CHAPTER 1: RESEARCH PROPOSAL

1.0 Introduction

In 2014, Cambridge English Language Assessment was working with the Ministry of
Education in Malaysia to carry out an in-depth study of the learning, teaching and assessment
of English in Malaysian schools. The large-scale project was focused on children and teachers
in schools from pre-school to pre-university. The study was part of a programme which aimed
to ensure every child is proficient in Bahasa Malaysia and English. On Feb 6 this year, Higher
Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh was briefed on Cambridge Accessible Tests (CATs)
application after launching the online learning platform, a collaboration between Universiti
Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) and Cambridge Malaysian Education and Development Trust
(CMEDT), today. With the collaboration UPSI will observe the potential use of CATs in
enhancing student’s English Language performance at tertiary level and will conduct some
research on its effectiveness. However there were some articles that had criticized CATs. For
example, “Language cannot be learned and improved by just taking a test; it can only be
improved through interaction and communication. Thus, efforts by the ministry should not only
focus on tests but also on other important aspects such as the professional development of
teachers using the latest development in pedagogy in the teaching of English.”
(Sallehhudin,2017). There are also article supporting CATs, “CATs are based on an online
learning platform to enhance the students’ learning performance. It is a form of adaptive test,
that is, as the student progresses through the test, they will improve their language skills. Thus
the students through CATs will surely improve their listening, speaking, writing and reading
skills. The students living in rural areas in particular are in dire need of learning and practicing
English.”(Thomas,2017). With that said, most Malaysian University students nowadays are
good at writing in English but in wholesome are terrible at speaking in English. What has
caused the difficulties to speak in English. This research serves to investigate and identify the
causes of speaking difficulties faced by engineering students at UTHM. This could serve as a
reference for instructors and syllabus designers at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn
Malaysia(UTHM) to improve teaching and learning English with regard to speaking skills.

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1.1 Background Of Study

Language is really important for people around the world. Language allows people to interact
with each other and it contain 4 mechanics which are listening, speaking, reading and writing.
The most used language in the world is the English language. Most people either in business
or in other occupations must know how to speak in English to a certain degree. This is for the
ease of communication between different language speakers. This also applies to engineering
student as well due to many engineering books and literatures were published in the English
language. Therefore non-English speaking students must learn English as a second or foreign
language to further their studies .“people who know a language are usually referred to as
speakers of that language.”(Ur, 1996). However, not all language learners can communicate
fluently and accurately even after many years studying English. This is because of many factors
such as attitude and motivation. According to Nunan (1999), “the speaker needs
communicative competence which includes not only linguistic competence but also a range of
other sociolinguistic and conversational skills which help him/ her know how to say what to
whom and when”. Johnson (1995) states that non-English speaking students must have the
proper English language competence in order to keep up with their lessons. Essentially, this
chapter provides an overview of what motivates the researcher to carry out the study. It begins
with a brief background where this study was conducted, followed by the statement of the
problem, research objectives, research questions, and significance of the study

1.2 Problem Statement

The English language has been widely spoken and used in Malaysia for many years and in
university, English language is really important to student because most courses are conducted
in English. It is observed that in UTHM, students can write in English fairly good but having
troubles when asked to speak in English. Every student have an anxiety when speaking English
language. Anxiety is a negative human feeling. When we are anxious, we feel nervous, worried
and fearful, automatically our heart started beating quickly. Public speaking anxiety is very
common among university students. The most common cause of speaking anxiety of students
is being afraid that the other students will judge solely on their English proficiency. Majority
of students at UTHM are more comfortable using Malay language when conversing with each
other. This cannot sharpen their ability to speak in English if they do not speak in English
regularly. This research is investigating the factors that affect UTHM engineering students to
speak in English. This research will dive into factors that motivates the students to speak in
English and factors that deters them. It will consider the feedback of students, usage of English
in classes and the influences for students to speak in English.

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1.3 Research Objective

To analyse the factors affecting UTHM engineering students confidence to speak in English

1.4 Research Question

1)Do engineering students thinks that English speaking skills is important to them?

2)What influences the students to speak in English?

3)What challenges do the students face when speaking in English?

1.5 Significance Of Research

The biggest beneficiary will be the students who are willing to improve their English language.
If they are willing to taking part in any English class or English programme they will get a lot
of benefit from there. This English skills are very useful when they are finish their studies.
They can easily communicate using this English language, attend an interview for their job and
increase their confident level when they need to speak English. Our research is very important
in recognizing students who wants to improve their English skills and determine the factors
contributing to their confidence level when speaking in English. This research can serve as
guide for further improvement on student’s speaking skills.

1.6 Limitation Of The Study

When we do our research there is some limitation that we cannot avoid. One of the limitation
is the student’s attitude. Rubins and Thompson (1994) defines attitude as one of the key factors
that influences success or failures for language learners. Sometimes student take English
classes or programmes just because they want to pass and finish their study. They do not think
about the importance of English language when there are in working stage. So the positive
attitude are very important for learners to achieve their goals. Holmes (1992) concludes in his
study that when English learners have a positive attitude towards a target language, they will
be successful in acquiring a target language.

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1.7 Methodology (Brief)

This study will be focused on third year undergraduate engineering students at UTHM. This
research are open to all the UTHM third year student who only have one year left before they
finish their study. The questionnaire will be administered randomly to the students, during on
Monday, 8 am till 1 pm the 8 am at all faculty in UTHM. Data collected will be analysed for
percentages and frequency. Charts will be used to illustrate the findings.

1.8 Definition Of Terms

CATs - Cambridge Accessible Tests are online English assessment developed by Cambridge
to improve English proficiency of Malaysian students.

CMEDT - Cambridge Malaysian Education and Development Trust

UPSI - Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris

UTHM - Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia

ESL - means English as a Second Language which describes speakers who use English as
their second language after their mother tongue.

PIC - Person in charge is the group member that is responsible for the part that has been
given to him.

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 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 Introduction

Multiple literatures have been published discussing about factors affecting English speaking
among students. Those literatures covers many topics on factors of English speaking among
students and three of them have been brought up the most. The three topics are, the importance
if speaking skills, the motivation to speak in English and the challenges faced when speaking
in English. This literature review will focus on these three topics. The scope of this review will
students who are currently undergoing their studies in universities and are using English as a
second or foreign language. The scope will not be limited by year of study or faculties.

2.1 Importance of English Speaking Skills

Language not only is a means for establishing a communication but also is a vehicle for
fostering relationship. Rao (2007) states that language, when used properly can generate a very
favorable impression. However, when it is used ‘wrongly’, it can produce a disastrous response.
It is a sword that can cut both ways. English is also important in tourism as stated by Abdullah
(2007) “the selection of hotel staff, the language factor has a prominent role. In general, only
those who have a reasonably good command of the English language are favored”. Asmah
(1977) claims that the function of English was first as an official language and then as a second
language. She also claims that the languages in Malaysia for instance, the Chinese dialects and
Indian languages are not foreign languages but are considered as the languages of Malaysia.
The New English’s or non-native varieties have their own distinctive linguistic features due to
the process of nativisation. English is an indispensable language in these countries. It is not
only used for communication but also for other purposes. According to Baskaran, English is
referred to as a link language in Kenya and Nigeria, an associate official language in India, an
additional language in Ghana, a bridge language in Singapore, a coordinate language in the
Philippines and a strong second language in Malaysia (1985, p. 69).

2.2 Elements that influences students to speak in English

Affective factors such as motivation, confidence, anxiety, listening ability and feedback
influences the students to speak in English. Nation & Newton (2009) believe that performance
conditions can affect speaking performance. The four types of performance conditions that
Nation & Newton (2009) suggest include time pressure, planning, the standard of performance
and the amount of support. One of the most important influence on language learning success
or failure is probably the affective side of the learner (Oxford, 1990). Krashen (1982) states
that a variety of affective variables has been confirmed to be related to success in second
language acquisition in research over the last decade but most of those studies examined the
three categories: motivation, self-confidence and anxiety. Speaking skills cannot be developed
unless we develop listening skills (Doff, 1998). Students must understand what is said to them
to have a successful conversation. Shumin (1997) shares the ideas of Doff (1998) by stating
that when one person speaks, the other responds through attending by means of the listening
process. In fact, every speaker plays the role of both a listener and a speaker. Bachman &
Palmer (1996) state certain test tasks may be easier for those who possess the relevant topical
knowledge and more difficult for those who do not. Bachman & Palmer (1996) believe that
topical knowledge has effects on speaking performance.

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2.3 Challenges for Students to Speak In English

English is a second language in Malaysia. English is both a foreign and second language in
our country but most students especially senior high school students are not familiar with it
.Kavin Hetrakul (1995) also said that they use English more frequent only inside the class and
less frequent outside the class. One of the challenges they have to face is they have limited
time to learn English in class in addition they do not have enough encouragement to speak in
English outside the class. Juhana (2012) explained that the fear of mistakes, anxious, shyness,
lack of confidence and lack of motivation are included into psychological factors. Those
becomes the main challenges which affect the student’s condition because it comes from the
individual. Students are afraid to speak in English due to the feeling that they are incapable in
English. They are afraid that when they speak in English poorly they will get laughed at by
the people around them because they speak in broken English. Greg Thompson (2005) the
only normal way to begin speaking in a new language is to begin speaking badly. They need
to overcome this challenges by increasing their confidence level and overcome their shyness.

2.4 Conclusion

The topics mentioned can be portrayed differently for example Supatsorn (2015) stated that the
English speaking performance of Thai-Nichi Technological Institute students are poor even
though they studied English for more than ten years and there are several reasons for the poor
speaking performance. This is in the context of factors affecting English speaking problem. We
will use the three topics and apply them to the context of factors affecting the students to speak
in English.

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 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.0 Introduction

For this chapter, instrument and method of collecting data will be discussed. The data
collection is on the investigation of factors affecting UTHM students to speak in English.
This chapter will be comprised of three parts which are the particulars of the participants,
data collection method and the method for analyzing the data.

3.1 Participants

A survey was conducted among UTHM students. This survey involved 40 randomly selected
third year student from each faculty in this university which are FKAAS, FKMP, and FTK.
Most of the respondent were from FKAAS and FKMP because our group members were from
that faculty and only one respondent was from FTK. A summary of the participants of the study
is provided in table (3.1.1) which includes data such as faculty and gender.

Table 3.1. : Summary of Participants

Faculty Gender TOTAL

Male Female
FKMP 11 5 16
TECHNOLOGY 1 0 1
FKAAS 11 12 23
TOTAL 23 17 40

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3.2 Data Collection Method

The data collection method used in this study was aimed at the factors that affecting UTHM
students to speak in English. Only one data collection instruments was used which is
distributing questionnaire randomly to UTHM students. A number of question were asked as a
source of primary data to investigate the reading habits among third year students in UTHM.
The survey questionnaire consists of twenty-four questions. The questionnaire was divided into
five sections which is consisted only close-ended questions the close ended questions were
multiple-choice questions. Five sections of our questionnaire which is start with basic
information, reason for learning English, influences to speak in English, challenges to speak in
English and ended with improving English speaking skills. All these questionnaires were
handed out with the assistance of friends through media social like Whatsapp, Twitter and
Facebook.

3.3 Data Analysis

All the data obtained from the survey questionnaire was analyzed using specific data analysis
procedures. The analyzed data was presented in the mode of frequency, mean and percentage.
Data from the survey questionnaires were automatically analyzed when the participants give
their response to our survey questionnaire. We conducted the survey questionnaires using
Google Doc and it automatically generated that data into bar chart, pie chart, graph and many
more. The information is tabulated for ease of reference.

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 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS & DISCUSSION

4.0 Introduction
For students in Malaysia and other students in countries that use English language as a second
or foreign language, English speaking is a very important attribute that the students need to
master. This brings us to the factors affecting the students to speak in English. The factors are
very important and needs to be considered because it is related directly to the proficiency and
performance of the student’s skills in English language. Thus, some questions must be asked
and solved regarding the factors affecting the students to speak in English. In general, what
factors will affect students to speak in English and what deters them from English speaking.
This chapter provides the data and the discussion of factors affecting students of UTHM to
speak in English.
4.1 Importance of English Speaking to Engineering Students
For questions regarding research question one, there are seven question. The participants must
complete all seven questions of the section. The results was tabulated in the form of tables and
is shown in table 4.1.
QUESTION 1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Disagree Moderate Agree Strongly
Disagree Agree
It will enable me to carry my task 0% 0% 12.5% 35% 52.5%
more efficiently
It will enable me to get a job 0% 0% 12.5% 42.5% 45%
easily
I hope to further my education 0% 0% 12.5% 45% 42.5%
It is a university requirement 7.5% 0% 25% 42.5% 25%
For personal development 0% 2.5% 12.5% 27.5% 57.5%
It will enhance my status among 10% 2.5% 35% 32.5% 20%
my friends
To interact with foreign people 2.5% 2.5% 7.5% 47.5% 40%
and their culture
Table 4.1

The table above shows the questions and the outcomes from the participants. It shows that
52.5% of UTHM students strongly agree with the statement “it will enable me to carry my task
more efficiently” and the rest 14% for agree and 5% for moderately agree. Moreover 45%
student UTHM strongly agree that English speaking skills enables them to get a job easily and
the rest 42.5% agree and 12.5% moderate. For the hope to further their education, only 42.5%
student strongly agree and 45% student agree. Besides that 25% student strongly agree that
English speaking is a university requirement, 42.5% agree, 25% moderate and only 7.5%
strongly disagree. For personal development, majority of students strongly agree with 57.5%
and the rest 27.5% agree, 12.5% moderate and 2.5% disagree. Other than that, only 20%
strongly agree that English speaking will enhance their status among their friends. The last
question is “speaking English are important to engineering student to interact with foreign
people and their culture”. 40% student choose strongly agree and other students choose agree
with 47.5%.

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As we can see from the data above majority student strongly agree that English speaking skills
are important for the future and it enables them to get jobs easily. Lastly, from the data analysis
we provide, it is shown that UTHM students have a self-awareness on the importance of
English speaking skills.
4.2 Elements that Influences the Students to Speak in English

Five question had been ask about the elements that influences UTHM students to speak in
english. The participants had to choose between agree, disagree or neither to answer the
question. Table 4.2 is the summary of the outcome for all questions.

Agree (%) Neither (%) Disagree (%)

English films are
more enjoyable than 70 20 10
films in any other
language
English is a
compulsory subject 87.5 7.5 5
in UTHM
The use of English in
government and
business offices 87.5 7.5 5
helps in getting
things done easily
The development of
our country is
possible mainly by 75 12.5 12.5
educated people who
know English well
When they hear
someone speaks
English well, they 92.5 7.5 0
wish they could
speak like them
Table 4.2

As we can see, about 70% UTHM student agree with English films being more enjoyable than
films in any other language rather than 10% disagree and 20% with neither. Other than that,
87.5% of UTHM student agree that English is a compulsory subject in UTHM rather than 7.5%
disagree and 5% with neither. Besides that, 87.5% of responded agree with the use of English
in government and business offices helps in getting things done easily and 7.5% with neither
follow with 5% disagree. The statement about the development of our country is possible
mainly by educated people who know English well is agreed by 75% of the respondent while
12.5% with neither and disagree. 92.5% responded agree with when they hear someone speaks
English well, they wish they could speak like them too and 7.5% responded say neither.

Krashen (1982) states motivation, self-confidence and anxiety influences improvement of

speaking skills. Therefore, from the data it is apparent that UTHM students are not reluctant to
improve their speaking skills and increase their confidence to succeed in the future.

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4.3 Challenges For Students to Speak In English

There were five question asked about the challenges UTHM students faced to speak in english.
The participants had to choose between agree, disagree or neither to answer the question. Table
4.3 was the summary of the results from the questionnaire answered by the respondents.

No Questionnaire Results (%)

Agree Disagree Neither
`
1 I think my pronunciation are not good enough 67.5 7.5 25

2 I felt like my grammar are inadequate 67.5 12.5 20

3 I am a really shy person 55 25 20

4 I felt like I am being judged by my peers 57.5 35 7.5

5 I felt like I am being judged by the lecturer 52.5 30 17.5

Table 4.3

As we can see at the table, 67.5% UTHM student agree when it says the challenges for them
to speak in English is they think their pronunciation is not good enough, with only 7.5%
disagree with that and neither for the others. Other than that 67.5% of UTHM student agree
that they felt like their grammar is inadequate rather than 12.5% disagree and 20% with neither.
Besides that, 55% of respondent agree when we asked about either they are shy person or not
and 25% disagreed with 20% answering neither. 57.5% of respondents felt like they are being
judged by the peers while 35% disagree with that point and the others are choose neither. 52.5%
respondent agree with the point when we ask either they felt like being judged by the lecturer
or not when they speaks in English, 30% of them disagree with that point and 17.5% are neither

According to Zaigham (2011) stated by Romwapee (2012), “spoken form of a language is a

basic and should be taught first”. From the data it is apparent that UTHM students are facing
a lot of challenges to speaks in English because their anxiety and lack of confidence.

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 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS

5.0 Introduction
This research aims to find and examine the factors that affect UTHM students to speak in
English. Thus to achieve the aim, three questions were asked revolving around the factors
affecting UTHM students to speak in English. The first questions asked about the importance
of speaking skills in context of engineering students. The second question was on the elements
that influences the students speaking in English whether it was positive element or negative
element. The last question was on the challenges faced by students when speaking in English.
This will provide understanding on what deters the students from speaking in English.
5.1 Conclusion
5.1.1 Importance of English Speaking Skills to Engineering Students
Do engineering students thinks that English speaking skills is important to them? UTHM
engineering students realize that English speaking skills are very important to them. Every
student have a desire to improve their skills in English speaking but it became difficult because
of the lack of practice in English speaking. As we know, English is a language that can be
understood internationally and thus a lot of problems can be solved between people with
different mother tongue by implementing the use of English speaking. Majority of respondent
realize and strongly agree that English speaking skills give benefit to them in getting a job
easily and to further their education.
5.1.2 Elements that Influences the Students to Speak in English

Many UTHM students realize the main elements that influences them to speak in English. They
also realize that their speaking skill need to be improved. With that said, Malaysia relies on the
use of English to officially communicate with other countries. This is clear when three quarters
of the responded agree that about the development of our country is possible mainly by
educated people who know English and can speak well. Majority of the responded says that
the influence to speak in English also comes from the others as many agree when they saw
someone that converses well in English, they wish that they also can speak like said person.
Most of the respondent also agree that the use of English language can make work easy to be
done in government and also in businesses.

5.1.3 Challenges for UTHM students to speak in English

Many of UTHM students face problems when speaking in English. Even though the problem
seems as the students’ problem, but in fact lecturers and peers also plays an important role.
This is clearly seen when more than half the number of respondents agree that they felt like
they are being judged by peers and lecturers when speaking in English. The majority of students
say that they felt like their grammar and pronunciation were not good enough to be able to
confidently converse in English. This leads to the conclusion that the engineering students
faced problems mostly in the context of their grammar and pronunciation.

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5.1.4 Summary

For research question one, most respondent agree that English speaking skills give benefit to
them in getting a job easily and to further their education. Thus it is concluded that Engineering
students of UTHM think that English speaking skills are important to them. In research
question two, we explore the elements that affect students to speak in English and we get the
elements such as using English in work and for self improvement. It is concluded that students
are mostly affected by positive elements to speak in English. Lastly, research question three
determines the problems faced by students when speaking in English are their grammar and
pronunciation. With that said, when the students grammar and pronunciation improve, their
confidence to speak in English will increase.

5.2 Recommendation

Students in UTHM have a desire to raise their English speaking level. This is because they
wanted to improve themselves and use English in the near future. Thus, to increase students
speaking skills, programmes such as English debates and English week must be done for
students to have chances at practicing their English speaking thus improving their speaking
skills and increasing confidence. Excellent individuals in English speaking also must
encourage their friends and others to try and speak more in English by initiating a conversation
with their friends and others in English. This will encourage students to initiate English
speaking automatically without being shy. Universities must also have classes that focuses on
improving students grammar choice and pronunciation. This will boost students confidence
when speaking when they know their grammar and pronunciation is good.

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