THE DIFFICULTIES IN PRACTICING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS AMONG UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT CAN THO UNIVERSITY OF MEDICINE AND PHARMACY

Tóm tắt

Background: With the trend of international integration, many universities in Vietnam have incorporated English proficiency into the criteria for evaluating students’ achievement of competency standards, reflecting the institutions’ recognition of the importance of English in education and training. Enhancing English skills enables students in general, and particularly those in the health sciences, to access a wide range of academic resources from various educational organizations, thereby acquiring new knowledge that supports more effective learning and research. Among the four fundamental language skills, speaking is considered the most critical, as it plays a central role in foreign language acquisition. The success of learning a foreign language is often measured by the learner’s ability to communicate effectively in that language. Objectives: To describe the difficulties in practicing English speaking skills among undergraduate students at the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Technology, Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study with total population sampling method was conducted on 729 students of the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Technology, Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy. Data were collected by using the questionnaire which was established by Pham Minh Thu. The questionnaire assessed the difficulties in practicing English speaking skills with 4 fields including: linguistics, psychology, learning environment, and teaching methods.  Results: The average scores for difficulties related to linguistics, psychology, learning environment, and teaching methods were 3.92±0.54, 3.99±0.54, 3.72±0.67, and 3.01±1.00, respectively. Conclusion: The study indicates that students from the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Technology face numerous difficulties in practicing English-speaking skills, which are related to linguistic factors, psychological aspects, and the learning environment. Therefore, organizing seminars or English clubs and create opportunities for students to engage in interactions with international students to improve their English-speaking skills are truly necessary.