A study on how to improve listening skills for freshmen of English Faculty at Thuongmai University

A study on how to improve listening skills for freshmen of English Faculty at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve listening skills for freshmen of English Faculty at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve listening skills for freshmen of English Faculty at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve listening skills for freshmen of English Faculty at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve listening skills for freshmen of English Faculty at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve listening skills for freshmen of English Faculty at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve listening skills for freshmen of English Faculty at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve listening skills for freshmen of English Faculty at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve listening skills for freshmen of English Faculty at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve listening skills for freshmen of English Faculty at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve listening skills for freshmen of English Faculty at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve listening skills for freshmen of English Faculty at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve listening skills for freshmen of English Faculty at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve listening skills for freshmen of English Faculty at Thuongmai University

ABSTRACT When you learn any language, listening is one of the most difficult skills to learn Listening is different from hearing It is a process which asks the listeners to understand and respond in the right manner I would like to conduct my graduation paper with a study titled “A study on how to improve listening skills for freshmen of English Faculty at Thuongmai University” The purpose of this study is to find out suitable solutions to solve the difficulties that freshmen have to face From the difficulties, the research finds out the solutions to solve those problems for both teachers and students in teaching and learning the listening skills Therefore, the researcher applied the qualitative and quantitative methods to the research The data collecting instruments like questionnaires, depth interviews were used in the study The results of the research are expected to facilitate the students to study English well and have effective studying methods With the hope of improving students' listening competence, especially English-major freshmen at Thuongmai University, I have made an effort to this study by my own knowledge 1 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS During the process of doing this study, I have received much necessary assistance, previous ideas and timely encouragement from my teacher and friends This research could not have been finished without the help, encouragement, and support from them First of all, I would like to show my deepest gratitude towards my supervisors – Mrs Pham Thuy Giang, the English teacher of English Faculty, who has always been willing to instruct me carefully and enthusiastically in each step, gives me helpful advice and suggestions as well as encourages me every time I need in order that I can complete this study successfully Although only my name is written on this research paper, I know I myself would be impossible to make it without the help of contributors I also wish to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to English Faculty at Thuongmai University, who have created this chance for me to work on this study, learn and gain many valuable experiences to the next study I am so thankful to English-major freshmen at Thuongmai University who spend their time and effort to take part in the survey of this research Finally, I would like to acknowledge my thanks to all the authors of the books, magazines, documents and the other materials listed in the reference part for their ideas that have been reflected and developed in the study Hanoi, April 20th 2020 Student Nguyen Thi Hong Thom 2 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 3 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS No 4 Abbreviated words TOEIC IELTS TOEFL etc Test of Full phrase English for International Communication International English Language Testing System Test Of English as a Foreign Language Et cetera LIST OF CHARTS, TABLES AND FIGURES 4 CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale Nowadays, along with the integration and development, especially globalization, English has become more and more important in our society It is a floating bridge among countries all over the world Therefore, in Vietnam, English is a compulsory subject and can be taught from primary schools to universities To improve English for students, the Ministry of Education and Training has accompanied with many universities in the country to invest in facilities, technology, and excellent teaching staff, also create all the best condition for students, give regulations on English standard via certification such as TOEIC, IELTS, TOEFL, etc Besides that, teaching work and training quality are innovated which helps students have a thorough grasp of knowledge and develop their English skills more comprehensively Thanks to it, students are more and more concerned about learning and practicing English because they know that if they can use English very well, they will have more opportunities and advantages for finding good jobs as well as working in the international environment Understanding the importance of English, Thuongmai University has many new teaching methods, especially teaching and testing English with each skill to increase effectiveness for learners However, using English competently is still a difficult problem for many students One of the four language skills: Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing that all language learners are supposed to acquire - Listening is believed to be one of the biggest barriers due to the complex and subtle nature of listening comprehension in a second or foreign language that students have to overcome when studying English This is the problem all freshmen of English Faculty at Thuongmai University must face When the writer was a first year student, I found learning listening skills so difficult, especially Business English with many jargon that are difficult to learn and remember That makes students 5 5 not interested in it, find listening classes so boring and feel stressed while listening There are many kinds of research about improving the listening skill but there isn’t any research which is carried out at Thuongmai University For those reasons, I would like to present the thesis titled “A study on how to improve listening skills for freshmen at English Faculty of Thuongmai University” 1.2 Previous studies 1.2.1 International studies on listening skills The first study is “Improving listening and speaking skills in mixed level groups” (on the material of New English File) by Idrissova, Smagulova, and Tussupbekova The study investigates works of scholars about the problems of listening and speaking in learning foreign languages and analyzes the difficulties in doing listening and speaking exercises in mixed-level groups According to the writer, students in mixed level groups have difficulties in speed of delivery during listening and speaking, face problems with misunderstanding of new words and phrases, have problems in pronunciation of English words, and have difficulties in composing sentences using correct grammatical structure The second study is “Improving high school English language learners’ second language listening through strategy instruction” by Karen A Carrier on 22 November 2010 This study tests the hypothesis that targeted listening strategy instruction in the ESL (English as a second language) classroom, results in improving listening comprehension that can be useful in English language learners' academic content classes This study suggests that targeted listening strategy instruction in discrete listening, video listening, and note taking can improve students’ listening comprehension of oral academic content material that they will most likely encounter in their academic content classes The results of this study serve as a starting point for research into the kinds of listening students in different academic content classrooms, and the strategies that they need to be effective listeners 6 6 The third study is “Using digital stories to improve listening comprehension with Spanish young learners of English”, written by Dolores Ramirez Verdugo and Isabel Alonso Belmonte This study analyzes whether Internet-based technology could improve listening comprehension in English as a foreign language The researchers believe that there is an urgent need to develop new materials and resources adapted to both native and non-native young learners If the existing materials are to be used in the foreign language classroom, and just to mention some of the paths to explore, they need to include higher quality sound and slower story-telling pace 1.2.2 Vietnamese studies on listening skills In “Tìm hiểu yếu tố ảnh hưởng đến khả Nghe sinh viên chuyên ngành Hutech”, Do Thi Song Tuyen researches the English levels of students and the influence on their listening skills From there, the writer gives the factors that affect students' listening skills In “Nghiên cứu đánh giá lực Nghe tiếng Anh sinh viên kh ối ngành không chuyên Anh trường đại học Phương Đông ”, Duong Thi Anh researches the listening ability of non-English majored students “Khung trình độ chung Châu Âu (Common European Framework) vi ệc nâng cao hiệu đào tạo tiếng Anh trường đại học quốc gia-Hồ Chí Minh” – “Journal of Science and Technology Development” is conducted by Vu Thi Phuong Anh This study investigates about the Common European Framework and use it in Vietnam that helps students improve their English This topic is absolutely essential and meaningful There are many kinds of research on improving listening skills but there isn’t any research which is carried out in Thuongmai University Therefore, I decided to choose this topic 1.3 Aims of the study The main purpose of this study is to explore problems and difficulties in listening to English Besides, the researcher wants to find out solutions to improve English listening skills for students 7 7 1.4 Research subjects For this research, the researcher chose the study on how to improve listening skills for freshmen at English Faculty of Thuongmai University as a research subject After finding out the difficulties that freshmen often face when listening English, the author will suggest some solutions to improve their listening skills 1.5 Scope of the study The participants of the research are 100 freshmen who are studying at English Faculty, Thuongmai University They come from all parts of the country, both countryside and cities Besides, they were divided into different classes to study every subject together This practice formed multi-level classes In English classes, while some students were good at English, others had lower English proficiency The study was completed to understand the current state of listening skills of English Faculty freshman listening skills and to come up with a number of techniques to help them improve their English listening skills Because of the limitation of time and knowledge, the shortage of reference materials, the study just can be surveyed in 2021 1.6 Research methodology The research applies a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods It includes a deep interview method (Structured interview) The researcher uses a non-random sampling method in convenient form Samples are taken based on the convenience and accessibility of the survey subjects where the investigator easily meets the subject The researcher distributes the questionnaires to the freshmen of English Faculty at Thuongmai University and then takes a deep interview with them The sample size determined by the survey was 100 samples, equivalent to 100 questionnaires, including online surveys After the investigation process, the group collected 100 raw replies 100 questionnaires were sent to the freshmen in each of the different classrooms at English Faculty After the surveyor gives interviewee the information, the votes are collected by the 8 8 surveyors The survey forms are centralized and sent to the information handler After getting the results, the researcher uses tables and charts for presenting the collected data 1.7 Organization of the study The study consists of four chapters, including: Chapter 1: Overview of the study The overview of the study includes rationale, aims of the study, scope of the study, research methodology and organization of the study Chapter 2: Literature review Theoretical background supplies the readers with necessary knowledge It focuses on the concepts of listening skills, difficulties in English listening skills, factors affecting listening skills as well as solutions to improve listening skills Chapter 3: Research findings In the third chapter, the study shows the research findings of the study including the analysis results, discussion about the current situation of English listening skills of freshmen at English Faculty at Thuongmai University Chapter 4: Recommendations and suggestions This is also an important part It summarizes and recommends solutions to improve listening skills for freshmen, then gives some suggestions for further studies 9 9 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Theoretical background 2.1.1 Definition of listening Listening is one of the four skills of a language (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) It involves the active involvement of an individual Listening involves a sender, a message, and a receiver It is the psychological process of receiving, attending to constructing meaning from, and responding to spoken and/or non-verbal messages There are some definitions of listening by different authors such as Howatt and Dankin (1974), Thomlison (1984), Ronald and Roskelly (1985), Gorden (1985), Hirsch (1986), Bentley and Bacon(1996), Gary Buck(2001), Scott Shelton(2008), ect According to Howatt and Dakin (1974), listening is the ability to identify and understand what others are saying This process involves understanding a speaker's accent or pronunciation, the speaker’s grammar and vocabulary, and comprehension of meaning An able listener is capable of doing these four things simultaneously Thomlison (1984), thought that listening which includes "active listening," which goes beyond comprehension as understanding the message content, to comprehension as an act of empathetic understanding of the speaker Ronald and Roskelly (1985), defined listening as an active process requiring the same skills of prediction, hypothesizing, checking, revising, and generalizing that writing and reading demand; and these authors present specific exercises to make students active listeners who are aware of the "inner voice" one hears when writing Gordon (1985) argued that empathy is essential to listening and contends that it is more than a polite attempt to identify a speaker's perspectives Rather, more importantly, empathetic understanding expands to "egocentric prosocial behavior" Thus, the listener altruistically acknowledges concern for the speaker's welfare and interests 10 10 10 10 When being asked about the cause of the difficulty with English sounds, some students say that this difficulty is due to their failure to distinguish English sounds, homonyms, etc In addition, the fact that native speakers swallow sounds when speaking also makes it difficult for students to hear For example, when native speakers pronounce important / ɪmˈpɔːtnt /, students can only hear / pɔːnt / Not only swallowing sounds in words, native speakers also swallow sounds in a sentence That makes students confused -Lack of concentration when listening A lot of students say that it is difficult for them to concentrate 100% when listening to English They often experience interrupted concentration when suddenly hearing a word they not recognize They are confused, then miss a piece of information The reason for the lack of concentration when listening can be due to the lack of listening experience, making it increasingly difficult for the listener to concentrate on the listening lesson -Find it difficult to grasp the main points of the listening text Trinh Luyen says that: “I was advised not to pay too much attention to details when listening but just focus on the main point, trying to capture key words, but I really find it difficult to hear what keywords are Everything just echoes in my ears like a song” The reason why it is difficult to grasp the main idea of the listening article is that the listener does not know what is the important information to listen to in the listening process Or, the listener's inability to deduce the main content of the listening from keywords makes them unable to grasp the main idea when listening 22 22 22 22 One tip that listeners can apply is "intonation" As Luyen said, she feels that English conversasion sounds like a song, so pay attention to the times when the listeners raise their voice, that is usually when important information is mentioned -Cannot keep up with the speed of the speaker Cao Nga says: “ I cannot keep up with the speed of the speaker.When I understood a little, the speaker was already talking about the second half of the story” Listeners cannot keep up with the speaker's speed mainly because during listening, they always translate what they hear into Vietnamese before they understand, then their brain will have to things at the same time: listening, translating what they can hear from English to Vietnamese, then understanding what has just been translated Therefore, when students have heard and understood a sentence, the speaker talked about the second and third sentences, leading to them not understanding what the speakers are saying Not to mention that foreigners still attach tail sounds, students not listen to English often, leading to unfamiliar hearing, and as a result, not keeping up with the speaker's speed -Lack of vocabulary to use in everyday life Some students share that they join some English clubs and have outdoor activities, "foreigner hunting" They are confident in their vocabulary but when actually having a conversation with a foreigner, they cannot understand what that person is saying Freshmen may have learned quite a bit of vocabulary, but when hearing foreigners say, they are stunned, they wonder "what word are the speakers saying?" Sometimes students may mistakenly think that they know many words, but try to check if those words are common in everyday life Students 23 23 23 23 know the words about tourism, economics, sewing, wearing etc, but have limited vocabulary to use in everyday life, then they find it difficult to listen to what others say in daily life 3.2 Discussion of findings According to the survey, the researcher find some difficulties that all freshmen of English Faculty at Thuongmai University meet when studying English Since then, the researcher would like to give some advices to deal with these difficulties 3.2.1 Limited vocabulary Statistics show that almost all students suppose vocabulary is one of the most influential factors to their listening skills This is because the specialized words are so long, so hard to remember and the number of new words has so many to learn and students not have enough vocabulary that makes them not understand even one sentence Students should broaden their vocabulary Posing sentences with words and phrases is considered one of the most useful and effective vocabulary learning methods Phrase learning gives you a lot of information Phrases are often easier to remember, since they have deeper meanings Thereby, you will learn how to combine that word with other words exactly In addition, the formation of English sentences helps you increase your vocabulary in English when you have to combine and use more words You also learn how to apply vocabulary to contextual practice Understand the uses and ways of combining vocabulary together From there you memorize vocabulary more deeply and for longer 24 24 24 24 3.2.2 The pronunciation English is the same as Vietnamese, in every country, every region, it will have different pronunciation so when listening to the CD or radio with some accents from many countries like India, England, America, etc, students may be confused, not realizing that even this is a simple word Students should choose a variety of listening practice materials, not only choose good pronunciation materials of American and British descent Thus, students can practice and interact with many different accents On the other hand, students should also improve their own pronunciation Students have to pronounce correctly in order to hear correctly 3.2.3 Lack of concentration This is a problem we often see when listening to English If they not focus on listening, they cannot take notes of the listening lesson and they have to listen to one lesson many times And this has a big influence on their listening skills One solution the writer gives is "ignore" Do not be too focused on words that you cannot hear but miss out on a long listening session Focus on the information you need to hear! 3.2.4 The studying methods Some students not have a useful method for themselves such as time for practicing is not enough, they not have many media for studying, etc They not know how to arrange their time or choose suitable programs for themselves to study so that it could have bad effects on their listening Find yourself a suitable learning method Maybe people learn more effectively in the morning, but you learn more effectively in the evening Maybe 25 25 25 25 people quickly increase their listening level by listening repeatedly, listening to answer questions, but you are suitable for the dictation listening method Try some methods and understand yourself 3.2.5 The speaking speed Because the speaking speed of a native speaker is so fast and they often swallow sound, students cannot catch up to speed and cannot hear words and leads to miss words, misunderstand The writer advises students should practice listening every day from the slowest, simplest and easiest files Gradually increase the difficulty and speed of the listening 26 26 26 26 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 4.1 Summary of the study To achieve the aims of this study, the study is divided into four chapters with their own purposes The first chapter briefly covers the overview of the The second chapter presents basic theories about the research such as definition, listening process, etc The third chapter describes the research findings; analyzes the results of the study via the charts which help the author find the answers to the research questions Through this research process, the researcher found four factors which influence the listening skill of students, determined difficulties and suggested some solutions to deal with that issue 4.2 Recommendations 4.2.1 Suggestion for the university The university had better invest infrastructure and modern equipment such as projector system, speakers, lights, air-conditionals,…In addition it is necessary to innovate training programs, increase specialized subjects as well as decrease subjects which are not related to the major Besides, the school should increase the lesson hours with foreign teachers, organize the mock exams like IELTS, TOEIC…to judge students’s ability Moreover, promoting cooperation with foreign universities is the good way to create condition for students to have chances to study abroad and improve their English by offering scholarships or student exchange programs 4.2.1 Recommendations for teachers The teachers ought to innovate teaching methods, improve specialized knowledge as well as learn effective teaching methods from colleagues At the same time, they need to improve pronunciation, intonation, cohesion way between words in a sentence for students as well as how to distinguish homonym and liaison in the sentence, provide new and specialized 27 27 27 27 words that appear in the listening lessons; guide the students guess the meaning of new words basing on contexts or topics of lessons Before the listening task, lecturers had better ask students some questions relate to listening documents or provide them with necessary knowledge to stimulate their mind; apply teaching methods having no punishment with positive evaluation to encourage listeners Because listening tasks often require students to focus on the content and answer immediately what they catch If the students are passive and not confident while listening, they will be scared and not ready to give the feedback Besides, it is advisable for teachers to design lively and exciting lessons by choosing various outside documents with abundant content so as to create students’ interest and provide listening lessons with different levels Not only could students practice listening skills through English songs, videos, English subtitle films to increase enthusiasm and attention but teachers also give culture knowledge in the text for teaching such as English culture, American culture, etc 4.2.2 Recommendations for students It is vital for students to improve their vocabulary, especially specialized words, and always review them to remember and understand their use clearly The more listening practice, the more students' vocabulary will increase Not only through listening channel, but reading is also a channel that helps students gather a considerable amount of vocabulary and a huge amount of knowledge Students should read books, articles and practice listening to many daily topics, note down new words, and review them regularly Combining the practice of all skills at the same time, students will see a significant improvement in vocabulary memorization For instance, when reading an article on how to prepare a delicious dish, students write down how 28 28 28 28 to make that dish by themselves, and speak to their friends So that topic has been practiced many times, helps students are familiar with and memorize vocabulary in this topic In addition, they ought to practice the pronunciation exactly, know how to distinguish homonyms, local accents, etc Students should practice swallowing sounds, stressing words, stressing sentences properly so that when they hear native speakers swallow sounds, they can still understand because they are familiar with this way of speaking It is the best way for them to regularly listen to documents from text books of Cambridge, Collins as well as listen from easy level to difficult level After listening, they should open the transcript to read and listen again, write sentences containing the main content of the listening task In addition, students should practice listening to conversations of people from other countries, each with their own accent and students can get used to many accents Students can learn to listen to English through videos, songs, or English subtitle films on Youtube every day Some standard voice listening resources that students can refer to such as CNN, BBC, VOA, TED Talk, etc These news channels not only help students improve their English listening skills but also help them expand their knowledge, earning a huge amount of vocabulary in all fields At the same time, students have better improve their ability to grasp main ideas, keywords Students not pay too much attention to having to understand the entire content of the listening Ignore the parts students cannot hear and keep listening to the next parts Paying too much attention to inaudible words wastes student time and misses important information behind 29 29 29 29 While listening, the best plan would be to make an effort to concentrate on the lesson and keep the mind comfortably and confidently In particular, they ought to take a short rest about 15 minutes after each long listening exercise It would be best to try to practice some skills at the same time such as speaking, reading, etc For example, listen and write sentences that students listen to or speak the main ideas of listening lessons If students find it difficult at first to practice listening because they cannot keep up with the speaker's speed, choose from the simplest listening files, then increase the difficulty and speed over time To listen carefully to each sound that is being played, students can rewind or slow down the listening to speed 0.75 or 0.5 One more advance for students to improve their listening skills is try to interact with native speakers Students should join some English clubs, or find partner by themselves There are many foreigners living in central areas of Hanoi such as Hoan Kiem Lake and West Lake They are very willing to help students who are eager to learn This is a great opportunity for students to practice not only their English listening skills but also improve their speaking skills and expand their understanding Talking directly with foreigners also helps to reduce the objective difficulties of listening practice such as poor sound quality and poor radio speaker quality 4.3 Suggestions for further research and final comments As the scope and duration of the research are limited, the topic is not yet able to fully exploit all aspects of the problem So, here are some research proposals for future topics to dig deeper into this issue and the reader will have more insight into listening English In the future, there will be topics that will enrich the subject such as difficulties in 30 English listening, communication, etc Besides, some other 30 30 30 research instrument such as observations should be added to ensure the validity and reliability of the data Besides the solutions to improve listening skills, there are still a lot of other aspects such as how to improve communication skills; how to use grammar and lexis effectively when listening to English, etc These issues are suggested for further studies CONCLUSION To sum up, the main aim of this study is to find solutions to improve listening skills for freshmen at English Faculty of Thuongmai University Based on the difficulties students face, the researcher offers corresponding solutions Students should maintain the habit of daily listening practice, and find for themselves the appropriate and effective learning methods At the same time, students need to improve their vocabulary regularly and improve their pronunciation Listening is an important skill for English learners, especially in the period of international integration Attentive listeners are usually good learners Many students believe they are good listeners, unfortunately they not fully appreciate the difference between hearing and listening Attentive listeners not only hear, they effectively process the information presented to them In this graduation paper, due to the researcher’s limitation of time knowledge and many other factors, it can cover the scope to improve listening skills only Hopefully, in my next research I can broaden my knowledge to deal with many further problems related not only to Listening skills but also other skills such as writing, speaking and so on Finally I hope that my graduation paper might be somehow an encouragement for anyone interested in listening skills 31 31 31 31 REFERENCES Duong Thi Anh, (2013), Nghiên cứu đánh giá lực Nghe tiếng Anh sinh viên khối ngành không chuyên Anh Trường Đại H ọc Ph ương Đông Vu Thi Phuong Anh (2018), Khung trình độ chung châu âu (Common European Framework) việc nâng cao hiệu đào tạo tiếng Anh tr ường Đại học quốc gia-Hồ Chí Minh –Journal of Science and Technology Development Dolores Ramirez Verdugo and Isabel Alonso Belmonte, Using digital stories to improve listening comprehension with Spanish young learners of English Howwatt, A.& Dakin, J.(1974), Language laboratory materials , ed Idrissova, M., Smagulova, B & Tussupbekova, M., Improving Listening and Speaking Skills in Mixed Level Groups (on the Material of New English File) Karen A (2010), a study on Improving high school English language learners’ second language listening through strategy instruction Do Thi Song Tuyen (2018), Tìm hiểu yếu tố ảnh hưởng đến khả Nghe sinh viên chuyên ngành Hutech 8.http://iteslj.org/Articles/Saricoban-Listening.html? fbclid=IwAR1GkCfH84X6OThdzWQk_leQF1YaBZ8lv7yVNrLwebF90Ef8dRfZe5y vb1U 9.http://digi.library.tu.ac.th/thesis/lg/0367/06CHAPTER_TWO.pdf? fbclid=IwAR1aSJJgIeI_J_ioaRiJVjerrB8FfFJCfdvyWKVk6PArnsh1NbDjy4syO_Q 10.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042815045 280? fbclid=IwAR3DuhkNDh_uoGk6C9TEW9mf4yKJSDsWnLq0lYxJMxntf1XpDYt99p 0ESEw 32 APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE Question 1: How long have you been learning English? A 2-4 years B 5-7 years C 8-10 years D Over 10 years Question 2: Do you think listening skills is an important skill? A Yes B No Question 3: What is your listening ability like? A Very bad B Normal C Good D Very good Question 4: How many hours a day you spend practicing Listening skills? A No practicing B.15 minutes C.30 minutes D.1 hours Question 5: Please assess the impact of the following factors on your listening skills Not very Not influential influential 33 Neutral Influential Strongly influential Pronunciation Influence Level 5 5 Word stress and sentence stress Speaker’s intonation and dialect Liaison and elision The different pronunciation basing on parts of speech Homophone Vocabulary Vocabulary restriction Jargon The forgotten of word meaning Studying Methods Practice time per day Source of listening material Frequency of practice Concentration and ability to grasp ideas Health status Listening experience of capturing key words The reasonable rest when listening Question 6: What you to improve your listening skills?  Watch English movies with bilingual subtitles  Interact with English speakers  Practice listening to English every day  Practice listening to lessons learned in class  Listen to the same content over and over  Take note the new words that appear in the listening and learn by heart  Other: 34 Question 7: What sources you practice listening to English?  Movie  Podcast  The reality TV shows of America  Audiobook  Audio magazines such as CNN, VOA, etc  Other: 35 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Do you think Listening is an important skill? Do you think English skills are difficult to improve? How often you practise listening skills? What difficulties you have to face when listening to English? What you to deal with these difficulties? Have you improved your English listening skills lately? If yes, what solutions have you used? Do you have any suggestions to improve English listening skills for freshmen at English Faculty of Thuongmai University? 36 ... process of preliminary treatment, data cleaning, calibration, I removed the questionnaires that lacked the information and data needed for statistical analysis Finally, I collected 100 responses... current situation of English listening skills of freshmen at English Faculty at Thuongmai University Chapter 4: Recommendations and suggestions This is also an important part It summarizes and recommends... There are a number of pronunciation factors that affect listening skills, such as word stress and sentence stress, peaker’s intonation and dialect, the different pronunciation basing on part of