LISTENING DIFFICULTIES PERCEIVED BY TEACHERS AND STUDENTS IN USING THE NEW ENGLISH TEXTBOOK FOR GRADE 10 AT QUE VO II UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL IN BAC NINH

study listening difficulties perceived by upper-secondary school teachers and students in using the new “Tieng Anh 10” textbook.. Within this purpose the three central objectives were: i

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

Listening has long been considered a difficult and boring subject by many second language learners It takes much time and energy to make progress in this skill For listening teachers, correspondingly, it is a difficult task to get students involved in listening lessons Nonetheless, just as other teachers do, listening teachers should create an interesting and motivating learning environment on one hand; and on the other hand, they must become aware of difficulties and problemsfacing their students, then, select the best techniques to help them

At my upper secondary school, teaching and learning listening is a really new challenging job In addition to the lack of well-equipped facilities, teaching listening methods are quite new and unfamiliar to teachers Since the new English textbook was in use, they have been inexperienced in teaching listening methodology and approaches Another problem is students’ low levels of proficiency in term of vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, skills and so forth It is the reason why students find it difficult and tough to listen to and they are not confident enough to do listening tasks successfully Moreover, learning habits do not help much to improve their listening in classroom The students often get bored, tired and indifferent in listening lessons because of the quality of teacher’s voice and pronunciation, uncreative tasks and activities, topics, and so on In my opinion, there is a must to work out current and potential problems, then, create better suitable teaching methods and strategies that can facilitate the effectiveness of listening lessons

In literature so far, there have been so few studies on the difficulties in teaching and learning listening in a foreign language Moreover, most of researchers have come to an agreement to a list of common problems facing both students and teacher in general On one hand, students’ factors which may influence in their listening are their background knowledge, language items such as vocabulary and pronunciation, and their listening strategies On the other hand, the teacher’s employment of different techniques and methodology has impacts on successful listening lessons Moreover, not many researchers

study listening difficulties perceived by upper-secondary school teachers and students in using the new “Tieng Anh 10” textbook Hence, it is in urgent need of taking a serious look at such issue

1.2 Aims of the study

The new “Ti ng Anh 10” , which deals with the four language skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening, is first introduced Thus, there are a number of problems facing both the teachers and the students The main purpose of the study was to probe difficulties in teaching and learning listening among the teaching staff and the 10th form students at Que Vo II upper-secondary school, in Bac Ninh province Within this purpose the three central objectives were:

(i) To describe the difficulties perceived by the teachers and the 10th -form students when teaching and learning listening skill in the new text book “Ti ng Anh 10”

(ii) To investigate factors affecting the success of this process in listening lessons (iii) To suggest some solutions to stimulate students and give recommendation to improve listening methodology for the teachers at Que Vo II upper-secondary school

1.3 Scope of the study

This minor thesis is conducted at Que Vo II upper-secondary school in order to perceive difficulties in teaching and learning listening skills of both teachers and 10th form students The study focuses on describing the problems and factors causing such challenges, for instance, facilities, students’ English listening proficiency, and teachers’ methodology To go ahead, the thesis also offers some appropriate suggestions to better the current context

1.4 Methodology

The research is done by both quantitative and qualitative methods; it is carried out

on the basic of situation analysis, material collection, survey questionnaires, class observations and follow-up interviews

In the first place, situation analysis has a look at the background to the study including the description of the current context at Que Vo II upper-secondary school and listening skill in the new textbook “Ti ng Anh 10” Secondly, for the theoretical basis, a lot

of reference materials on listening teaching methodology and problems have been

gathered, analyzed and synthesized thoroughly with the due consideration for teacher’s teaching and students’ learning situations

Eventually, for the practical basis, questionnaires, class observations, follow-up interviews were carried out with the teachers and students to gather the most reliable data for analysis to find answers to the research questions mentioned above

1.5 Design of the study

This study is divided into four main chapters in order to get better insights into different aspects of the problems

Chapter 1 presents reasons for choosing the topic, aims, scopes, methodology and overview of the thesis design

Chapter 2 consists of three sub-parts of which the current upper-secondary school context in general and in particular is first presented Two other parts deal with introduction of the new “Ti ng Anh 10” textbook and literature review of listening skills and teaching listening approaches

In chapter 3, the methodology underlying the research and descriptions of data analysis are presented In terms of methodology, the background information of the research questions, the subjects, the data collection instruments, and data collection procedure are discussed More importantly, data analysis provides specific explanations, interpretation and the findings of the study

Chapter 4, Conclusion and Implication, summarizes the major findings and offers personal recommendations for such currents problems in teaching and learning listening skill at Que Vo II upper-secondary school Limitation and suggestions for further research are also discussed

CHAPTER 2 CURRENT UPPER-SECONDARY SCHOOL CONTEXT AND INTRODUCTION

OF THE NEW “”TIENG ANH 10” TEXTBOOK

2.1 The current upper-secondary school context

2.1.1 The general context in Vietnam

English has become a part of upper-secondary school curriculum since 1980s when Vietnam carried out its economic policy reformation emphasizing the open market economy, integration, and globalization However, a more than two-decade history of English teaching and studying seems not to make much progress in using English to communicate practically and efficiently The effectiveness of English language learning is very low with the outcome that the students are unable to use English for communicative purposes

For the last few years, English has been taught and studied more intensively and extensively The situation, reported by Ministry of Education and Training, Secondary Division (2006: 95) is quite optimistic that the ratio of upper-secondary students learning English counts for 98.5% Actually, this figure only shows the increasing needs of English

in our society, not the levels of real teaching and learning qualities at schools It is a matter

of fact to discuss herein some controversial problems of the upper-secondary school context in Vietnam concerned with English learning and teaching conditions

2.1.1.1 Teachers

To start with, the teachers’ qualification and proficiency are unequal According to the researches of Ministry of Education and Training (2006: 97, 98), the ratio of regular teachers who officially graduated from Universities of Education, English Department is very low A small number of those graduated from Vietnam National University, College

of Foreign Languages, English Department Many others received in-service training or regular training at other local or provincial universities and colleges This can be an excuse for shortage of a skillful and professional staff in terms of language knowledge and methodology

Moreover, the researches of Ministry of Education and Training (2006: 98) also point out that the percentage of teachers experiencing in teaching English for 15 years or

more is rather high In other words, the age gap is another matter of discussion Consequently, their proficiency of language theory and communicative skills is remarkably low In fact, teachers of English have few opportunities or even no to communicate in person with foreigners or native speakers at schools This discourages their motivation, regardless of age and background knowledge, to practice communicative skills and to update modern technologies in language teaching

Noticeably, many teachers have hardly attended training programmes or professional workshops given by the national or provincial trainers Frankly speaking, most of them have no opportunities to get acquainted with reformation of new language teaching methods and approaches Hence, they do not acknowledge the communicative language teaching or learner-centered approaches in theory and in practice at all In addition, few of teachers have a chance to study abroad and enjoy various English teaching experiences in person These facts result in ineffective and theoretical outcome which is backward and no longer meet the demand of the development, the integration and globalization of our country in the modern time

2.1.1.2 Students

In Vietnam, the upper-secondary school curriculum, textbook and reformation of language teaching are all prescribed and administrated by the Ministry of Education and Training Although English has been popularized at every lower and upper-secondary school in Vietnam, students’ English competence is very low It can be due to the lack of native speaking environment which discourages students’ interests Another reason results from their attitudes to importance of other subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, literature, and so forth As the result, upper-secondary students are merely able

to acquire a limited basic knowledge of English in terms of vocabulary and grammar structures, except for pronunciation, intonation or communicative skills like speaking or listening In short, upper-secondary students’ language background, including those studying at normal and gifted schools, is at elementary level after graduation

In general, Vietnamese upper-secondary students’ motivation is not highly appreciated There is a big gap between urban and rural students in terms of ambition to acquire English language Although many students are aware of the importance and necessity of learning English, they hesitate to speak English in real-life communication or even at school This can be influenced by their introvert characteristics

Methodologically, traditional grammar-translation approach is dominant at schools rather than communicative language teaching approach In other words, it emphasizes students’ language competence; meanwhile CLT approach is interested in developing students’ communicative ability Thus, it has bad impact on students’ passive and dependent learning method and awareness They are confused and strange to new communicative activities such as pair work, group work, discussion, and so on

Another disadvantage facing students at almost upper-secondary schools is the lack

of actual native learning environment Students have no chance to interact with English foreigners at schools, except for some urban schools Understandably, they have neither motivation nor experience in communicating or using English in actual situation

2.1.1.3 Facilities

Obviously, facilities are in urgent need to adapt with new language teaching approaches In other words, physical settings of the current upper-secondary schools come

up for discussion First of all, an average class size of forty-five to fifty students is too big

to carry out communicative language teaching approaches Consequently, teachers get in troubles with class management and organization if they want to apply group work or pair work activities, for example Secondly, traditional desk arrangement does not encourage communicative interaction between teacher and students as well as among students It constrains students’ motivation, comfort and creativeness and dynamic to master language comprehension and skills Thirdly, unclear sounds resulting from poor-quality equipment can interfere with students’ comprehension Indeed, noise, including both background noises on the recording and environmental ones, can take students’ mind off the content of listening passage To be worse, the lack of appropriate equipment and language teaching aids is universal and controversial in Vietnam According to the research of Ministry of Education and Training (2006:105, 106) among investigated upper-secondary schools all over in Vietnam, the number of tapes and cassette players, overhead projectors, CD players, visual aids such as pictures, teacher cards is countable It is undeniable that modern technology encourages much any aspects of language teaching and learning However, little technology support is given appropriately and evenly among different parts

of the country Moreover, many of such limited devices are misspent because no one takes advantage of them Finally, reference books for teachers and students, including supplementary exercises, methodology or training books, dictionaries, magazine or

newspapers in English, tapes and recorders and so on, are hardly available in every secondary school Frankly speaking, there is also a big gap among urban, rural and mountainous schools in Vietnam regarding facility investment and potentiality of practical use

upper-In short, well-equipped conditions, especially modern technology, encourage much

of language teaching and learning effectiveness Vice versa, unfulfilled facility also has bad impacts on making progress in this issue

2.1.1.4 Textbooks

English was officially introduced as a subject of secondary school curriculum in Vietnam in the late 1980s, Since then, two series of English textbooks have been taught simultaneously at upper-secondary schools The three-year English textbook, “B sách h

3 n m” (from grade 10 to grade 12), by ng Tr n C ng, Nguy n M Dung, Ph m Kh i Hoàn, Lê c Nhu n, and Hoàng V n Sít, was introduced since 1980s The seven-year English student’s book, “B sách h 7 n m (from grade 6 to grade 12), was compiled by

T Anh, Phan Hà and May Vi Ph ng

In the first place, though the two series of textbooks are designed based on different approaches they share several similarities Firstly, those textbooks are dominated by integrate approach between language knowledge, especially grammar and vocabulary, and language skills, i.e speaking, listening, writing, and reading It is a matter of fact that there

no distinctive focus on certain language knowledge or language skills Secondly, they attempt to teach only target upper-secondary students Finally, there is no English pronunciation or phonetics or intonation section which is very important to practice the real language

In the second place, the two textbooks differ distinctively In terms of target students’ levels of proficiency, the three-year English student’s book, “B sách h 3 n m”,

is appropriate to those who start learning English at grade 10 Meanwhile, the seven-year English one, “B sách h 7 n m”, is used by students experiencing in English from grade

6 Therefore, the contents and the levels of difficulties are completely differential In respect of methodology, the three-year English student’s book is dominated by Situational approach which focuses on pieces of situational communication language, especially speaking skills In contrast, the seven-year English student’s book is influenced by

Traditional Grammar-Translation approach In other words, this series of textbook focuses

on teaching reading skills, vocabulary and grammar structures

Although, the two series of textbooks have had remarkable contributions to English teaching and learning at Vietnam upper-secondary schools over more than two decades, they have become outdated as the modern language teaching requires more communicative approaches

In addition to those textbooks, there have recently been also some other pilot textbooks which are implemented in certain upper-secondary schools in Vietnam However, they were no longer popularized as the standard textbook for upper-secondary curriculum like the new

The new “Ti ng Anh 10” is a great improvement over the previous ones in terms of methodology, input and presentation It is designed to provide a comprehensive course for senior secondary students who have completed the new series of English from “Ti ng Anh 6” to “Ti ng Anh 9” With its much strength, it is expected that the new textbook will contribute to better quality of English language learning at the Vietnamese upper-secondary school In terms of curriculum development, the introduction of the new textbook can be a new fresh air current blown into the teaching-learning situation at upper-secondary school in Vietnam

From my point of view, textbooks have important role in foreign language education However, teachers and influence on textbooks and the use of textbooks are also significant As a result, students’ language learning and percipience or achievements are significant, too Challenges in implementing the new textbook are not small, facing both teachers and students It is a matter of fact that low quality of teachers (regarding both methodology and experience in language skills teaching), and students naturally leads to low quality of teaching and of learning

2.1.2 The current context at Que Vo II upper-secondary school

Students at Que Vo II upper-secondary school are sixteen years old and have experienced in English, including listening skill, for four years at lower-upper schools Nevertheless, they basically are beginners of English Moreover, they do not have clear determination on English learning goals Thus, they are likely to be motivated or demotivated easily This matter of fact should be taken into account in using teaching methods and approaches in order to foster and develop their listening skills efficiently

General speaking, the class size of an average of 45 students is big and inconvenient enough The desks are arranged traditionally with rows of four desks There

is a narrow isle in the middle and two narrower on the sides There is no other empty space left where teachers and students move to and fro if they conduct different interaction and activities In addition, noise in a big class is inevitable which badly affect student concentration and sound quality Moreover, the class is not equipped with any necessary facilities such as tapes, cassette players, speakers, television, CDs and over head projectors, except for a board, chalks, pictures or other visual aids designed by teachers themselves

The teachers all graduated form Vietnam National University, college of foreign languages, English department A majority of them are young and novice teachers In general, these teachers are well-qualified in terms of their proficiency in English and knowledge; however, they lack teaching experience, particularly teaching English skills Some of them have had opportunities to attend some short in-service workshops run by either local or expatriate trainers

Since the new textbook was introduced, few of them have been lucky enough to attend the national or provincial textbook introduction workshops or training programmes

to get the ideas about the textbook and new teaching methodology Unfortunately, facility condition at Que Vo II upper-secondary school can not employ a cascade training model for those who did not have opportunities to attend the national or provincial workshops Such teachers have to do observation at some classes and improve themselves theoretically

2.2 Overview of the new “English 10” textbook

2.2.1 General description

The new “Ti ng Anh 10” is the fifth volume which succeeds a new series of English textbook for grade 6 to grade 9 Unlike the old textbooks where language input was presented in terms of linguistic structures which were then mechanically practiced through a series of rule-focused exercises, the new “Ti ng Anh 10” is underpinned by a theme-based approach to the introduction of language input Lessons are arranged according to topics which are true to life, and familiar with upper-secondary students This

is an important advantage of the textbook as it is relevant to the students’ needs, and thereby arousing their interests The purpose underlying in the textbook is to develop

students’ communicative language skills including listening, speaking, reading, and writing via different interesting and well-designed units The innovation of the new “Ti ng Anh 10” is supported by what Cunningsworth (1995:86) says about a good textbook: “A study

of a language solely as an abstract system would not equip learners to use it in the real world Course books must and do represent language as it is actually used and they contain subject matters and deal with topics of various kinds”

The new “Ti ng Anh 10” consists of sixteen units; each unit presents a theme which is updated and relevant to many aspects of the daily life: school talks, people’s background, technology, mass media, community, national parks, music, films and cinema, the world cup, and so on Those themes are represented via five sections: reading, speaking, writing, listening and language focus respectively Such division aims to improve students’ communicative skills and systematize important linguistic components

Reading is selected as the first section in every unit on purpose Via the reading text and tasks which focus on developing different reading skills, it is useful to stimulate and familiarize students with the theme and relevant information and language items Teaching procedure of reading, speaking, listening, and writing sections is divided into three stages to achieve different language skills or knowledge on purpose This refers to the domination of communicative approach and characterized features of the new textbook

2.2.2 Distinctiveness of the new textbook compared to the old one

2.2.2.1 Objectives and approaches to the textbook development

English curriculum at secondary school is designed based on communicative approach driving at developing and consolidating communicative skills like speaking, listening, reading and writing Of which, phonetics, vocabulary and grammatical structures are the essential instruments Also, the combination of textbook, reference books and teaching facility (tapes and recorder, CDs, television, computer, projector and so forth) play an important and oriented role in language teaching and learning

The objectives of the new “Ti ng Anh 10” are specified as follows:

• Getting an overview of English speaking countries, people, and cultures, conserving and developing our national traditions and cultural identity

Specific objectives: 10th form students have to achieve certain goals of each language skills underpinning in the textbook

• Listening: comprehending main and specific information of the text or dialogue; improving basic listening skills

• Speaking: asking-answering, presenting the topics given; using daily communication species: asking and giving opinions, instructions, asking directions, and so on

• Reading: comprehending texts via practicing different reading skills: skimming, scanning,…; enriching vocabulary and structures

• Writing: writing short compositions and forms

Form my perspective, the objectives of the new “Ti ng Anh 10” are concret, relevant, practical and appropriate to the upper-secondary school context in Vietnam Overall, the ultimate goal of English language teaching is to enable student to acquire target language knowledge and communicative skills in practice In brief, the objectives set

in the new “Ti ng Anh 10” by the textbook writers are aligned with world tendency of English language teaching

As far as the researcher concerned, a theme-based approach is used in compiling with the new English textbook “Ti ng Anh 10” It differs from a structural approach to the development of the old textbooks in which structures were selected, presented and graded, and the students practiced via doing a great deal of meaningless and uncommunicative drill

By employing the theme-based approach, textbook writers select various topics which are suitable and adaptable to students’ age, interests and experience of life The advantage of this approach to textbook development is to motivate students; and the themes can be splits into a variety of topics which can both attract students and be recycled

or expanded at a high level, guaranteeing the systematicity of the content

2.2.2.2 Teaching approaches of the new “English 10” textbook

The new “Ti ng Anh 10” is a departure from the old Methodologically, the new textbook is a change from the old structural, grammar-translation methods with a greater

emphasis on students’ communicative ability This chance is needed, but it is also “a disruptive and threatening process” (Hutchinson and Hutchinson 1996: 316)

The textbook writers utilized more communicative and learner-centered approaches, an emphasis on oral and aural skills, and language for practical use Communicative language teaching has been dominant in language teaching all over the world and it is also suitable to needs of Vietnamese traditional economy and integration into the world communicative According to Nunan’s (1989: 194), “communicative language teaching views language as a system for the expression of meaning Activities involve oral communicative, carrying out meaning tasks and the needs of the learners Objectives reflect the needs of the learners; they include functional skill as well as linguistic objectives The learners’ role is as a negotiator and integrator The teachers’ role

is as a facilitator of the communicative process Materials promote communicative language use; they are task-based and authentic

Frankly speaking, although communicative language teaching is by no means new

to Vietnamese language teachers, this approach to language teaching has been controversial and teachers were not sufficiently trained to use the approach Teaching communicative English requires teachers to have corresponding language-using and language-teaching skills

In a student-centered approach to teaching, teacher and student roles are redefined The teacher becomes a facilitator of learning instead of a dispenser of knowledge, and the students take more responsibility for their own learning Teachers center their planning, their teaching, and their assessment on the needs and abilities of our students The main idea behind the practice is that learning is most meaningful when topics are relevant to the students’ lives, needs, and interests and when the students themselves are actively engaged

in creating, understanding, and connecting to knowledge (McCombs and Whistler, 1997) Students will have a higher motivation to learn when they feel they have a real stake in their own learning Instead of the teacher being the sole, infallible source of information, then, the teacher shares control of the classroom and students are allowed to explore, experiment, and discover on their own The students are not just memorizing information, but they are allowed to work with and use the information alone or with peers Their diverse thoughts and perspectives are a necessary input to every class The students are given choices and are included in the decision-making processes of the classroom The

focus in these classrooms is on options, rather than uniformity Essentially, "learners are treated as co-creators in the learning process, as individuals with ideas and issues that deserve attention and consideration" (McCombs and Whistler, 1997) (www Wcer.wisc.edu/step/ep301/Fall2000/ ochonites/stu_cen.html)

This approach has distinctive advantage over the teacher-centered component involved traditional instructions where the teacher lectured, used the textbook, and promoted discussion The student-centered instruction was non-traditional instruction where the students worked independently and in-groups on specific assignments They discussed lessons in the text by focusing upon “real world” applications The teacher used visuals, field trips, guest speakers, and current events to teach the lessons The role of the teacher was to monitor the students and give advice or ideas so that they may draw conclusions and solutions independently or cooperatively

In short, a communication-based and learner-centered textbook like Ti ng Anh 10” requires teachers to develop new skills and classroom techniques related to the new methodology underpinning the new textbook When lessons are expected to provide a genuine means of communication using all the four skills, as well as a means of comprehending how the language works, teachers need to learn new teaching skills and to improve their ability to use English for pedagogical purposes

2.2.2.3 Learner-centered activities

One of the distinctive features of the new textbook compared to the old ones is the employment of learner-centered activities Undeniably, learner-centered activities such as group work or teamwork and pair work familiarize students with a language and make them more self-motivated and creative to achieve target language items and skills Once students find themselves on their own initiative in language classroom, they feel more comfortable and enjoyable; then, they are better motivated to learn

Thank to employment of learner-centered approach, teachers and students’ roles in the language classroom change dramatically Teachers play roles as instructors, consultants, assistants and organizer to motivate students’ activities more effective and naturally

As far as concerned, the new standard textbook designs all activities underpinned

by task-based approach with clear instruction This brings a lot of advantages to both teachers and students First, task-based method helps to create native-like communicative

situations; then, students make use of their linguistic knowledge and skills in practice Second, it eases teachers of methodological burden; especially those are in rural or remote areas and in deficient in necessary facilities and modern methodology in language teaching The new “Ti ng Anh 10” focus on students’ interaction and improve language skills such as writing, listening, speaking and reading Therefore, students are involved in diversified and flexible activities: individuals, pair works, group works, and interaction with teachers, or the class on the whole Methodologists believe multiform learner-centered activities, together with convenient learning conditions and students’ strong motivation are the decisive factors affecting the success in language learning

2.3 Listening skills in the textbook

Listening is the abilities to identify and understand what others are saying This involves understanding a speaker’s accent or pronunciation, his grammar and his vocabulary, and grasping his meaning (Goh, 2002) An able listener is capable of doing these four things simultaneously Hence, listening is an important skill and probably the most difficult one

Traditionally, listening passages and methodology was not the matter of universal interest in English curriculum at upper-secondary school Listening did not make up any part of a unit procedure and testing as well The only means of listening was that the teacher or students read the texts, questions and answered Even through this language skill was mentions teachers seemed to ignore and made no effort to improve it

In contrast, the new “Ti ng Anh 10” fosters to develop language skills, including listening comprehension Indeed, listening lessons make up 20 % of 86 periods of the English syllabus Noticeably, each lesson is divided into stages: pre-listening, while-listening and post-listening in order to obtain certain languages comprehension or skills

2.3.1 Stages of teaching listening skills

Listening lessons attempt to develop students listening skills such as intensive and extensive listening Procedure of a listening lesson consists of three stages: pre-listening, while-listening and post-listening

Pre-listening stage prepares students by getting them to think about the topic or situation before they listen to the texts In other words, it gives students a purpose to listen

It also gets students to relate to what they already know about the topic and not least important arouse their interests in listening

There are certain goals that should be achieved before students attempt to listen to any text They are motivation, contextualization, and preparation Regarding students’ motivation, the teachers should select a text and tasks arousing students’ interest and curiosity Contextualization, in addition, is concerned with natural environment that gives

us a huge amount of information about the linguistic content we are likely to hear Listening to a tape recording in a classroom is very unnatural process Therefore, the teachers need to design tasks that will help students to contextualization the listening and access their existing knowledge and expectations to help them understand the text which has been taken from its original environment Moreover, preparation is one of necessary process in pre-listening stage It is vital to cover specific vocabulary or expression that student will need before they start listening as we challenge within the lesson to be act of listening not of understanding what they have to do

While-listening stage gives students a guide or framework to practice listening In other words, it helps students to listen better, more accurately, thoroughly through carefully designed comprehension tasks When we listen to something in our everyday lives we do so for a reason Students too need a reason to listen that will focus their attention Ideally, the listening tasks that are designed should guide them through the text

It is a must that teachers provide useful techniques to facilitate students’ comprehension The following techniques include giving clear instructions, playing tapes on purposes, classifying levels of difficulty of task form easier to more complicated, and so on

Post-listening stage is like the follow-up stage After students have practiced the target skill in the while-listening stage, they do an extension This helps them take the information or whatever they have produced in the previous stage, and do other meaningful activities

There are two common forms that post-listening tasks can take They are reactions

to the content of the text, and analysis of the linguistic features Therefore, the students can use language naturally in target situations Also, they acquire more deeply the language knowledge (words, forms, and structures) and develop an understanding of the text much easier

2.3.2 Listening skills, tasks and activities

In an analytic approach to teaching, the teacher systematically spends time on the component skill that make up the overall ability In teaching listening, the teacher will

identify the component skills of discriminating sounds, recognizing words and so on, and design specific tasks and activites that include the use of such skills

In the new “Ti ng Anh 10”, different listening skills are utilized depending on what

to listen for Listening for general understanding, listening for specific or detailed information, predicting, guessing and interpreting are several typical examples Listening tasks are various and flexible based on linguistic difficulty level, topics and students’ interest For example, with topic ‘Daily activities’, the writers first provide lively pictures

in an incorrect order so that student have an overview about what they tangibly listen to and how to do Next, though task two requires more detailed information: true or false, they get little trouble in getting the answers thank to previous task Differently, as

“Undersea world” (“Ti ng Anh 10”, unit 9, 2006: 98) is a difficulty topic with complicated words, the tasks do not focus on specific information or linguistic items On the contrary, they help to develop predicting and guessing skills via true or false sentences In other words, students do not concentrate on every sounds or word but general information only

It is important to note that these skills do not represent a sequence Learners do not master one skill and then move on to the next one Rather, all of these skills develop simultaneously as the learner becomes more proficient at listening Therefore, it is important to provide learners with practice in all skills at all levels Therefore, the language teachers have to choose one that is a particular problem for their students and design an activity that will help students develop that listening skill

2.3.3 Approaches and methods of teaching listening

Researches on listening comprehension come up for discussion about two different approaches: the bottom-up and the top-down

The bottom-up approach to listening is to segment the stream of speech into its constituent sounds, then link these together to form words, clauses and sentences and so

on Nevertheless, its inadequacy can be easily demonstrated Take listening part in Unit 8 (“Ti ng Anh 10”, 2006:86) as an illustration Task 1 asks students to listen and decide true and false information given Students had better find out the key words in each sentence then note down or compare familiar sounds or words because they have no idea about Popffere, a town in English, and its changes This approach also suggests that if students are asked to listen and write down as much of the text as they can recall, they generally

remember some bits of the text and forget others By and large, they can not fulfill the tasks if they focus on linguistic items rather than the message or the information

The top-down view of listening is the use of inside the head knowledge, that is, knowledge which is not directly encoded in words While few English learners would have little trouble in comprehending the sounds, words and clauses in the given messages, it is unlikely that they would able to demonstrate comprehension by listening to the text and writing a précis or providing a verbal account However if they are provided with a context for making sense of the text then the task becomes relative simple For example, if students are told that the text is about V n Cao’ life and works (“Ti ng Anh 10”, unit 12, 2006: 126), then the individual constituents are much more readily interpretable, and the task of recalling the information in it is much easier

In effect, the title “Listening to V n Cao’s songs” enables students to bring knowledge form outside the text to the task of interpreting and comprehending the text itself This illustrates an important point: that meaning does not reside exclusively within the words on the tape recorder or on the page It also exists in the head of students or listeners Successful listeners and readers are those who can utilize both “in side the head” knowledge and “outside the head” knowledge to interpret what they hear

In their book on listening, Anderson and Lynch (1988) contrast the bottom-up view

of ‘listener as tape recorder’ with the top-down view of ‘listener as model builder’ The view of listener as recorder suggests that the listener takes in and stores aural message in much the same way as a tape recorder However, research shows that this is not the way that listening words It seems that when we comprehend messages, we store the meaning but not the linguistic forms The alternative to the listener as tape recorder view, that of listener as active model builder, accords a much more active role to listeners as they construct an interpretation of a message by utilizing both bottom-up and top-down knowledge

CHAPTER 3 THE STUDY OF LISTENING DIFFICULTIES IN USING NEW ENGLISH TEXTBOOK FOR GRADE 10 AT QUE VO II UPPER-SECONDARY SCHOOL

3.1.2 Subjects of the study

The sample was drawn from two sources: 86 students in classes 10A3, 10A1, 10A8, and 10A10, and 9 teachers in English teaching staff

The first group involves non-English majors at different classes They are also at different levels of English proficiency All of those have experienced in English for seven years and in listening for 5 years at lower-secondary schools The textbook in use is The new “Ti ng Anh 10”, which is first introduced at my school Also, these subjects are completely taught by Vietnamese teachers of English

The other group includes all 9 teachers of English aged from 24 to 37 years old All

of them have more or fewer opportunities to learn new teaching techniques in English Language Teacher Training Project methodology course Again, it is the first time they work with this new textbook

3.1.3 Data collection instruments

This study employed both the quantitative and qualitative methods which help to provide qualified background data for discovering non-English majors’ motivation to learn English In order to obtain in-depth and rich data, the study used a variety of research instruments and sources of data: questionnaires, interviews and observation

To gain data for the study, two survey questionnaires were administered to the subjects One was designed for non-English majors and the other for the teachers Some open-ended questions were provided so that the respondents had opportunities to share their opinions about items raised in the questionnaires The first questionnaire, consisting

of 14 questions, was delivered to 86 selected students It aimed to elicit the students’ opinion about difficulties in learning listening skills with the focus of their background knowledge, experience, attitudes, interests, and expectations in learning English vs teachers’ teaching methods All the questions were written in Vietnamese to enable the students to understand and to allow their full expression of ideas The second questionnaire

of 16 questions was delivered to the teachers It aimed to draw their perspectives on unsolved problems in teaching listening skills in the new textbook All the questions were written in English Both of two survey questionnaires consisted of three major aspects: facilities, students’ and teachers’ factors which have challenged the success in teaching and learning listening at Que Vo II upper-secondary school for the time being

The interviews help to get better insights into the research question The interview questions, including 14 items, were sorted out based on the survey questionnaires to get more information in details One third of the subjects (both teachers and students) were invited to discuss for further information about the items raised in the questionnaires Their answers were taken down and translated into English

Class observation is specifically constituted to bring about learning, hence, “it is not unreasonable to collect data about what goes on there” (Nunan, 1992:91) In addition to survey questionnaires and interviews, class observation was also applied to clarify and test the validity of information about actual teaching and learning listening context; the challenges in presenting and acquiring English knowledge and skills and communicative activities in listening lessons The observations was carried out in four listening lesson in different classes at Que Vo II upper-secondary school

3.1.4 Procedures

I conducted my study within 6 weeks at the end of the second term in the class 10A3 10A3, 10A1, 10A8, and 10A10 at Que Vo II upper-secondary school, Bac Ninh province where I have been teaching for more than two years Firstly, I designed survey questionnaires and collected all ideas from 100 selected students and 10 teachers in my

teaching staff In fact, only 86 students and 9 teachers supported their feedback when I collected the data Secondly, I interviewed about one third of the subjects (both teachers and students) randomly to collect more data about listening difficulties, factors causing such problems and how to help to motivate listening learning better in the classroom Finally, class observations were employed to reflex the current context at Que Vo II upper-secondary school The data were tape-recorded and transcripted

3.2 Data analysis and findings

This part of the thesis presents and discusses the findings that arise from the specific questions in order to answer the research questions The findings resulted from the analysis of the three sources of collected data: questionnaire, interview and classroom observation

The comments and perceptions made by teachers and students in response to the questionnaires were consolidated and categorized by the researcher The results were subsequently tabulated and converted to percentages for the convenience of analysis Along with interviews, information gained via classroom observations helped to assist interpretation

3.2.1 Questionnaires

3.2.1.1 Teachers and students’ attitudes to listening teaching and learning The very beginning part of the questionnaire focused on finding all information about teachers and students’ viewpoints in listening skill and its importance compared to other skills

First, have a look at the table referring importance of listening skill perceived by teachers

Question 1: Importance of listening skill in comparison with other skills

The data is quite interesting The majority of respondents support that listening and other communicative language skills are equally important This number makes up 78%, meanwhile other 22% agree that listening is less important in school curriculum They explained in their interview that their is no evaluation standard or examination on such skill, therefore, most of the teachers do not take much effort to facilitate their listening lessons like reading, writing or grammar lessons

Question 2: Do your students like listening lessons and learning listening skills?

1 Strongly agree 2 Agree 3 Disagree 4 Strongly disagree 5 Don’t know

They are afraid of listening because they don’t know how

and what to do with listening task

22% 67% 11%

They hate listening because it is too difficult 22% 22% 56%

They are interested because they want to self-listen to

others: news, songs, and so on

67% 22% 11%

Table 2: students’ motivation in teachers’ viewpoints According to the table, the teachers have good understanding about their students Throughout all the listed items, agreements account for from 67% to 89% regarding students’ interest in doing tasks in the textbook and listening for entertainment Teachers also claim that students are afraid of listening because they don’t know how and what to do with listening task (89%) However, a lower percentage of choices agree that their students hate listening because it is too difficult (44%) compared to 56% have opposite idea

Secondly, in students’ opinions, listening is very necessary in school curriculum Although their response for question 3 shows that listening is more difficult than other aspects of English This fact may blames for their limited background knowledge and listening strategies

According to chart 1, their reasons for learning listening is various and surprising

Chart 1: Students’ motivation of learning listening The results of the chart 1 show that the subjects are found to possess such kinds

of motivation: instrumental and integrative In theory, integrative motivation is considered

a key component in assisting language students to develop proficiency in a second language when they become residents in a community where the target language is used in social interactions In contrast, with instrumental motivation, the reasons motivate study a language because it opens up educational and economic opportunities for them

Obviously, the highest percentage refers to the most important reason which is to get good job in the future (100%) However, percentage of the subject possesses instrumental motivation is lower than integrative one in total In details, getting good marks in examination makes up 47%, a compulsory subject 29% and job opportunities in the future 100% Meanwhile, improving listening ability to understand and communicate

in real situations and listening for entertainment account for 60%, 78%, 65% respectively

English is a compulsory subject

To get good job in the future

3.2.1.2 Listening difficulties perceived by students

3.2.1.2.1 Difficulties in general and influent factors

Question 4: Which are the difficulties that you often get when studying listening skill in your class?

know

Cannot understand the listening text and tasks due to lack of

English background knowledge and ability

Get the main ideas but cannot do the tasks or needed

information

Can not listen to the text because the sound is too soft or noise 90% 10%

Have no habit or technique to practice and improve listening

skills

Table 3: Students’ difficulties in general

As can be seen from table 3, most of the subjects cope up with such above difficulties The most important problem involves 90% of the respondents is hardly to listen to the text because the sound is too soft or because of noise This fact results from too big class size of 45 to 50 students and poor-equipped condition According to interviewed students, their teachers’ voice is not loud and attractive enough to listen to in distance They do not hear clear anything, then understand nothing either Coming next is 87% of the subjects who can not understand the listening text and tasks due to lack of English background knowledge and ability Another 72% are aware of importance of listening habits and techniques which help to learn more effectively This figure is optimistic to improve students’ motivation Moreover, a same rate of students (56%) find

challenging to work with listening tasks and available materials In contrast, only 44% can get the main ideas after listening but have no idea about listening focuses and requirements

Apart from that, a number of students do not know how and what to do with listening lessons in deed The most impressive example is that qualification of tasks attracts 44% who did not know whether it is boring or interesting

Question 6: In your opinion, which factors have influenced in students’ motivation and interest in listening lessons?

Table 5: Factors affecting students’ motivations and interests in listening lessons Table 5 reveals a fact that there are many factor can affect students’ motivation and interest In their opinion, listening is very difficult, therefore making progress in this skill demands many aspects of teaching and learning process The most important factor is classroom condition and facilities (100%)

The second is teachers’ methods which provide them instruction or guidance to listen It is the fact that students mostly rely on teachers’ performance in classroom

The third reason is blamed for knowledge of English which directly affects their confidence and activeness in listening lesson Another high percent of students involved is requirement of examinations It is universal and true to any subjects They find less

Agree Disagree Don’t

know

Teachers’ teaching methods: interesting, attractive, easy to

understand

Listening topic and level of difficulties of listening tasks 44% 24% 32%

The design of the listening lessons, tasks and the clarity of

tasks instructions

interested in the design of the textbook because they have no experience in evaluating such issue

3.2.1.2.2 Facilities and classroom conditions

Question 7: In your opinion, is your class suitable for listening lesson?

Table 6: Classroom conditions Question 9 How often does your teachers use these teaching aids?

1 – always 2 - often 3-sometimes 4 – rarely 5 - never

Table 7: The use of teaching aids According to tables 6 and table 7, in addition to poor-equipped conditions, using technology into language teaching and learning is a time-saving and helpful ways to make progress However, the results from table 7 show a dull situation at Vo II school

Agree disagree The class is well-equipped with modern technology or facilities 100% The class size is too large, the students cannot listen well 86% 14% The class is large enough, students can listen well from every place 24% 76%

Textbooks constitute 100% It means that teachers completely rely on this source of materials To some extends, lack of economical support from the school and the government in terms of facility can be an excuse Sometimes, visual aids (pictures, board, diagrams) (54%), handouts (51%) and cassettes and tapes (56%) are employed

However, other modern technologies like computers, televisions, projectors absolutely make no sense

3.2.1.2.3 Teacher’s role and activities in listening lesson

Question 8 Students’ opinions about teacher s roles in listening lessons

Table 8: Teacher’s roles The data shown in the table reveal an amazing fact of current teaching methodology in which teachers play a essencial role 100% the respondants agree that teachers have to be in charge of guiding, giving instruction, designing tasks, and correcting the answers Moreover, they deal with organizing and managing activities 100%) and observing (97%) all together (According to students’ opinion, everything should be under the teachers’ control In other words, they seem not to be aware of the new communicative teaching approaches in which teacher and student roles are redefined The teacher becomes a facilitator of learning instead of a dispenser of knowledge, and the students take more responsibility for their own learning Instead of the teacher being the sole, infallible source of information, then, the teacher shares control of the classroom and students are allowed to explore, experiment, and discover on their own

Guiding and giving instructions of the purposes and how and what to

listen to

100%

Designing tasks and organizing activities in classroom 100%

Correcting listening tasks and discussing with the students 100% Managing and controlling all students tasks and activities in classroom 100%