary made them become more nervous to speak. Then, as a result, they got
bad marks for their speaking and still needed a lot of improvements.
That is the reason that they should know how to handle their speaking
problems to get a better speech. All the facts above supported the writer to do this
research, which is guided by the following research question: “How do students
handle their problems in speaking English?”
The main purpose of the study was to find out successful ways to handle
The research focused on how the students can handle their speaking
problems. Through the study, it would help the teacher to have a better
understanding about what are actually the students‟ speaking problems, and how
the students handle those problems. The researcher expected that this study would
help the students to understand themselves; especially acknowledging their
speaking problems and knowing how they could handle those problems.
Literature Review
This section provides all of the information related to the study about the
ways students used to handle their speaking problems. First of all, this part will
talk about EFL students in public speaking classes in Satya Wacana Christian
University. The second part will talk about speaking. The third part will be about
the problems of English speaking. Then, the last part will discuss how to
overcome the speaking problems.
Speaking
There are four skills in learning foreign language: reading, writing, listening,
and speaking. As stated by Mardiana, Afriyani, Latifah, and Tirtayasa (2013),
speaking is one of the most important skills in learning English as a foreign
language. Speaking is the aim of learning English in life as stated by
Abdulmalikhasan (2009). It means that the goal of learning English is to be able to
speak English well. It does not mean that other English skills are not important.
They are still important, but speaking skill is the goal of learning English through
Knowing the importance of speaking skill in English learning that has been
explained above, it is also important to discuss about what speaking skill is
actually meant here. As cited in Mardiana, Afriyani, Latifah, & Hotimah (2013),
“Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning, that involves
producing and receiving and processing information” as mentioned by Brown
(1999). This statement means speaking is designed to respond to the actions and
commands. It requires people to talk with each other or do things together. An
interactive process here also has the meaning that speaking is mutually or
reciprocally active language learning. Knowing the meaning of interactive
process, it is also significant to discuss the word constructing in Brown‟s
statement. Constructing here means to build, make, or create ideas, words, etc in
speaking mutually. So, the ideas will not come only from the first speaker, but the
other also gives his idea to create a good interactive speaking process. Brown
(1999) also mentioned that speaking is involving producing, receiving, and
processing information. It means that when a person is speaking, then the other is
listening and receiving the information from the first speaker. After receiving the
information, the second speaker has to process all of the information, so he can
give ideas about the information discussed.
Problems in Speaking English
After discussing all information about speaking and speaking skill, this part
Yuniar (2011) mentioned some problems faced by the students in Public
Speaking classes. They were the feeling of worry about making mistakes,
students‟ anxiety, students‟ level of confidence, the fright toward limited time and
teachers‟ correction toward mistakes, other students‟ laughter, vocabulary,
pronunciation, and grammar. Considering problems faced by the participants of
Yuniar‟s study, the participants used some strategies to solve their problems in
speaking English, such as self encouragement, organization of words, teachers‟
feedback, outlining the topic, practicing, and use small notes and audio visual aids
(A. V. A).
Furthermore, Margareth (2011) also mentioned some problems based on the
result of her study. The biggest problem is in choosing preposition when they
made a statement, followed by vocabulary. Then, they also faced problems in lack
of self confidence and anxiety. The strategy that mentioned in Margareth‟s study
is the teachers may introduce a limited number of preposition and ilustrate their
meanings with simple diagrams, so the students can use prepositions correctly in
different context. Then, the teacher also can use role play to help the students to
move into real life situations. Last, related to the students‟ anxiety, the students
must try to speak without any preparation. It will not make them feel depressed
before speaking.
Munjanayah (2004) mentioned some difficulties and problems in speaking
English, such as inhibition; nothing to say; low or uneven participation; and
The first problem mentioned here is inhibition. Inhibition is a nervous feeling
that prevents people from expressing their thoughts, emotions, or desires. In other
words, it is the act of preventing or slowing down the activity or occurrence of
something bad in speaking. For instance, people worry about making mistakes in
their speaking or feel embarrassed in front of the other people who pay full
attention to their speech in front of them (Munjanayah, 2004).
Then, about the second problem in speaking, which is called nothing to say,
Munjanayah (2004) explained that it means that people are in a condition that they
feel „blank‟ and they do not know what to actually say. It is caused by the lack of
vocabulary, and nervousness.
The third difficulty is about low or uneven participation. In this case,
Munjanayah (2004) focused on the people‟s participation in speaking English. If
only one participant speaks at a time, in condition that he or she has to be heard in
the large group, it means the other speakers only have a very little chance to
speak, and that one speaker will be a dominant speaker in return.
The last problem mentioned is about mother tongue use. Mother tongue use is
a very casual problem that comes to the people who learn a foreign language.
Their mother tongue may affect their foreign language that they learn. For
instance, every student has their own mother tongue. When they start to learn a
foreign language, their mother tongue will make them understand the target
language more easily. They can use their mother tongue when they want to say
language, here especially for English as the target language. Then, they use their
mother tongue to make them easier in saying the word. Mujanayah (2004) said
that using mother tongue is easier for the students. However, this matter can also
become their new difficulty if they are too often using their mother tongue when
they do not understand a certain word. It does not train them to learn a foreign
language well. It just creates a new difficulty in learning a foreign language
because they will become more dependent on their mother tongue.
Overcoming Problems in Speaking English
In regard to overcoming problems in speaking English, Arshad conducted
a study on Why Students Fail to Speak English after getting Sixteen Years
Education in 2015. This is a qualitative study that was done by interview which is
later turned into quantitative format of data. The data collection was done through
simple random sampling. The research participants were fifty students who were
selected randomly from each department of the university. The findings suggested
that verbal fluency is always correlated and affected by the components of oral
proficiency i.e. grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. He stated that more
exercises or activities that were prepared by the teacher could help the students to
develop their vocabulary and speaking skills. This explains that students have to
be more aware to feed themselves with more English exercises and activities. It
should be “out of the box”, which means the students should have their own spirit
speaking exercises from the internet if they feel the exercises that their teacher
gives in the class are not enough to support them in learning how to speak English
well. Besides, they also have to improve their English activities if they feel that
the English activities in the class are not enough for them either. For example,
they can build their own relationship by chatting with foreigners through the
social media in theinternet, such as facebook, twitter, email, and so on.
As stated by Arshad (2015), the students must also be concerned more in
building their own knowledge of other linguistic aspects such as grammar,
vocabulary and correct pronunciation, so they can have a good comprehension
toward those aspects. Those ways are expected to be able to aid the students in
The Study
This section discusses the details of the research methodology that was
used in this study which covers the method, context of the study, participants, data
collection instruments, data collection procedure, and data analysis procedure.
Method
This study focused on finding out how ESL students in speaking class handle
their speaking problems. The writer used qualitative research, because this
research was a research that was designed to reveal the participants‟ range of
behavior, experiences and their perceptions that are related to the topic or issue.
This research was conducted in a specific English speaking classroom. The data
used in this research is primary data because the researcher collected the data
directly from the subject by using a questionnaire. “Qualitative research is defined
as a largely inductive, with the inquirer generating meaning from the data
collected in the field.” (Crotty, 1998).
Context of the Study
The researcher did the study in Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana,
especially in the Faculty of Language and Arts (FLA). The researcher chose
Transactional Speaking course‟s students as the population. In general,
Transactional Speaking‟ s students were taught about how to speak English
fluently in daily communication, such as bargaining in the market, telling a story
make the students become more fluent in speaking English in daily
communication.
Participants
The participants of the study were only top student, middle student, and low
student from each of the seven Public Speaking Classes when the data was
collected. The total of the participants were 21 students. The researcher classified
those students based on the lecturer‟s recommendation seen from their
performance in those speaking classes. The researcher had chosen these students
because the writer needed to take data from each class of the Transactional
Speaking course, so that the writer could have a valid data not only by one of a
Transactional Speaking class. In other words, this study employed the purposive
sampling to select the participants.
Data Collection Instruments
The data were collected through an open-ended questionnaire to collect more
questionnaire was designed to dig the information about the participants‟ speaking
problems and how they handle them. The questions include:
1. a. Do you have any difficulties in speaking English?
b. What are the difficulties?
2. How do you usually handle those difficulties?
3. Are your efforts in handling the difficulties successful so far?
Please explain: a. Yes (How well / What changes)
b. No (Why do you think they are not successful?)
4. Do you have any other plans to handle those difficulties?
a. Yes (What are your other plans to handle those difficulties?)
b. No
The questionnaire was presented in Bahasa Indonesia. The students would
answer the interview questions based on their experience in speaking English.
Data Collection Procedure
The procedure of the collection was by means of several steps. The first step
that the researcher did in conducting this research was collecting data from the
library and some other resources that contain information that supports this study.
After getting the information from the library and other sources, the questionnaire
questions were prepared. The writer made the questionnaire questions by herself.
Data Analysis Procedure
To analyze the collected data, the questionnaire responses were grouped into
three: top students, middle students, and low students. The grouping was done to
see the patterns within each group, and to spot any similarities or differences
across the groups. The data include the participants‟ responses to the
questionnaire questions regarding their English speaking problem(s) in speaking
English, their strategies in handling the problems, their evaluation whether their
effort(s) in handling their problem(s) worked well or not, including the
justifications, and any future plans to handle their English speaking problem(s). In
the end, the researcher drew the conclusions and provided recommendations to the
Discussion
The research questions of this study are “What are the speaking problems
experienced by the students in the classes?” and “How do students handle their
problems in speaking English?” To answer that research question, this section will
discuss and analyze the findings from the results of the open-ended questionnaire.
In the previous study that supports this research also have the similar case
discussed. It is about the students' problems in learning speaking English as a
foreign language.
The results of the questionnaire showed that in general, all students in
Transactional Speaking class have their own problems in speaking English, which
can be grouped into four problems: grammar, vocabulary, confidence, and
pronunciation. Each student also has their own ways to overcome the problems in
speaking English. Here, the researcher will provide three tables to show the
summary of the findings. The researcher will organize the tables and the analysis
(including the interpretation) based on the top, middle, and low students as
recommended by their lecturers. In the explanation below, the participants
claimed the strategies that they did worked well in handling their problems. The
participants answered the questionnaires well and following the instructions.
Some of their answers were short and not too detailed, but some other answers
were very detailed.
In the following discussion, the problems and the ways to handle them will
Table 1.
The problems faced by the top students and how to solve them
Top
grammar &glue it on the
Table 1 is about problems faced by the top students and their ways to
overcome the problems. They have problems in grammar, vocabulary,
nervousness, and confidence. The most interesting finding here is the result that
all of top students have no problem in pronunciation. Most of them (N=) have
problems in vocabulary. Their ways to solve their problems in speaking English
were also different from one another. One said that to solve his lack of
vocabulary, he often listened to English music. The other said that they are used to
making a little note about grammar & glueing it on the room‟s wall (N=4), doing
more practice (N=4), and opening the dictionary (N=2).
There is similarity between this finding and the previous study. The
similarity is the participants of both study improved their skill in grammar by
doing more practice.
Table 2.
The problems faced by the middle students and how to solve them
Middle
grammar & glue it on the
room‟s wall
Increase grammar skill
-
2
Learn vocabulary
Pronunciation 1 Practice in front of mirror 1
Table 2 contains problems faced by the middle students and their ways to
solve those problems in speaking English. One thing that can be seen from Table
2 is the problem that mostly appeared was related to grammar (N=5). For instance,
they were still confused in using correct grammar when they had to speak in
English. However, only two participants shared how they handle the problem,
which is by increasing their grammar skill.
The second problem that was experienced by most students (N=4) is about
their vocabulary. One student wrote that he needed to learn more new vocabulary
so that he could speak English fluently. Through the questionnaire‟s result, the
researcher found that those who had problems in vocabulary, solve their problems
by doing more practice using new vocabularies, and even listening to English
music or watching English movie.
Meanwhile, only one participant had a problem in nervousness and
confidence, the respective participant tried to build their confidence, whereas the
participant who had a problem in pronunciation chose to practice speaking in front
of a mirror.
There is a similarity between this research with the previous study. The
participants of both study doing more practice in speaking to build their
confidence.
Table 3.
The problems faced by the low students and how to solve them
Nervousness
Pronunciation 3 Practice in front of mirror 1
Table 3 is about problems that were faced by low students and how to
solve the problems. Based on Table 3, it can be seen that the problem that was
faced by most participants is lack of vocabularies (N=5). The interesting thing
found in the result of the questionnaire was they did not only lack vocabulary, but
also they feel nervous and have less confidence in speaking English. They said
that they still needed a lot of practice in speaking English, in learning vocabularies
regularly, opening the dictionary to make their learning easier, listening to English
music and watching English movie to add their vocabularies. Last, about their
problems of nervousness and less confidence, they choose to be more prepared
before speaking English such as do a presentation or speak English in front of
public. They said that they wanted to read and write everything so that they can
be more prepared. The interesting thing appeared through the result of
questionnaire. The students who are nervous and less confident when speaking
English, they did not say that they want to build their confidence first. One thing
previous one, because it has similar way in building the students‟ confidence by
having more preparation before speaking.
Conclusion
There are similarities of problems faced by the top students, middle
students, and low students. The problems faced by most of the top, middle, and low
students are around grammar and vocabulary. Apart from the similarities, there is
also a difference between the top, middle, and low students.
All of them try to fix their problems by their own ways. Some said that
they have to do more practice in using English, learn more English vocabularies,
and try to pronounce it better than before. Few said that they have to eliminate their
nervous feeling when speaking English in front of people. There are differences
between top, middle, and low students in handling their problems. The first
difference is most of top students handle their problems by learn vocabularies and
do more practice in speaking English. Middle students choose to increase their
grammar skills and do more practice in speaking English, while most of low
students chose to make preparation and make outline to overwhelm their problems
in speaking English.
At last, this research concludes that knowing how students handle their
problems in speaking English is very important because it can be beneficial for
other students who still have approximately the same problems. So, they can learn
Yet, the students should also pay more attention to those ways stated, start to fix
their problems in speaking English, and master English better.
The limitation of this study is about the result of the data. The answers of
the questionnaires that are provided by the participants were too short and some
also have not enough explanation to be analyzed by the researcher. For further
research, the researcher suggests that the questions in the questionnaire be
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This thesis would not have been completed without support and help from many
people. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the several people who
have helped me in finishing this thesis.
First of all, I would like to give thanks to God for blessing me.
Then, I also want to express my gratitude for Stevanus and Kezia, my beloved
parents for their love, care, and financial support during the writing process of this
thesis. To my dearest sister, Savrisia, for her jokes and supports when I was
completing this study.
I would also express my thankfulness to Gita Hastuti, M.A., my supervisor, for
her guidance, support, and help so that I am able to fulfill all the requirements in
finishing my thesis. Yustinus Calvin Gai Mali, M.Hum. my examiner of my
thesis, I thank you for his support, advice, and time to read and examine my
thesis.
I would also like to extend my thankfulness to all of the lectures of each Public
Speaking Class in English Department, for allowing me to collect data in their
class.
Finally, I am grateful to my fiancé, Yosia Kurniawan for his spirit and
encouragement that have supported me to finish my thesis.
References
Abdulmalikhasan (2009). Improving Speaking Skill Using Real Objects for Business and Management Class in the Second Years at SMK PSM Warujayeng.
Indonesia.
Ariffansyah, G. (2013). 5 Problems in Speaking English as Foreign Language. Retrieved April, Saturday, 2013.
Arshad, A (2015). Why Students Fail to Speak English After Getting Sixteen Years Education.Pakistan: Department of English University of Sargodha.
De Guzman, A. B., Albela, E. J. A., Nieto, D. R. D., Ferrer, J. B. F., & Santos, R. N. (2006). English Language Learning Difficulty of Korean Students in Philippine Multidisciplinary University (Vol. 7, No. 2, 152-161). Philippines: Asia Pacific Education Review.
Hooper, C. O. (2008). English May Be My Second Language, but I’m not “ESL”. America: Univeristy of Massachusetts–Amherst.
Liu, Y. (2003). A Case Study of Selected ESL Students’ Experiences with Writing Portfolios in College Composition Courses. Ohio: The Ohio State University.
Margareth, T. (2011). Problems Faced by Students In Transactional Speaking Class. Indonesia: Satya Wacana Christian University.
Noels,K. A., Clement, R., & Pelletier, L. G. (1999). Perceptions of teacher
communicative style and students‟ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Modern
Language Learning Journal, 83, 23-34.
Sholihin, U. I. (2013). Definition of Speaking Skill, 1-6. Retrieved September 20, 2015, from Rujukan Skripsi.
Yemima, K. (2010). Grammatical Problems Faced by Students In Transactional
Yuniar, A. (2011). Public Speaking Students’ Problems and Learning Strategies
They Use. Indonesia: Satya Wacana Christian University.
APPENDIX
Kuesioner
Petunjuk Pengisian
Kuesioner ini dirancang bagi pembelajar Bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa kedua atau sebagai bahasa asing untuk mengumpulkan tanggapan mereka mengenai kesulitan dalam berbicara berbahasa Inggris dan bagaimana mengatasinya.
Dalam kuesioner ini, Anda akan menemukan pertanyaan-pertanyaan yang memerlukan jawaban yang lengkap sesuai dengan pengalaman Anda. Tidak ada jawaban benar atau salah di sini. Keterlibatan Anda dalam penelitian ini akan dirahasiakan dan tidak akan mempengaruhi nilai Anda. Silakan
menjawab pertanyaan-pertanyaan berikut selengkap mungkin sesuai dengan pengalaman Anda.
========================================================== ==========
NIM: _______________
1. Apakah Anda mengalami kesulitan saat berbicara dalam bahasa Inggris?
Apa saja kesulitan yang Anda alami?
______________________________________________________
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o Tidak
2. Bagaimana cara Anda mengatasi kesulitan tersebut?
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3. Apakah usaha Anda dalam mengatasi kesulitan saat berbicara dalam
o Ya. Tolong jelaskan (Seberapa berhasil?/Apa hasilnya?/Apa yang
berubah?)
______________________________________________________
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o Tidak. Tolong jelaskan (Menurut Anda, mengapa usaha tersebut
tidak berhasil?)
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____________________________________
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____________
4. Apakah ada rencana untuk menggunakan cara lain dalam mengatasi
kesulitan tersebut?
Apa saja cara lain yang ingin Anda terapkan untuk mengatasi
kesulitan Anda dalam berbahasa Inggris?
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