A STUDY ON DIFFICULTIES IN PARTS THREE AND FOUR OF THE END OF COURSE ORAL TEST FACED BY FIRST YEAR STUDENTS AND SOME SOLUTIONS

Abstract

Nowadays, English is the most popular language in many countries all over the world. It is used as an official language in many fields such as economics, politics, science, technology, sports, entertainment and many others. Moreover, it has also become a compulsory subject in the curriculum of many worldwide schools, colleges and universities. However, it is not easy to study and employ a foreign language. Particularly, in all four basic language skills, Speaking skill can be considered to be a significant one which requires learners to spend very much time learning and practising and most students face difficulties when presenting their ideas as well as expressing opinions in English, especially in the End of Course Oral test. This research therefore aims at studying the first-year English-majored student‟s problems in taking part in Part three and Part four in the End of Course Oral test at University of Foreign Language Studies - The University of Danang. This study also tries to find out the useful strategies to help first-year students to overcome these issues. The sample of the study consisted of 100 students at Faculty of English, University of Foreign Language Studies - The University of Danang. The research uses questionnaires, interviews and documents related to the issue as the tools of data collection in order to analyse difficulties and problems encountered when students take part in Parts three and four in the End of Course Oral test of the first-year students, Faculty of English, University of Foreign Language Studies - The University of Danang. The results of this study revealed that the students at Faculty of English, UFL - UDN face many problems related to the End of Course Oral test of English Integrated Skills B1.2, particularly Part 3 and Part 4 such as Lack of Vocabulary, Lack of Grammar, Lack of Coherence and Fluency, Poor Pronunciation, Insufficient knowledge or experience on some topics, Poor Communication skills in English, Poor analytical and problem solving skills and Lack of Confidence when Speaking. This study also presented some of appropriate solutions for students to overcome these difficulties in the End of Course Oral test and improve the weakness in Speaking skill such as practicing speaking English inside and outside the classroom effectively, using the modern social media to communicate in English.