USING SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS TO IMPROVE EFL STUDENTS’ LISTENING SKILLS

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY LUU THI KHANH VINH USING SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS TO IMPROVE EFL STUDENTS’ LISTENING SKILLS Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Code: 60.14.01.11 MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr NGO DINH PHUONG Nghe An, 2017 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Dr Ngo Dinh Phuong, who directly supported and encouraged me during the preparation of this study I am truly grateful to him for his professional advice, invaluable support and guidance he offered to help me carry out the study I wish to express my sincere thanks to the students of the two classes I worked with in order to gather data for my study I would also like to thank my friends for their friendship and proofreading in the preparation of my thesis Last but not least, I owe special heartfelt appreciation to my parents without whose unceasing support, patience and understanding I could not have been able to complete my study ABSTRACT The main goal in this study is to investigate the current situation teaching and learning listening skill to find out the effects of supplementary materials in improving listening comprehension skill In order to achieve the mentioned goal, the study was carried out among 80 students at Go Cong Polytechnic School The participants have studied the same textbook and 80 students were divided into two groups: control group and treatment group Both groups were asked to complete a pre-test at the beginning of the second semester to test their level of listening Then, both groups were asked to take a post-test at the end of the semester which aimed to see some different results between two groups (treatment group was taught with supplementary materials) The collected data were analyzed according to points of each test, four levels (good, pretty good, average and weak) The research findings indicated that using supplementary materials in listening tasks helped students improve listening comprehension skill in some ways The thesis consists of five chapters Chapter 1, the introduction - gives rationale for the study and sets up the aims, scopes, research questions, significance and organization of the study Chapter provides theoretical background about the important of listening comprehension, definition of supplementary materials and how to develop listening skill And this part will also provide a review in key concepts relating to the research topic as well as the literature in the field Chapter is about methodology, the current situation of teaching and learning listening The research methods which cover interviews (for teachers), survey questionnaires (for students) and class observations, the setting of the study, participants, instruments, and procedures of the research are presented in this chapter Chapter deals with the data results The results obtained are also analyzed and interpreted in this part, so that major findings are revealed and discussed The last chapter, chapter presents a summary of the study, gives recommendations based on the results to make the more effectiveness in using supplementary materials in listening at this case and provides limitations and suggestions for further research TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .i ABSTRACT ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aim of the study .3 1.3 Scope of the study 1.4 Methods of the study .4 1.5 Design of the thesis CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Listening comprehension 2.1.1 Definitions of listening comprehension 2.1.2 Characteristics of listening comprehension 2.1.3 The process of listening comprehension 2.1.4 Types of listening comprehension 11 2.1.5 Potential listening comprehension problems .13 2.1.6 Principle for teaching listening skill 15 2.2 Supplementary materials: 17 2.2.1 Definition of supplementary materials 17 2.2.2 Kinds of supplementary materials 18 2.2.3 How supplementary materials have been used in language teaching .20 2.2.4 Reasons for using supplementary materials in teaching listening skills 21 2.3 How to develop listening skill .22 2.3.1 Common methods of teaching listening .22 2.3.2 Listening strategies 23 2.3.3 Stages of a listening lesson 24 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 28 3.1 Research questions 28 3.2 Participants 28 3.2.1 Students 28 3.2.2 Teachers .29 3.3 Setting of the study 30 3.4 Procedures 30 3.5 Research methods 34 3.5.1 Data collection instrument 35 3.5.2 Procedures of data collection .37 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 38 4.1 The attitudes of teachers and students toward using supplementary materials in listening lessons: 38 4.2 Analysis of the questionnaire results 38 4.2.1 Students’ attitude of listening skills .38 4.2.2 Students’ interest in listening tasks from supplementary materials .39 4.2.3 How often students have listening lessons in classroom 40 4.2.4 The number of listening tasks in the textbook 41 4.2.5 Students’ difficulties in listening lessons 41 4.2.6 The content between supplementary materials and the textbook 43 4.2.7 Some essential characteristics of supplementary materials .43 4.2.8 How to develop listening skills 44 4.3 Tests’ result analysis .45 4.3.1 The pre-test 46 4.3.2 The post-test 48 4.4 Discussion of the main findings 50 4.5 Summary 51 CHAPTER CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 53 5.1 Conclusions 54 5.2 Recommendations in teaching and learning listening skills with supplementary materials 55 5.2.1 Raising awareness of using supplementary materials in listening 56 5.2.2 Raising awareness of top-down and bottom-up strategies 56 REFERENCES 59 APPENDIX A 63 APPENDIX B 65 APPENDIX C 67 APPENDIX D 69 APPENDIX E 71 APPENDIX F 73 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as Foreign Language Ls: Learners L1: First language L2: Second language Ts: Teachers CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale In today’s global world, nobody can deny the importance of English as well as its existence in our daily life since it has become an international language With the help of technology development, English has been playing a key role in many fields such as: medicine, science, tourism, engineering and education, which is the most important area where English is needed In Vietnam, it has become one of the major and compulsory subjects at school and colleges In the light of communicative approach, “communicative competence” is the ultimate aim of foreign language teaching and learning or in other words, it is the “goal” of the teaching and learning process (Richards & Rodgers, 1995:67) In order to obtain the communicative competence, foreign language learners are supposed to focus on all the four skills, namely listening, speaking, reading, and writing Among these four skills, listening is often considered to be the most important skill to be acquired as “in the foreign language environment, the ability to make sense of these messages is often crucial for survival” (Hood, 1994:65) As a result, listening has been paid much attention to by language researchers and teachers According to Saricoban (1991), listening is the ability to identify and understand a speaker’s accent or pronunciation, the grammatical and vocabulary item used and also in grasping the meaning of what the speaker is saying Bulletin (1952) as cited in Saricoban (ibid) stated that listening is one of the “fundamental language skill” and that it is of vital importance that listening be taught for the students in order for them to listen effectively and critically However, listening is often described as the “neglected” (Fauziah, 2000) or “taken for granted” (Anderson and Lynch, 1988) skill as other language skills such as Speaking Reading and Writing are given more emphasized especially in the EFL classroom In the teaching of listening skill, teachers should be able to expose students to be “real-life situations” as they need to teach students to listen with a purpose Besides that, teachers should be able to introduce the students with the processes involved in the listening skills According to Rost (1994), there are two types of processes involved in listening skill; top-down and bottom-up processing Listening is the first prerequisite skill in language learning and learners listen before they are able to speak, read or write a particular language (Bulletin 1952 as cited in Saricoban, 1991) The reason is that a learner has to be familiar with the language before he / she can speak, read or write in the language concerned Listening to a particular language serves as a platform for any learners in mastering any languages It is undoubtedly that in acquiring a language, listening is one that is very significant and crucial skill which a learner has to processes in order to successfully learn the language at hand Rivers & Temperley (1978) believes that listening is “ used nearly twice as much as speaking and four or five times more than reading and writing ” According to Rost (1994), listening “ serves as a basis for the development of other language skills ” In a language classroom this would mean listening skills provide the learner with the grounds to comprehend language learned Rost (ibid) also pointed that “ listening skill is deemed vital in the language classroom as it provides input for the learners ” Through listening, the learners will be able to successfully speak, read and write in the language that they are learning in the classroom Communicative approach to teaching and learning English has been a significant development; at present, it is used worldwide in teaching and learning English, especially, in EFL and ESL situations The aim of 70 APPENDIX A PRE-TEST Time: 25 minutes I Listen to Jan talking to Steve about getting a student travel card Listen and choose the correct answer: (2,5pts) How much is a travel card? A £6 B £16 C £60 Jan will need _ A one photo B two photos C four photos Photos are less expensive _ A in the photographer’s shop B in the library C in the post office For the travel card, Jan must take _ A a letter B her passport C her driving licence Jan can get a travel card from _ A her college B the travel agent’s C the tourist office II Listen Are these statements true or false? Check () the correct answer: (2,5pts) True False Peter has a big breakfast Peter gets to work at 7:00 in the morning Amelia drinks tea with her breakfast Amelia plays video games for half an hour every day 71 Charlie eats a big lunch III Listen to the recording and fill in the blanks with the missing words: (5pts) I remember I was (1) _ the subway, reading a magazine, when suddenly the lights (2) It was really strange Everyone just sat there in (3) Then there was an (4) : “We seem to have lost power, but don’t (5) _, folks It’ll be (6) in a couple of minutes” A couple of minutes! That’s (7) _! Over an hour later, we were still sitting in the train And it was the (8) _ day in New York! When they finally opened the door at the end of the car, we jumped (9) , walked along the tracks, and climbed up on the (10) at the next station - The End - 72 APPENDIX B POST–TEST Time: 25 minutes I Listen Are these statements true or false? Check () the correct answer: (2,5pts) He doesn’t own a car in the U.S She lived in a nicer neighborhood at home than the one she lives in now He bought a lot of clothes before he moved to the U.S She travels by plane a lot in the U.S Public schools in his country are better than those in the U.S II Listen Circle the correct answer to each question: (2,5pts) When does Nate want to go to the movies? A on the weekend B on Friday morning C on Friday night When is the party? A on Saturday night B the weekend after next C on Sunday night When does Jake want to go out with Rachel? A on Friday morning B on Friday night C on the weekend When is the game? A on Sunday night B on Sunday afternoon C on Saturday afternoon When is the movie on TV? A Tuesday night B Thursday night C tonight 73 III Listen to the recording and fill in the blanks with the missing words: (5pts) DO YOU HAVE GOOD CELL PHONE MANNERS? Cell phones are wonderful! You can talk to your friends while you’re watching TV, or when you’re sitting in an Internet café People can (1) _ you with important news all the time But be careful! Sometimes cell phones cause (2) _ for the people around you Here are ten suggestions to help you have a good cell phone manners Always speak (3) on the phone Other people are not interested in your conversation Always set your ring tone at a low level Always move (4) _ from other people when you are making a call Always turn off your phone at the movies, in a (5) , or in class If you can’t turn it off, switch it to vibrate Always stop what you’re doing when you make a call Don’t talk to somebody else, check your mail, or (6) _ the Internet while you’re on your cell phone Never use a phone on a (7) _ bus or train Never make a call while you are (8) Never talk on the phone when you are buying something in a store or checking in at an airport It isn’t (9) _ Never use your phone on an airplane or in a hospital 10 Never choose a really bad (10) _ as your ring tone! - The End - 74 APPENDIX C The Result of Pre-Test Participants A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14 A15 A16 A17 A18 A19 A20 A21 A22 A23 A24 A25 A26 A27 A28 A29 A30 A31 A32 A33 A34 A35 Points 5 6 8 6 4.5 4.5 3.5 4 6 Participants B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 B10 B11 B12 B13 B14 B15 B16 B17 B18 B19 B20 B21 B22 B23 B24 B25 B26 B27 B28 B29 B30 B31 B32 B33 B34 B35 Points 4.5 5 4.5 6 3.5 4.5 6.5 4.5 6 4.5 7 7.5 7 5.5 75 A36 A37 A38 A39 A40 N= 40 Mean 4.5 4.5 ∑ X = 210 6.0 B36 B37 B38 B39 B40 N= 40 Mean 7.5 7.5 ∑ X = 172 5.93 APPENDIX D The Result of Post - Test Participants A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14 A15 A16 A17 Points 7.5 5.5 7.5 5.5 7.5 5.5 7.5 6 Participants B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 B10 B11 B12 B13 B14 B15 B16 B17 Points 5.5 7 7.5 4.5 7.5 9.5 5.5 7.5 5.5 76 A18 A19 A20 A21 A22 A23 A24 A25 A26 A27 A28 A29 A30 A31 A32 A33 A34 A35 A36 A37 A38 A39 A40 N= 40 Mean 4.5 7.5 4.5 9.5 4.5 7.5 5.5 4.5 5.5 ∑ X = 202 5.94 B18 B19 B20 B21 B22 B23 B24 B25 B26 B27 B28 B29 B30 B31 B32 B33 B34 B35 B36 B37 B38 B39 B40 N= 40 Mean APPENDIX E INTERVIEW FOR TEACHERS 4.5 5.5 5.5 6 4.5 7.5 5.5 7.5 7.5 4.5 ∑ X = 154 6.7 77 My name is Luu Thi Khánh Vinh I am conducting a research entitled: “Using supplementary materials to improve EFL students’ listening skills” These questions will be used for investigating the use of supplementary materials in listening of English teachers Your assistance will contribute greatly to the success of my research Thank you very much for your cooperation A Personal information:  Your gender male female  Your age:………………………………………………………………  Your years of teaching English: ……………………………………… B Interview questions: What you think about the ability of your students in listening comprehension? Have you ever used supplementary materials in listening lessons? How often you use supplementary materials in listening lessons? What you think about the role of supplementary materials to help your students improve their listening comprehension? Is it suitable and necessary for your students? What you to stimulate students during listening lessons? What are the challenges teachers may encounter in teaching listening with supplementary materials to the students? Can you give some solutions to overcome these challenges? 78 CÂU HỎI PHỎNG VẤN DÀNH CHO GIÁO VIÊN (Phiên tiếng Việt) A Thơng tin cá nhân:  Giới tính:  Tuổi:  Thời gian giảng dạy Tiếng Anh: B Câu hỏi vấn: Thầy/ Cô đánh khả nghe hiểu học sinh? Thầy/ cô sử dụng tài liệu bổ sung giảng dạy kỹ nghe chưa? Bao lâu lần thầy/cô sử dụng tài liệu bổ sung tiết dạy nghe? Thầy/ nghĩ vai trò tài liệu bổ sung giúp học sinh nâng cao khả nghe hiểu họ? Nó có phù hợp cần thiết cho học sinh thầy/ cơ? Thầy/ làm để gây hứng thú cho học sinh tiết dạy nghe? Theo thầy/ cơ, giáo viên gặp thách thức dạy kỹ nghe có sử dụng tài liệu bổ sung cho học sinh? Thầy/ cô đưa số giải pháp để vượt qua thách thức này? 79 APPENDIX F QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS My name is Luu Thi Khanh Vinh I am doing a research entitled “Using supplementary materials to improve EFL students’ listening skills” This questionnaire will be used for investigating the use of supplementary materials on listening lessons for the first year students at Go Cong Polytechnic School Your assistance in completing this questionnaire is highly appreciated All the information provided by you is reserved for the study purpose, and you can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Thank you very much for your cooperation A Personal information: Please put a tick in the or write the answers briefly for the following information  Class: …………………………………………………………  Years of learning English:……………………………………  Your English listening competence (according to your assessment) Excellent Good Fair Poor B Survey questionnaires: I Please put a tick () in the for the following questions: Do you think listening skill play an important role in English learning? Yes No Does the teacher create an exciting atmosphere before listening? Yes No Besides listening tasks in the textbook, does the teacher provide you with some extra listening tasks from different textbooks? Yes No 80 Are listening tasks from supplementary materials interesting? Yes No Do you think supplemetary materials are necessary in developing listening skill? Yes II Please put a tick () in the No to describe the frequency you use supplementary materials, textbook and some difficulties in listening How often you have a listening lesson in classroom?  always  sometimes  usually  never Does the textbook that you are studying have a lot of listening tasks?  a lot  Not too many  enough  very few What difficulties have you ever had during listening lessons? (You can choose more than one anwser for this question)  lack of vocabulary  feel nervous  have no ideas/opinions  not understand anything  others………………………………………………………………… How often does the teacher use supplemetary materials in listening lessons?  usually  seldom  sometimes  never 10 Are supplementary materials related to the content of your textbook?  a lot  not very much  be related to  not be related to 11 Are you excited to supplementary materials?  Yes  No 81 12 In your opinion, what characteristics supplementary materials need to have? (You can choose more than one anwser for this question)  new  modern  suit for students’ ability  update the progress of science & technology  Others:………………………………………………………………… 13 Do you think it is necessary to use supplementary in English listening lessons?  very necessary  not necessary  necessary  not necessary at all 14 Which method you often use to develop listening skill?  practice at home  go to foreign language center  listen to English news on TV  using supplementary materials  Others:………………………………………………………………… 15 What you hope on teacher in listening lessons?  give clear instructions  listen with qualified sound  listen to popular topics  listen many times  Ý kiến ………………………………………………………………… Thank you for your cooperation! khác: 82 CÂU HỎI KHẢO SÁT DÀNH CHO HỌC SINH (Phiên tiếng Việt) Bản câu hỏi khảo sát thiết kế cho nghiên cứu “Sử dụng tài liệu bổ sung để phát triển kỹ nghe hiểu cho học sinh không chuyên ” Tác giả cảm kích giúp đỡ em việc trả lời câu hỏi sau Tất thông tin cung cấp sử dụng cho mục đích nghiên cứu; mong em trả lời câu hỏi cách xác trung thực Cám ơn hợp tác em! A Thông tin cá nhân: Hãy đánh dấu  vào ô trả lời ngắn gọn thông tin sau  Lớp:  Thời gian học tiếng Anh: ………… năm  Khả nghe tiếng Anh em (tự đánh giá) Xuất sắc Tốt Trung bình Kém B Câu hỏi khảo sát: I Hãy đánh dấu  vào ô để trả lời câu hỏi sau: Em có nghĩ kỹ nghe đóng vai trị quan trọng việc học Tiếng Anh khơng? Có Khơng GV có tạo hứng thú cho em trước nghe khơng? Có Khơng Ngồi nghe chương trình, GV có sử dụng tài liệu bổ sung em nghe khơng? Có Khơng Những nghe từ giáo trình bổ sung có hấp dẫn khơng? Có Khơng 83 Em nghĩ tài liệu bổ sung có cần thiết việc phát triển kỹ nghe không? Có II Hãy đánh dấu  vào Khơng để trả lời giáo trình, mức độ thường xuyên sử dụng tài liệu bổ trợ số khó khăn kỹ nghe Tiếng Anh sau: Bao lâu lần em có tiết nghe lớp?  Luôn  Thỉnh thoảng  Thường xuyên  Không Giáo trình em theo học có nhiều nghe không?  Rất nhiều  Không nhiều  Vừa đủ  Rất Những khó khăn em gặp phải trình nghe gì? (Em chọn nhiều phương án)  Thiếu từ vựng  Khơng có ý tưởng/ ý kiến  Cảm giác lo sợ  Nghe mà không hiểu  Ý kiến khác: ………………………………………………………………… GV có thường xuyên sử dụng tài liệu bổ sung vào tiết dạy nghe không?  Thường xuyên  Hiếm  Thỉnh thoảng  Khơng 10.Tài liệu bổ sung có nội dung liên quan đến giáo trình em học khơng?  Rất nhiều  Khơng nhiều  Có liên quan  Khơng liên quan 11.Em có cảm thấy hứng thú với tài liệu bổ sung không?  Có  Khơng 12.Theo em, tài liệu bổ sung phải đảm bảo u cầu gì? 84 (Em chọn nhiều phương án)  Tính  Tính đại  Phù hợp với trình độ học sinh  Cập nhật tiến khoa học kỹ thuật  Ý kiến khác: ………………………………………………………………… 13.Việc sử dụng tài liệu bổ sung vào tiết nghe có cần thiết không?  Rất cần  Không cần  Cần thiết  Không cần chút 14.Để phát triển kỹ nghe, em thường sử dụng phương pháp nào?  Luyện nghe thêm nhà  Đến trung tâm Anh ngữ  Nghe tin Tiếng Anh ti vi  Sử dụng tài liệu bổ sung  Ý kiến khác: ………………………………………………………………… 15.Em mong muốn giáo viên vào tiết dạy nghe?  Hướng dẫn kỹ trước nghe  Chất lượng âm tốt  Nghe chủ đề quen thuộc  Cho nghe nhiều lần  Ý kiến khác:……………………………………………………………… CẢM ƠN SỰ HỢP TÁC CỦA CÁC EM! ... learning listening skills with supplementary materials 55 5.2.1 Raising awareness of using supplementary materials in listening 56 5.2.2 Raising awareness of top-down and bottom-up strategies... “aid” to vary the activities and tasks to be used in the classroom For all of these reasons, it would be necessary to have a research titled ? ?Using supplementary materials to improve EFL students’. .. students toward using supplementary materials in listening lessons: 38 4.2 Analysis of the questionnaire results 38 4.2.1 Students’ attitude of listening skills .38 4.2.2 Students’