The impact of discourse structuring skills on students’ English speaking competence: A case study at Hanoi University of Civil Engineering

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the impact of implementing discourse structuring skills on the speaking competence of first-year students enrolled in the English 1 module at Hanoi University of Civil Engineering (HUCE). To address common barriers such as communication apprehension, limited lexical resources, and fragmented idea organization among engineering students, this action research focused on the speaking tasks of the first four units of the English File: Pre-intermediate Student's Book (4th ed.) over an eight-week period. The methodology involved 60 participants divided into two cohorts: an experimental group, which received explicit instruction in discourse structuring techniques, and a control group, which performed speaking tasks spontaneously without specific structural guidance. Quantitative analysis reveals that the experimental group made significant progress, with their average scores increasing substantially more than those of the control group. The findings suggest that the strategic implementation of discourse structuring enhances both logical coherence and oral fluency. Additionally, it indicates a marked improvement in students’ confidence and their positive attitudes toward speaking practice. This provides a crucial foundation for instructors to refine pedagogical methods. Consequently, the study recommends the formal integration of discourse structuring skills into English language curricula at HUCE to enhance students’ communicative proficiency in both future academic settings and professional engineering contexts.