Institutional Repository | Satya Wacana Christian University: An Investigation of Students’ Speaking Challenges in Academic Speaking Classes

AN INVESTIGATION OF STUDENTS’ SPEAKING

CHALLENGES IN ACADEMIC SPEAKING CLASSES THESIS

  Submitted in Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of

  Sarjana Pendidikan Mega Artika Setyasari

  112014063

  

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROGRAM

FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS

UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN SATYA WACANA

SALATIGA

2018

  This thesis covers no such materials as has been submitted for examination in any courses or accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university.

  To the best of my knowledge and my belief, this contains no material previously published or written by any other person except where due to references is made in the text.

  

Copyright@2018. Mega Artika Setyasari and Yustinus Calvin Gai Mali,

M.Hum.

  All right reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the prior permission of at least one of the copyright owners of the English Language Education Program, Faculty of Language and Arts, Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana, Salatiga.

  Mega Artika Setyasari

  TABLE OF CONTENT

An Investigation of Students’ Speaking Challenges in Academic Speaking

Classes

  COVER PAGE ….……………………………………………………………….. i APPROVAL PAGE ………………………….………………………………….. ii COPYRIGHT S

  TATEMENT…………………………………………………… iii TA

  BLE OF CONTENT…..……………………………………...…...………….. v ABSTRACT……………………………………………………...……...…….... vii

  INTRODUC TION …………………………………...………………………….. 1

  Background of the Study …………………...………………………………… 1 Statement of the Issue ...………………………………………………………. 1 Re search Questions …...………………………………………………………. 2 Objective of the Study ……………………………………...………………… 2 Scope of the Study ………………………………………………………...….. 2 Significance of the Study

  .………………………….........…….….................... 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ………………………………………………………... 2 Academic Speaking Class ...

  ……………….……..……………….………….. 3 Factors that

  Causes Speaking Challenges ……….……..………………...…... 3 Strategies to

  Deal with the Challenges …………………………………...…... 4 Related Studies on Chal lenges in Academic Speaking …………...………….. 5

  THE STUD Y …………..………………………………………………………… 7

  Research Design ……………………….…..…………………..…………….. 8 Context of the Study ……….……………..……………...…………...……... 9

  Resear ch Participants …….…………………………………...……………... 9 Data Collection

  Instruments………………..……………………….………. 10 Data Collection Procedures…………………………...……….……………. 11 Data Analy sis Procedures…………………............………………………... 12

  FINDINGS AN D DISCUSSION ………………………………………………. 13

  Speaking Challenges in Academic Speaking Classes …..……………..…… 13 Deficiency of Grammar, Vocabulary and Pronunciation ………...….…. 14 Lack of Self Confidence …………………...…………………………… 16

  Strategies to Deal with the Challenges ………………..…………….……… 17

  Independent Practice …………………………………………………… 18 Peer Practice …………………………………………………...……….. 19 Prepare Essential

  Points ………………………………………………... 20 CONCLUSION ……………………………………………………….………... 21

  Conclusion ……………………………..………………...……...……….…. 21

  Suggestions ……………………………..………..………………...….…… 22

  ACKNOWLEG MENT……………………..……………...……………………. 24

  REFERENCES……. …………………………………………………………… 25 APPENDIX

  Questionnaire …………………………………………………………………… 28

  

Abstract

  This study aims to investigate speaking problems faced by university students and how they dealt with their problems. More specifically, this study was conducted in Academic Speaking classes at English Language Education Program, Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana (ELE-UKSW), Salatiga. Many ELE-UKSW students experience a lot of anxieties when joining Academic Speaking class. Therefore, it is crucial to discover the strategies used by the students to speak English fluently. The participants of the study were forty students of the 2016 academic year at ELE-UKSW. The researcher used qualitative method, and the data for the study were collected using open-ended questionnaire and interview. The analysis of the data showed that the participants experience speaking challenges such as deficiency of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and self-confidence which became the primary factors perceived by the students. Besides, this study seemed to indicate that students had essential strategies in dealing with their speaking challenges. Eventually, this study proposed some strategies to help students minimize their anxieties and master their oral skill. These strategies are independent practice, peer practice and prepare essential points as an attempt to support the development of their vocal ability specifically in Indonesian contexts.

  

Keywords: speaking, academic speaking, speaking challenges, speaking

strategies.

  

INTRODUCTION

  Speaking is one of the most critical skills in English as a foreign language (EFL) (Febriyanti, 2011). It is as the active use of words to convey meaning and the medium through which a new language is faced, comprehended, applied, and taught (Al Hosni, 2014). People can express their opinion, knowledge, and emotion to others through speaking (Irsyad & Narius, 2013). In general, Ur (1996) also stated that speaking is the most important skill among four skills; speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Similarly, speaking becomes one of the essential skills that has to be mastered in English language learning besides listening, reading and writing (Irsyad & Narius, 2013). Thus, it is important for EFL students to learn and enhance their verbal skill.

  However, for young EFL students, speaking is difficult (Hosni, 2014). Besides that, Indonesian students have less exposure to speaking English compared to students from countries where English is a second language (Febriyanti, 2011). In fact, Indonesian students find it challenging to talk in English in their English class. Furthermore, speaking is more difficult than other skills which are writing, listening and reading (Paakki, 2013). Many students also experience speaking difficulties at the English Language Education Program in Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana (ELE-UKSW).

  Febriyanti (2011) has looked at the significant benefits of speaking where students can learn many things by speaking. Speaking is a key for students to learn their target language (Indrianty, 2016). She further notes that students discover several anxieties in their English speaking ability. Therefore, this study focuses on investigating speaking challenges faced by ELE-UKSW students in Academic Speaking classes. More specifically, I aim to answer these research questions: [1] What are the speaking challenges faced by students in Academic Speaking classes? [2] How do the students deal with those challenges?

  Furthermore, studies concerning the issues of students’ speaking challenges and strategies to deal with those challenges in EFL classrooms in the higer education context in Indonesia have not been sufficient. Therefore, this study aims to fill the gap by investigating speaking challenges faced by university students in Indonesia and strategies to deal with their speaking challenges. More significantly, this study examines speaking difficulties faced by ELE-UKSW students and their strategy in handling the problems. This study is expected to be useful for EFL teachers and students and hopes to inform EFL teachers about their students’ speaking difficulties in attending their speaking class. Significantly, they have to motivate their students by giving them some strategies to uncover the challenges. Hopefully, it can also help EFL students who are still experiencing speaking difficulties, so they would be able to speak well by implementing the strategies.

  This section provides all of the information related to the study about students’ speaking challenges and their speaking strategies. First of all, this part will explain Academic Speaking class. The second part will describe factors that cause speaking problems. The third part will demonstrate strategies to deal with the challenges. Then, the last part will explain related studies on challenges in Academic Speaking.

  Academic Speaking Class

  Academic Speaking class is to help students feel more relaxed in communication, such as leading and participating in discussions (Christianson & Watanabe, 2009). They further perceived that Academic Speaking class implements several teaching techniques like the use of video, recording groups, and peer review activities. Also, it requires some activities such as mini lecturers, presentations, class discussions, and group project work as mentioned by Singh (2013). Other speaking activities are interacting with classmates and asking questions (Bachman, 1990). It means that in the Academic Speaking class, students can practice their English with other students by asking and answering questions related to the topic learned. This is also supported by Basturkmen (2007) who said that Academic speaking class often report development ideas and information. Moreover, other types of activities can be implemented in this class.

  Thus, it is useful for teachers to know these kinds of activities.

  Factors that Cause Speaking Challenges

  In English speaking contexts, some factors of speaking challenges faced by EFL learners includes; inhibition, nothing to say, low or uneven participation and the use of mother-tongue (L1) (Ur, 1996). This means that students are not confident enough to speak in English because they are worried of making mistakes. Secondly, students do not have enough motivation to speak English because their experience in English is limited. This view is supported by Paakkii (2013) who stated that one of the factors that students usually have in the speaking class is lack of practice. Third, students do not have the chance to practice speaking English because the class has too many students. Fourth, students tend to use their mother tongue (L1) rather than second language (L2) or English. Not only that, a previous study has reported that students have some complications in speaking English. These linguistic difficulties means that students experience some problems such as deficiency of vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation (Kayaoğlu & Sağlamel, 2013).

  Strategies to Deal with the Challenges

To boost students’ speaking skill, teachers have to create a unique teaching strategy in their teaching (Febriyanti, 2011) by utilizing their approach in their

  teaching. Firstly, teachers can ask students to practice their speaking by emphasizing on fluency and accuracy. Skehan (2009) said that fluency is to produce speech at a standard speed and without any interruption. On the contrary, accuracy is the use of English correctly. Secondly, teachers ask students to conduct a group project. The group project can be a medium where students can speak in English actively with their friends (classmates). Another strategy dealing with the challenges according to Huq (2014) is that TTT (teacher talking time) should be minimized. In other words, STT (student talking time) can be maximized.

  Related Studies on Challenges in Academic Speaking

  There is a plethora of research that has been carried out internationally to investigate students’ speaking challenges. In Banjarmasin (South Kalimantan of Indonesia), a related study was undertaken by Febriyanti (2011). Her study aimed to describe what teaching speaking English is and the problems faced by the teachers and students of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). The results of her study showed that firstly, some speaking challenges faced by students were that they did not want to speak anything in English and they retained on using their L1. Secondly, their teacher found that it was difficult to handle students in a large class because it was hard for teachers to manage a class. Thirdly, the materials given by the teacher did not fulfill the students’ need. Last, students did not have enough motivation to learn or speak English. This study also suggested that teachers could apply fun activities to develop their students

  ’ speaking skill. These activities are discussions, role play, simulations, information gap, brainstorming, storytelling, interviews, story completion, reporting and playing cards.

  Paakki in October 2013 did a research study on the difficulties of speaking in English. This research was conducted in Finland and Japan. The study was aimed to discover problems in speaking English. The findings of his study show that speaking English was difficult for some Finnish and Japanese learners. In fact, the speaking challenges were remembering words, making sense of (syntax, grammar, and vocabulary), remembering the tenses, grammar, etc. Third, Japanese informants also had some speaking challenges that was a little bit similar to the Finnish informants who had problems in lack of vocabulary and fear of errors in grammar and pronunciation.

  Another study was conducted by Al Jamal and Al Jamal (2013) in Jordan (Arab). The primary objective of this study was to demonstrate difficulties that may be faced in an EFL setting. This study was conducted by using an adapted questionnaire and interview with a sample of 64 students who were interviewed and 566 students as questionnaire respondents. The findings of this study showed some difficulties of EFL students’ speaking skill. It was found that the class involved too many students (large class), thus results in lack of time and more use of the L1 which is Arabic.

  A related study was carried out by Singh (2013) on Academic Speaking practices in Malaysia. This study was conducted using an adapted questionnaire with a sample of 131 international graduate students. The results showed that the top five challenges in Academic Speaking were communicating ideas fluently, speaking accurately (grammar), communicating ideas confidently, speaking clearly (pronunciation) and participating actively in discussions. The other results found that, strategies on overcoming those Academic Speaking challenges were practicing discussion orally, forcing students to speak in the class, practicing spelling and pronunciation, talking to peers, and supplementing linguistic strategy (e.g., utilizing educational media in oral presentations).

  Another study was done by Al Hosni in June 2014 on speaking difficulties faced by young EFL learners. Five grader students were the participants in the study conducted in primary education school in Oman. The research found some speaking difficulties which were linguistic difficulties, mother tongue usage, and inhibition. For that reason, the study demonstrated that teachers only taught from the textbook that accentuates on teaching reading and writing rather than speaking.

  To sum up, the following may be said about the previous studies discussed in this section. All the previous reviews above mentioned that students in Indonesia, Finland, Japan, Arab, Oman, and Malaysia still faced some challenges in students’ speaking class. Students’ speaking challenges were insufficient in their vocabulary repertoire, grammar, pronunciation, motivation to learn and to practice English. Additionally, students tended to use their L1 rather than L2, and they did not give more attention to the teacher’s explanation. Last, the materials given by the teacher did not fulfill the students’ desire. In that case, the teacher only focused on the textbook and did not focus on the real world context that students’ desire.

  This section discusses the details of the research methodology was used in this study which explains the research design, context of the study, research participants, data collection instruments, data collection procedures, and data analysis procedures.

  Research Design

  The study aims to find out speaking challenges faced by ELE-UKSW students’ specifically in Academic Speaking classes and how they dealt with those challenges. To achieve the research objective, the study was approached qualitatively. According to Creswell (2007), some characteristics of the qualitative research are natural setting, new design, interpretative inquiry and complex. Naturally, the data of the research was collected by talking directly or face to face interaction. Second, the process of collecting the data was changed or shifted after knowing the participants’ responses (e.g., questions from the questionnaire were changed and modified). Third, qualitative research tends to interpret what the participants and the researcher mean such as what they hear, see and understand.

  Last, qualitative research was a one way to find out detailed understanding of the difficulties and the strategies. Therefore, by using qualitative research, the research would be able to explain students’ speaking problems and their strategies according to some respondents.

  Based on this approach, firstly the researcher collected the data by distributing questionnaires and interviewing some participants directly. Williams (2003) stated that questionnaires are used to gather information about the views and behavior of interviewees. Secondly, questions of the questionnaire and interview were modified if some of the participants did not understand the questions well. Thirdly, the participants were allowed to interpret what students hear, see, and follow in Academic Speaking class. Fourthly, the researcher interviewed the participants to obtain further views or ideas from the participants regarding students’ speaking challenges and the strategies to deal with them in Academic Speaking classes.

  Context of the Study

  This research was conducted in Academic Speaking classes at ELE- UKSW, Salatiga. Academic speaking class is one of the language skill courses offered in the fourth semester. In this course, the students learn English language aspects through speaking through the language forms that are used in presentation skills, academic discussion, interview and academic consultation with their teachers. At the end of this course, ELE-UKSW students are expected to acquire some speaking competencies. The two competencies were adapted from a classroom syllabus developed by Sinanu (2015), where : Students’ English oral proficiency and oral communication techniques in the academic context will be developed into a standard equal to a post-intermediate level. The reason of choosing the class was because commonly, most of ELE-UKSW students were able to speak simple English in the course of Academic Speaking, but some of them decided to be quiet and not participate in speaking during class.

  Research Participants

  The researcher implemented quota sampling to select the research participants. According to Mason (2002) cited by Robinson (2014), quota sampling is set out on a series of categories. In other words, quota sampling targeted the participants by using some criteria. They were the participants who have taken Academic Speaking class and had some speaking problems during the class. Students of 2016 academic year who have just taken Academic Speaking class and were still fresh with the course were the participants of this study.

  Data Collection Instruments The research data were collected through an open-ended questionnaire.

  This was to receive more complete answers based on the participants’ experience in Academic Speaking class. Guion, Diehl, and McDonald (2001) stated that open-ended question allows respondents to answer their questions by using their own words. Moreover, the researcher used the open-ended questionnaire due to some benefits. The researcher could response spontaneously, avoid bias and collect many answers from the respondents (Reja, Manfreda, Hlebec & Vehovar, 2003).

  The researcher translated the questions in the questionnaire into Indonesian. Then, the participants were permitted to fill in written responses of the questions by using the same language. This is due to the resear cher’s aim to ensure that the participants could wholly understand the meaning of each question and could contribute clear and deep responses to each question.

  The researcher conducted a semi-structured interview to support the questionnaire data. The semi-structured interview was to specify some areas or topics that the researcher desired to ask (Rabionet, 2011) and preparation is needed before conducting the interview (Qu & Dumay, 2011). The researcher organized the questions first before interviewing the participants. Then, the researcher asked the questions subsequently (follow-up and probing questions). Follow-up and probing questions were to prolong the answers of the interviewees through a critical approach from the interviewer (Qu & Dumay, 2011). Overall, these cases support the view that was to clarify further information from the interviewees on the questionnaire (Mali, 2015).

  The questions of the questionnaire and the interview were the same. They contain three items. The questions on the questionnaire and interview have been successfully applied in some studies. Therefore, the researcher adapted the questions from previous studies.

  Table 1. The Questionnaire and Interview Questions No Questions Adapted from

  1. Tell me your speaking challenges in Academic Speaking class.

  Eveliana (2016); Singh a. (2013); Al Hosni (2014); What are your challenges faced in Academic

  Speaking class? Paakii (2013); Al Roud

  

2. Tell me your strategies to deal with the challenges in (2016); Al Jamal and Al

Jamal (2013).

  Academic Speaking class (give some examples to support your answer) .

  Data Collection Procedures

  Before distributing the questionnaire to the students of 2016 academic year, piloting was done to ensure that the questionnaire was understandable for the participants. Participants for piloting were 15 students of 2015 academic year. After the piloting, the researcher distributed the questionnaire sheets to students of 2016 academic year where they took CISL (Current Issues in Second Language Teaching) and CIAPL (Current Issues in Applied Linguistics) classes in that semester. The students in both classes were those who have taken Academic Speaking class in the previous semester. These are the steps taken to collect the research data. First, the researcher asked permission to some lectures in the CISL and CIAPL classes for allowing their students to fill in the questionnaire. Second, the researcher explained the goal of the study in the class after getting permission from the lecturer. At that time, the questionnaires were distributed to the participants.

  After distributing the questionnaire, the interview was conducted. The interview process was recorded using a voice recorder. According to Al Yateem (2012), recording helped interviewers keep accurate records which supports them to analyze their data. In the process of interviewing, the participant and the researcher saw his/her written response to the questionnaire. Also, the researcher permitted the participants to provide further clarification to what they had written on the questionnaire by using the same language similar in filling the written questionnaire (Indonesian). Finally, the recorded oral information was transcribed and analyzed to support the data obtained from the questionnaire. Guion et al. (2001) claimed that deciphering was to script out each question and answers from the interviewee and analyzing was to identify themes from the interviewees’ responses after re-reading the interview transcripts.

  Data Analysis Procedures

  The data analysis was determined from the questionnaires and interviewees. Firstly, after the data has been collected from the questionnaire, the researcher classified the questionnaire based on some students who wanted to be interviewed. Secondly, the interviews involved five participants who had many speaking problems and gave various answers on the written questionnaire.

  Consequently, the researcher obtained more affluent speaking challenges from those participants as her data. Thirdly, several themes emerged from the data analysis. According to Aronson (1995), thematic analysis emphasize on identifying themes. It means that thematic analysis developed themes based on the data that the researcher had. Furthermore, thematic analysis was a method of analyzing qualitative data by using some steps such as identifying, analyzing and reporting themes from the data (Braun & Clarke, 2006, as cited by Vaismoradi, Turunen & Bondas, 2013).

  This section provides two main sub-sections based on the research question s, namely the students’ speaking challenges and the strategies in dealing with the difficulties in Academic Speaking classes at ELE-UKSW. To convey the trustworthy discussions, the conclusions of each sub-section are supported by excerpts from questionnaire data (QNR) and interview data (ITW). For this study, the researcher translated all the passages into English.

  Speaking Challenges in Academic Speaking Classes

  The data analysis collected on this issue revealed that there are two major themes of speaking challenges encountered by ELE-UKSW students in Academic Speaking classes. They are deficiency of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and lack of self-confidence.

  Deficiency of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation

  The most apparent speaking challenge encountered by the students was lack of vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. Most of the students shared about their grammar problem by stating : “When speaking English in Academic Speaking, our difficulties lie in the grammar that is still often wrong (students6,18,25,29,36,38,39/QNR/translated by the researcher); because the use of wrong grammar makes what we want to say cannot be conveyed properly (students8,11,27/QNR/translated by the researcher); and it is required to speak English with the correct gram mar” (students5,7,23,40/QNR/translated by the researcher). Further, in harmony with the written responses, one interviewee clarified how students encountered grammar challenge:

  Excerpt 1

I have prepared what I wanted to say in my head. But when we talk about what is on

the head sometimes, it comes out differently, for example, like grammar mistakes, I wanted to say something, but it means different. (Nana/ITW/translated by the researcher)

  This challenge was also found by Al Roud (2016), where weak grammar is one of the problems which students have in speaking English in the classroom.

  Additionally, Lindblad (2011) claimed that female students are the ones who usually experience grammar problem in their speaking.

  Some of the students also shared their perspectives that vocabulary is one of their problems in Academic Speaking: “I forget what vocabulary I wanted to say (students3,6,13,25,32,33/QNR/translated by the researcher); because we are lacking of vocabulary (students11,15,21,30/QNR/translated by the researcher); not paying attention to word selection (students7,8,9/QNR/translated by the researcher); and have difficulty in remembering new vocabulary”

  (student40/QNR/translated by the researcher). In the interview, a participant articulated similar point of views to this vocabulary problems, that sometimes there may be difficulties in vocabulary but it is still minor (Elisa/ITW/translated by the researcher). It is also proved by Indrianty (2016) that deficiency of vocabulary is recognized to lead in speaking anxiety for students in the oral English classroom.

  Besides those two prominent speaking challenges, pronunciation is also an important challenge that was mentioned by the participants. Concerning this category, some participants stated that “I felt nervous and scared of my pronunciation (students4,27/QNR/translated by the researcher); sometimes I am afraid when my pronunciation is not clearly heard by my friends or lecturer (students25,29/QNR/translated by the researcher) and that it will sound ridiculous (student12/QNR/translated by the researcher) because of some inappropriate pronunciation” (student32/QNR/translated by the researcher). Consistent with the questionnaire results, a participant conveyed the following thoughts

  : “Sometimes, I feel like my pronunciation is wrong” (Veren/ITW/translated by the researcher).

  In line with this category, Al Roud (2016) said that lousy pronunciation could substitute the meaning of what is wanted to say. Indeed, Lindblad (2011) who stated that male students usually have pronunciation problem in their English speaking.

  Lack of self-confidence

  Another speaking challenge faced by ELE-UKSW students is lack of self- confidence. Most of the students believed that they did not feel confident to speak in front of their friends and lecturer because of nervousness and fear of making mistakes. This category covers further statements from the respondents, such as “When they speak English in Academic Speaking class, their troubles are sometimes still nervousness (students4,20,31,32,37,39/QNR/translated by the researcher), not confident to speak English (students2,3,12,19,21,35/QNR/translated by the researcher); for instance conducting presentation (students7,9,10,16,22,38/QNR/translated by the researcher) interview session (student10/QNR/translated by the researcher); debate (student5/QNR/translated by the researcher); and speech (student16/QNR/translated by the researcher). However, self-confidence will affect how fast /slow I speak (student28/QNR/translated by the researcher); in those cases, we have anxiety when we have to speak English in front of many people such as friends and lecturer (students6,19,24,35,38,31,36,39,/QNR/translated by the researcher); our friends are smarter than us in speaking English (students14,37/QNR/decoded by the researcher); and I am afraid if my friends do not understand what I have explained” (student20/QNR/translated by the researcher). These statements that emerged from the questionnaire data were in harmony to what two participants stated in the interviews: “The reason is that if we speak in front of many people like friends and lecturers, we usually get nervous and it makes us confused about what we want to speak” (Nana/ITW/translated by the researcher).

  Excerpt 2

Some of the speaking challenges that I still remember is speaking fluently in front of

friends and lecturer. Then when we made a poster presentation in a formal academic, it

was challenging for college students because we must make the poster as creative as

possible without decreasing assessment in speaking aspects (Victor/ITW/translated by

the researcher).

  Similar to Al Nakhalah (2013) who said that lack of confidence usually happens when students wonder whether their talk has been understood or not by their audiences. Students have anxiety to speak English especially in front of their friends and lecturer because of inadequate self-confidence (Abdalla & Elhadi, 2015). They further argued that it is complicated for them when they speak English in front of their friends and teachers.

  Strategies to Deal with the Challenges

  It is imperative for ELE-UKSW students to create some strategies in dealing with their speaking challenges because if they do not discover the necessary speaking approach, their verbal skill will never improve. More specifically, the responses of the respondents are classified into three categories, namely independent practice, peer practice and prepare essential points.

  Independent Practice

  ELE-UKSW students usually practice speaking by themselves. This category involved the statement, “The effort is to prepare and practice the material that will be delivered well in order to be confident and better prepared when speaking in front of the crowd (student16,26,37,39/QNR/translated by the researcher); I often try to talk to myself in front of the mirror so that when we speak in class, we will be more confident (students2,12,19,21,23,24,25,28,39/QNR/decoded by the researcher). For instance, sometimes it is a nonsense dialogue between me and myself and it helps me a lot to increase my confidence” (student24/QNR/translated by the researcher).

  Other strategies are searching in the dictionary and internet which includes Google, Youtube and Facebook (students15,18,30,32/QNR/ decoded by the researcher); singing English songs (student36/QNR/translated by the researcher); watching videos or movies in English (students11,37/QNR/ transcribed by the researcher); listening to English songs (students11,26 /QNR/translated by the researcher); reading many materials and articles in English (students3,11,13,15/QNR/ transcribed by the researcher). These statements were in line with those clarified in the interview, as stated by some interviewees:

  Excerpt 3 In dealing with my difficulties which are vocabulary, lack of confidence and

pronunciation. I like to read some articles in English because by reading the articles it

will enhance my vocabulary. For instance, if there is a vocabulary who I do not know,

I keep looking for it in the dictionary, then I write it and read it aloud. Then, to deal the feeling of lack of confidence, I give myself a pep-talk that, I can do it/self- motivation (Veren/ITW/translated by the researcher).

  Excerpt 4

The first strategy to handle my difficulties is that I often see videos in English from Youtube or Instagram. Besides that, I get a lot of vocabulary, and I also know the exact pronunciation from watching those videos. The last is that I listen to English songs because I like to listen to songs, I implement it to learn, and practice

pronouncing the words or the sentences that are in the songs (Victor/ITW/translated by

the researcher).

  Similary, according to Christianson, Hoskins, and Watanabe (2009) who stated that watching and listening videos helps students improve their language in the presentation and discussion matters.

  Peer Practice

  The next strategy would seem to indicate that speaking is not always practiced alone because there is a need for interaction with other people. This category is shown by the comments, “I deal with it by asking my friends to practice together and help correct each other’s vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation if it was wrong” (students4,29,36/QNR/translated by the researcher). This category cited by the participants was what has been clarified by an interviewee:

  Excerpt 5 So, the first step to handle with my difficulties is that I practice my speech contionously probably with friends, professors or others. Furthermore, I was able to pass from this Academic Speaking class because I often consulted with the lecturer. So, if the lecturer gave an assignment, I will regularly consult it with the lecturer. Additionally, I also asked my friends for help if I do not know the projects given by the lecturer. (Victor/ITW/translated by the researcher)

The findings above support the research done by Lindblad (2011) who said that communicating with friends is one of the ways to practice students’ speaking

  ability. Giving peer feedback is a tool for students in enhancing their oral skills (Christianson, Hoskins, & Watanabe, 2009) since friends would be able to check their mistakes, especially vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation, it would improve the oral skill better.

  Prepare essential points

  Another prominent strategy is preparing some critical marks on a piece of paper before speaking. After writing the significant points, students can memorize them, and they will be comfortable because they have prepared all aspects of their talk includ their vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. Some students conveyed this strategy in their written responses, “We write some key points so that it will be easy to memorize what we will speak or present about (students3,5,6,22,33/QNR/translated by the researcher); create my own dictionary (student3/QNR/translated by the researcher) and write down the new vocabulary in ou r notebooks” (students3,40/QNR/translated by the researcher). These statements that emerged from the questionnaire data were in harmony to what two participants stated in the i nterview: “I write some points later on, on this slide I will say this, and on another slide I add this. So, my slides do not contain text but more images. Because images help me to be more pro-active in speaking ” (Nana/ITW/translated by the researcher). “I get a new vocabulary if the word is memorable and I remember it directly. But, if it is too hard to remember I will write it in a notebook or maybe on my handphone” (Victor/ITW/decoded by the researcher). These strategies are in line with Erling, Ashmore and Kapur (2016) who argued that writing critical points before speaking is one of students’ strategies in making their speaking class more enjoyable. Not only that, this strategy will reduce errors in the linguistic aspects such as vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation (Al Roud, 2016).

  Importantly, the present study highlights the essence of insufficient grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and self-confidence in speaking English in front of other people in Academic Speaking class. Likewise, the previous studies by Al Hosni (2014); Paakki (2013); Kayaoğlu and Sağlamel (2013) and Singh (2013) stated that some speaking problems such as insufficient vocabulary repertoire, speaking accurately (grammar), speaking clearly (pronunciation) and inhibition (fear of producing mistakes to speak English in front of others). In a sense, showing strategies to improve students’ speaking challenges such as: independent practice, peer practice and prepare essential points will help ELE- UKSW students ’ proficiency in speaking English.

  

CONCLUSION

  In light of the findings on EFL students speaking challenges and strategies in overcoming their problems, several conclusions and recommendation can be depicted. First, insufficiency of grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation as a speaking challenge for ELE-UKSW learners makes significant influences in decreasing their skill. These are supported by Leong and Ahmadi

  ’s (2017) statement that students’ problems on Academic Speaking are grammar, fluency, and pronunciation. They further state that self-confidence is considered to be a factor which affects students’ speaking. Second, insufficient self-confidence to talk in English creates great anxiety and reduces E

  FL learners’ capability. It usually happens because learners feel nervous to speak in front of their friends and lecturer.