VietTESOL International Convention 2026

The development of English oral proficiency has been strongly emphasized in tertiary education, particularly among English majors. While learners may possess solid grammatical knowledge, applying a wide range of grammatical structures in spontaneous speech remains a significant challenge, which is yet to be extensively investigated in the Vietnamese context. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the range and use of grammatical structures in the spontaneous speech of 40 English-majored undergraduates in a Vietnamese university, thereby identifying patterns of overuse or underuse in different structure types. Using the English Grammar Profile (EGP) as an analytical framework, this research employed a mixed-methods approach, combining an impromptu speaking test for quantitative analysis and semi-structured interviews for qualitative insights. The findings show that the most frequently used structures include modals, coordinating and subordinate clauses, gerunds, and relative clauses. Despite a relatively wide range of 41 structures, advanced structures were rarely observed, with participants tending to rely heavily on familiar forms while avoiding cognitively demanding ones. The study sheds light on the gap between learners’ grammatical knowledge and their actual application in real-time communicative situations. Alongside its theoretical contribution, pedagogical implications from this study highlight the importance of integrating activities that foster spontaneous speaking ability and expand learners’ grammatical repertoire in spoken English instruction grammatical repertoire in spoken English instruction.