The purpose of the study is to investigate the first-year English majors’perceptions of using the shadowing technique and their practices in learning Englishspeaking skills at the Faculty of English, Hanoi Open University. A questionnaire survey wasemployed to gather data for the study. The structured questionnaire was administered to 253participants from class K29. The survey results revealed that almost all students were awareof the role of the shadowing technique. The findings also showed the problems faced by firstyear students in learning speaking skills. These difficulties were mainly represented by fearof making mistakes, lack of confidence, insufficient vocabulary, lack of speaking practice,and others. In addition, the results indicated that using the shadowing technique would bringseveral benefits to improving speaking skills. As can be seen from the quantitative research,the students’ attitudes toward the shadowing technique were positive. As a result, somestrategies were provided to help the students improve their speaking skills effectively.