This research is implemented to investigate the factors that hinder students’ participation in speaking activities at Ba Ria – Vung Tau University. The research’s subjects are the teachers and the second – major students of English from Ba Ria – Vung Tau University. The results from the questionnaires, the class observations and the interview reports show that the factors coming from teachers, students and classroom have been regarded as important factors affecting remarkably students’ participation in speaking lessons. Also, the findings of the research demonstrate that teachers should pay adequate attention to their teaching techniques to increase students’ involvement in teaching speaking English. In addition, implications and suggestions for further research are made with the hope for better methods to help the teacher reduce his students’ negative effect of these factors during the process of learning speaking English.
