Difficulties experienced by Vietnamese lecturers teaching IELTS speaking at university level and some suggested solutions

Abstract

In Vietnam nowadays, the Vietnam National University, Hanoi in particular, a new standard for English proficiency is set; that is the required overall score of 5.0 on the IELTS or equivalent. Thus, many universities emphasize the development of IELTS skills. While efforts have been made to teach the four macro skills of writing, reading, listening in many language colleges, far less attention is paid to teach necessary techniques to develop good IELTS speaking skill. To bridge the gap, this paper aims at exploring the difficulties experienced by lecturer teaching IELTS speaking to Vietnamese students at university level and to find out the solutions regarding this issue. Through a questionnaire survey on 189 lecturers and 92 students of IELTS preparation courses, the study found that lecturers have encountered numerous difficulties when teaching IELTS speaking to Vietnamese students such as error correction, overcoming nervousness, using the cue card, helping students improve their critical thinking in answering abstract issues. The study also explores lecturers’ perceptions of the difficulties when teaching students IETLS speaking as well as the factors that help learners to develop their speaking skills. Students’ questionnaire also helps to explore the lecturers’ difficulties from the students’ point of view. Suggested solutions for each problem are given by experienced lecturers through interviews. This work hopes to both contribute to the existing body of IELTS research as well as to pave the way for future studies in this field.