Linguistic Factors Affecting English Speaking Skills among Second-Year English-Major Students: A Mixed-Methods Study

This study investigated the relationships between vocabulary competence, grammatical competence, pronunciation competence, and self-perceived English-speaking skills among second-year English-major students at Nguyen Tat Thanh University (NTTU), Vietnam. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was employed. Quantitative data were collected through a questionnaire administered to 102 students, followed by semi-structured interviews with five selected participants. Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation analysis were used to examine students’ self-assessments, while thematic analysis explored their reported speaking difficulties. The results revealed positive perceptions of linguistic competence and speaking skills overall. Vocabulary competence showed the strongest correlation with overall self-perceived speaking skills (r = .502, p < .001), followed by grammatical competence (r = .492, p < .001) and pronunciation competence (r = .397, p < .001). Interview findings provided further insights into difficulties with lexical retrieval, grammatical processing, final consonant production, stress, intonation, and speaking confidence. These findings highlight the interconnected roles of linguistic resources in students’ perceptions of oral communication. The study suggests that EFL instruction should integrate vocabulary development, communicative grammar practice, pronunciation training, and supportive speaking activities. However, because the quantitative measures were based on self-report, the findings indicate associations among perceived competencies rather than causal effects on objectively measured speaking performance.