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TABLE OF CONTENTS PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study .2 1.3 Scope of the study 1.4 Methods of the study 1.5 Significance of the study PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 2.1 Introduction of language teaching and learning conditions in QX school 2.1.1 Students 2.1.2 Teachers 2.2 Teaching and learning conditions 2.2.1 Teaching aids 2.2.2 Teaching hours 2.3 Class size 2.3 The new “Tieng Anh 11” textbook .4 2.3.1 Form 11 listening objectives 2.3.2 Listening lessons 2.4 Research questions 2.4.1 Data collection instruments .4 2.4.2 Instrument one: Questionnaires .5 2.5 Questionnaires 2.5.1 Questionnaires for students 2.5.2 Questionnaires for teachers 2.5.3 Results of the interviews 12 2.6 Findings and suggested solutions 13 2.6.1 Findings 13 2.6.1.1 Teachers’ attitudes towards teaching ELS .13 2.6.1.2 Students’ attitudes towards learning ELS 13 2.6.1.3 Students’ difficulties in learning ELS 13 2.6.1.4 Teachers’ difficulties in teaching ELS to grade 11 students 13 2.6.2 Suggested solutions………………………………………………… 14 2.6.2.1 Doing pre-listening activities effectively 14 2.6.2.2 Encouraging students to practice ELS outside the class 15 2.6.2.3 Giving support and encouragement 15 2.6.2.4 Upgrading teaching aids 16 2.6.2.5 Adapting and re-designing the tasks .16 2.6.2.6 Equipping students with listening strategies 16 PART 3: CONCLUSIONS 18 3.1 Summary of the study 18 3.2 Recommendations for further study 18 REFERENCES 19 i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com APPENDICES .I Appendix 1: Questionnaire for students .I Appendix 2: Questionnaire for teachers III Appendix 3: Interview questions for teachers V Appendix 4: Four teachers’ answering interview questions VI LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS QX school ELS QX high school English Listening Skills LIST OF TABLES Tables Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Titles Students’ attitudes towards the importance of listening skills Teachers’ techniques of encouraging students Factors affecting students in learning ELS Students’ suggested techniques to better teaching ELS Teachers’ assessment of listening tasks in “Tieng Anh 11” textbook Teachers’ opinion of students’ attitudes towards listening lessons Difficulties encountered by the teachers The frequency of teachers’ using techniques in a listening lesson Teachers’ suggested solutions to improve listening teaching Pages 7 9 10 11 12 ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study In Vietnam, in the recent years, the teaching and learning of English have been gaining significance firstly because it is an international language; secondly it is also seen as a means to promote mutual understanding and cooperation between Viet Nam and other countries There have been an increasing number of people desiring to know English with the hope of keeping up with the latest modern technology in the world English has now been taught not only at all universities and colleges, but also at almost every senior high school and it is considered as a compulsory subject at secondary schools At QX1 school, where the author studies, English is a compulsory subject in the curriculum and it is considered as a major subject for the high school examination It is taught with the purpose that students have some basic knowledge of English in order to communicate and to use it as a key to science and technology However, there still exist many difficulties facing English language teachers at QX1 school, especially in teaching listening skills to students The teachers of English at QX1 school find it difficult to teach listening lessons successfully 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, it is a difficult task to get students involved in listening lessons At my school, teaching listening is really a problem In addition to the lack of well-equipped facilities, teaching listening methods are not satisfactory Another problem is students’ low level of proficiency in terms 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 listening tasks successfully Moreover, learning habits not help much to improve their listening in classroom All of the above reasons have inspired the author to the research “Some solutions to improve the teaching English listening skill to the 11 th form Students at Quang Xuong High School” with the hope to make a small contribution to the quality of teaching and learning listening skill at QX school LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study Within the framework of a minor thesis, the study is aimed at: - Clarifying the practices of teaching and learning ELS in 11 th form in QX school - Finding out the difficulties teachers and students in 11 th form in QX school have had to undergo - Suggesting some feasible solutions to the teaching of ELS for 11 th form students It may appear contradictory that in the first two concentrations, the study attempts to investigate both teaching and learning of ELS whereas the main topic raised in the title of the study is only about the teaching However, according to Brown (2007), it is not a contradiction “if we look at the teaching process as the facilitation of learning.” 1.3 Scope of the study Learning a second language as a scholar once said “is a long and complex undertaking” Therefore, teachers of a second language certainly have many problems during their teaching In the scope of this research, however, the researcher only has ambition to investigate the difficulties that teachers in QX school have been facing when teaching listening skill for 11 th graders Hopefully, they will have more smooth and successful listening lessons Also, it is not expected that the study can bring solutions to the ELS teaching for students of all levels 1.4 Methods of the study The study is designed to use both qualitative and quantitative methods Besides, many resources such as books, magazines, articles, newspapers and some sources on the Internet have been read by the researcher In order to gain the most reliable results, the quantitative data will be collected through two survey questionnaires One survey questionnaire is for 180 students from four different groups in grade 11 in QX school and the other survey is for 10 teachers The data, then, will be processed and analyzed to yield conclusions for the study Along with the quantitative method, the qualitative data has been obtained by informal interviews with some teachers to collect further information about the real situations of teaching and learning ESL in grade 11 at QX school 1.5 Significance of the study This research provides an insight into the problems that are often met by teachers teaching English for 11th form students in QX school In addition, this LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com research also points out some feasible solutions which are beneficial for both teachers and students Hopefully, the findings and recommendations of this study will be of some help to the improvement of the teaching and learning ELS of Vietnamese students in general and of QX school students in particular The study also gives some guidelines for teachers to help their students overcome their listening comprehension problems The results of this study may also be useful for those who are interested in this field LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART 2: CONTENT OF STUDY 2.1 Introduction of English teaching and learning conditions at QX school 2.1.1 Students The level of English for grade 11 students is targeted at preintermediate level though a few actually reach the standard As their lowersecondary years were spent with the grammar translation method, most students are good at grammar, but bad at listening and speaking the target language They can written exercises on English grammar accurately but they can hardly communicate in English Using English to communicate is a big challenge for most of them who think that learning a foreign language means learning grammatical rules or a list of irregular verbs Students at QX1 school are seventeen years old and have experienced in English, including listening skill for five years at lower-upper schools Nevertheless, they basically are beginners of English They are likely to be motivated or de-motivated 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 2.1.2 Teachers The teachers are the most important factors in the process of teaching and learning a target language To carry out this process properly, the teachers need to have good experience of teaching and understanding of the syllabus At QX school, there are 10 teachers of English and no one has ever been to an English speaking country Methodologically, the teachers at QX school are familiar with traditional language teaching English They lack teaching experience, particularly teaching listening skills 2.2 Teaching and learning conditions 2.2.1 Teaching aids Facilities in QX school are brought into question The classes are not well-equipped with tapes, cassette players, speakers, TVs, CDs or overhead projectors except for a board, chalks, pictures or other visual aids designed by teachers themselves There are two modern classrooms for language teaching and learning equipped with teaching aids such as overhead projectors and the Internet Students only have a chance to use these devices when the teachers present model lessons on special occasions such as Women’s Day and Vietnamese Teacher's Day Therefore, students not have many chances to use both visual and audio aids to practice listening skills often LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 2.2.2 Teaching hours Students in high schools, in general, have three periods of English a week; each period is supposed to deal with one lesson in a unit lasting 45 minutes In QX school all the classes have periods of English per week 2.2.3 Class size The average number of students in a class in QX school ranges from 40 to 50 Students are arranged to sit at desks in four rows, each of which includes - desks of two students 2.3 The new “Tieng Anh 11” textbook The new “Tieng Anh 11” textbook composed by Hoang Van Van (2012) has been in use since 2012 as the official textbook to obtain general English at grade 11 The textbook consists of 10 units in terms of 10 topics There are six parts in each unit represented through lessons: Getting started, Language, Skills, Communication and Culture, Looking back and Project respectively The book adopts two new approaches: learner–centered and communicative aiming at students’ better use of English as a tool of communication at basic level in terms of listening, speaking, reading and writing 2.3.1 Form 11 listening objectives The aim of the course is to equip students with English listening skills for basic communication For 11th form students, the objectives are to develop listening comprehensive skills such as intensive listening, extensive listening, listening for specific information, listening for gist, etc 2.3.2 Research questions In order to find out the problems that the teachers and students of form 11 in teaching and learning ELS, it is necessary to answer the following questions: What is the present situation of teaching and learning ELS at QX school? What difficulties the teachers and the 11th form students encounter in teaching and learning ELS? What are the suggested ways to effectively improve the current situation of teaching and learning ELS at this school? 2.4 Data collection instruments In order to obtain in-depth, rich data and information for investigating the situation and the problems that teachers and students encountered in teaching and learning ELS, the study used two methods of data collection: questionnaires and informal interviews LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 2.4.1 Instrument one: Questionnaires The questionnaire for the students was written in Vietnamese so that they would not misunderstand the questions The questionnaire was designed to investigate the students’ attitudes toward the learning of listening, the difficulties they encounter in learning ELS, and the students’ expectations for better teaching and learning ELS The questionnaire delivered to the teachers was strictly conducted in English It aimed to find out the teachers’ attitudes toward the teaching of listening, the difficulties they encounter in teaching ELS, the teachers’ knowledge of teaching listening and the teachers’ expectations for better teaching and learning ELS Questionnaires for students and teachers both had closed questions After collecting all the questionnaire responses from both teachers and students, the researcher calculated the numbers of responses and the percentages respectively of the questions in each questionnaire 2.4.2 Instrument two: Interviews In order to understand better about the reality of listening teaching and learning and difficulties that teachers had to face with listening lessons, the researcher had unconventional talks with teachers The questions in the interview were basically based on those in the questionnaire in order to find out the real reasons for their answers as well as to understand more about the reality of teaching and learning ELS Hopefully, the results from the interviews would contribute much to finding out the solutions to the improvement 2.5 Questionnaires 2.5.1 Questionnaires for students Question 1: How are English listening skills important to you? No of students Percentage very important 54 30% important 94 48% little important 22 12% not important 18 10% Table 1: Students’ attitudes towards the importance of ELS As shown in table 1, nearly half of the students (48%) thought that listening was important and even 30% revealed that it was a very important skill 12% of participants stated that it was of little importance and the smallest percentage (10%) underestimated the significance of this skill In general, most of the students highly appreciated the importance of English listening skills, especially communication ability However, it seems to be contradictory to the low level of LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com their participation in classroom activities in fact This was also a challenge for both students and teachers to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning ELS at QX school Question 2: How does your teacher encourage you to listen? No of students Percentage by giving good comments 65 36% by giving high marks 72 40% by giving prizes 12 7% doing nothing 31 17% Table 2: Teachers’ techniques of encouraging students Table shows students’ evaluation on teacher’s ways of encouraging students to learn listening skills According to 40% of participants’ responses, their teachers often encouraged them to listen in the class by offering high marks Some students stated that their teachers used good comments (36%) or prizes (7%) to motivate students’ involvement In contrast, 17% thought their teachers did nothing to encourage them It was understandable that most teachers gave their students high marks to stimulate them In addition, teachers should give students good comments to build up the confidence in their own listening ability It is advisable that all teachers should use some ways of encouraging students more often Question 3: What makes it difficult for you to learn ELS? Factors A Teacher’s inappropriate teaching methodology B Boring topics and activities C Lack of motivation D Low level of English proficiency E Lack of background knowledge in listening topics F Large class sizes G Bad quality of cassette tapes and CDs H Speakers’ fast speed I Limited time No 22 10 72 130 110 27 54 50 40 Percentage 12% 6% 40% 72% 61% 15% 30% 28% 22% Table 3: Factors affecting students in learning ELS According to the statistics from table 3, students’ low level of English proficiency was the most important factor of reluctance in listening accounting to 72% 61% of the students stated that they were lack of background knowledge in listening topics while 40% blamed for their lack of motivation And 30% LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com revealed that bad quality of cassette tapes and CDs caused them difficult Besides, some other factors such as speakers’ fast speed, bad quality of cassette tapes, limited time, teachers’ inappropriate teaching methodology, large class sizes, boring topics and activities also accounted for factors affecting students’ learning ELS These four biggest factors should be noticed by all the teachers of English It was high time teachers found solutions to help students overcome their problems and to improve the quality of the teaching aids Only by doing these problems, teachers could involve more students in their listening lessons Question 4: In your opinion, what should teachers to better teaching ELS? Suggested techniques A re-design the listening tasks B help students improve their knowledge of the language and of the world C guide students to listen outside the classroom D teach students listening strategies E exchange experiences and methodology among the English staffs F encourage students to listen by giving evaluation (comments, feedback and marks) G offer students more English songs and games No 45 Percentage 25% 100 56% 45 110 25% 61% 54 30% 77 43% 85 47% Table 4: Students’ suggested techniques to better teaching ELS Table shows the suggestions that students expected their teachers to to increase the involvement 61% of participants highly appreciated teachers’ instructions Next, 56% of students expected that teachers should help them improve their knowledge of the language and of the world 47% desired that teachers would offer them more English songs and games in listening lessons Then teachers are always expected to encourage students to listen by giving evaluation (comments, feedback and marks) according to 77 students (43%) And 30% thought that teachers should exchange experiences and methodology among the staffs Besides, the same number of students (25%) hoped that their teachers re-designed the listening tasks and guided them how to listen effectively outside the classroom Although students really wanted to learn listening skills and they knew its importance, there were only 15-minute listening tests at the school 2.5.2 Questionnaires for teachers The questionnaire was conducted among 10 teachers in QX school All of the participants have been teaching English for more than four years and LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com share the same views towards listening teaching Their ideas are shown clearly in the answers to questions below Question 1: What you think about listening tasks in the textbook? Q1 No - % A Difficult – 43% B Interesting C Suitable –43 % D Boring – 14% Table 5: Teachers’ assessment of listening tasks in the textbook Regarding the textbook “Tieng Anh 11”, nearly half of the teachers (43%) confirmed that the tasks in the textbook were difficult to students The English textbook 11 consisted of 10 topics (see Appendix 5) relating to Gloabal warming, further education, our world heritage sites, etc and the tasks were true or false statements, gap-filling, summarizing main ideas, comprehension questions, multiple-choice questions, filling in the table, listening and numbering pictures The same number (four teachers) thought that the tasks were suitable for students And only two teachers found the tasks boring in terms of authentic materials Surprisingly, none of the teachers stated that listening tasks were interesting The researcher found that listening skills were not only difficult to the students but also to the teachers at the school Question 2: What is your students’ attitude towards listening lessons? A very interested B interested C not very interested D totally ignorant No Percentage 0% 29% 43% 29% Table 6: Teachers’ opinion of students’ attitudes towards listening lessons Table shows that 43% of the teachers thought that their students were not interested during listening lessons 29% stated that students were sometimes interested to learn this skill and the same number (29%) complained that their students were totally ignorant to listen to English The result showed that students had no interests in studying ELS although 78% of the students were aware of the importance of learning this skill This result also matched with students’ opinions of their classmates’ participation during listening lessons In this reality, one could conclude right now that listening teaching at the school needs improvement in order to involve more students in this difficult skill LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Question 3: What are your current problems with teaching ELS? A Students’ low motivation B Students’ low background knowledge relating listening topics C Students’ low level of English proficiency D Large class problems E Lack of necessary facilities (cassette tapes, VCD, CD, Projector…) F Time limitation Rank A B C D E F 1- 14% 1-14% 4-57% 0 1-14% 1-14% 3- 43% 3-43% 0 3-43% 1-14% 3-43% 0 1-14% 2- 29% 2-29% 2-29% 0 0 3-43% 4-57% 1-14% 0 2-29% 2-29% 2-29% Table 7: Difficulties encountered by the teachers According to the data collected, the teachers’ most problematic point is their students’ low level of English proficiency In the reality of teaching English at QX school the researcher found that many students lacked vocabulary and grammatical structures concerning to the listening lessons Teachers ranked their students’ low background knowledge in the second position From the researcher’s own experience, students knew little information of the following topics such as undersea world, historical places, the mass media and technology and you Thus, it was difficult for teachers to exploit their knowledge of these topics before listening The students’ low motivation ranked third The researcher found unexciting atmosphere from many English classes at this school Some students slept, some made noise or did other things Very few students listened to the tape or CDs carefully to fulfill the tasks in the textbook In addition, teachers put large class problems, time limitation, lacking of necessary facilities, in the fourth, fifth and sixth place respectively In my interviews, the teachers said large class was also a barrier to teaching ELS Some of them admitted it was difficult to make sure who was on-task and who was off-task in a large class They also added that in the same class, some students who were good at English were active while others were de-motivated during the lessons Besides, they found it hard to facilitate listening tasks to students of different levels Lack of necessary facilities is also a problem Only overhead projectors are equipped for thirty classes; thus, they are not frequently used for teaching English except for special occasions Other types of teaching aids such as pictures, sub-boards are not equipped The teachers used only textbook, chalk and board in their lessons They said, to make their lessons more interesting, they had to create do-it-yourself aids 10 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Question 4: How often you use these techniques in your listening lessons? Activities - use pair or group work - use English games and songs - give students instructions in English - use different pre-listening activities to warm up - provide support and encouragement to students - encourage students to listen to English outside the classroom - equip your students with necessary strategies in listening comprehension skills - re-design listening tasks to be more suitable to students’ listening levels and interests Very often (%) 29% 57% 43% Ofte Sometime Never n s (%) (%) (%) 43% 29% 0 57% 43% 43% 29% 29% 43% 29% 29% 14% 29% 14% 43% 29% 57% 14% 14% 43% 29% 14% Table 8: The frequency of teachers’ using techniques in a listening lesson Using pair and group work becomes more and more important to the success of a listening lesson Thus, there were a higher percentage of teachers very often or often using pair or group work during their lessons (29% and 43% respectively) The other 29% sometimes used this technique The teachers were not in favor of using English songs which helped students to relax About 57% sometimes allowed students to listen to English songs and 43% never did so Besides, with 45 minutes for each listening lesson, teachers had to try their best to complete all the tasks There was not time to teach students English through songs or games And more than half of the teachers (57%) often gave students instructions in English and 43% sometimes did so It meant that teachers hardly used English instructions during their listening lessons Therefore, this would not improve students’ English listening ability Moreover, not all the teachers used pre-listening activities to warm students up and provided support and encouragement to their students Only 43% did so very often It could be concluded that students were not guided what they were going to listen and which information they had to catch Surprisingly, there was low percentage of teachers who often encouraged students to listen to English outside the classroom Limited time in class could not help students improve such difficult skills Teachers should encourage students to listen more at home to better their listening skills Remarkably, 57% of the teachers stated that they often equipped their students with necessary strategies in listening comprehension skills and 11 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com even 29% did this job very often Furthermore, most of the teachers re-designed listening tasks to be more suitable to students’ Question 5: What should teachers to overcome the difficulties? Solutions A help students improve their knowledge of the language and knowledge of the world B spend time preparing listening lessons more carefully C encourage students to listen outside the classroom D ask for improvement of the teaching and learning conditions E equip students more listening strategies F exchange experiences and methodology among the English staffs G encourage students to listen by giving evaluation (comments, feedback and marks) No Percentage 71% 71% 43% 43% 43% 57% 86% Table 9: Teachers’ suggested solutions to improve listening teaching As can be seen from table 9, most of the teachers (86%) believed that encouraging students to listen by giving evaluation such as comments, feedback and marks is the best option By doing that, teachers could increase students’ motivation to study and make the learners feel more confident Then according to 71%, teachers should help students improve their knowledge of the language and of the world and spend more time preparing their listening lessons carefully as well because interesting lessons would stimulate students’ interests in learning English Besides, some other solutions such as exchanging experiences and methodology among the English staffs, encouraging students to listen outside the classroom, equipping students with listening strategies and asking for improvement of the teaching and learning conditions also accounted for improving teaching ELS 2.5.3 Results of the interviews This interview was carried out within 10 minutes per each teacher Four teachers were interviewed with questions which were chosen after analyzing the data of the survey questionnaires These interview questions would make some aspects of the survey questionnaire data clearer From the results of the four interviews (see appendix 4), all the interviewees were bored with students’ attitudes and low motivation Also, the researcher found that most of the teachers did not have time to run on the part “After you 12 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com listen” in the textbook To solve this problem, they assigned this part to their students as homework Also, all the teachers re-designed the tasks in “While you listen” so that they could be suitable to their students’ level However, because of limited time, they did not re-design very often or they only adapted few activities of the lesson Teachers said that few students paid attention to ELS because of the following reasons: their limited vocabulary, background knowledge and listening ability; they were not familiar with the native speakers’ accent As a result, they caught nothing from the tape which led them to the boredom and disappointment Also, the teachers had to push their students all the time in class; otherwise the lessons couldn’t be finished The time allocation as well as the low English proficiency of the students prevented the teachers from using more communicative activities What the teachers did was to try to finish the lesson Therefore, teachers of English suggested the following techniques to improve teaching ELS: setting the aims of the lesson suitable to students’ level, re-designing the tasks to interest students, and giving many comments and high marks to students In the reality of teaching English at QX1 high school, although the Ministry of Education requires that all the 45-minute tests and tests at the end of each semester have 20 - 25% of the listening skills, testing listening skills could not be carried out Four interviewees admitted that they did not conduct tests on listening The reasons were from the teachers, the students and the lack of facilities at QX1 high school Also, the testing system of the Ministry of Education focused on vocabulary, grammar and reading while the syllabus emphasized communicative skills Although in every English lesson, students were taught reading, speaking, writing, listening, they had to face multiplechoice tests with no speaking and listening elements The characteristics of the testing system discouraged the teachers from teaching ELS 2.6 Findings and suggested solutions 2.6.1 Findings 2.6.1.1 Teachers’ attitudes towards teaching ELS The results from the questionnaires for teachers and students as well as the interviews illustrate vividly the reality of teaching listening to 10 th form students in QX school As can be seen from the results, teachers focus mostly on teaching vocabulary, grammar and reading skills rather than on other skills such as speaking, listening and writing Also, the main purpose of teaching and learning English at the school is for the final exams This certainly affects the students’ listening competence and prevents the improvement of their listening ability Besides, all of the teachers think that the students are not interested in their listening lessons Therefore, looking into the frequency of listening teaching and techniques used in teaching, the researcher admits that it is 13 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com advisable for teachers to invest more time and effort to better their lessons Only in that way can teachers motivate students to learn listening skills 2.6.1.2 Students’ attitudes towards learning ELS As can be seen from the above results, most of the students highly appreciated the importance of English listening skills However, many students did not want to involve in listening lessons About one third of the students thought that the tasks in the textbook were difficult for them 44% stated that 45 minutes for one listening lesson was not enough Therefore, they needed more time to learn this skill 2.6.1.3 Students’ difficulties in learning ELS From the data analysis, it was clear that the students had to face many difficulties such as: their low level of English proficiency, lack of background knowledge relating listening topics, lack of motivation, limited time, speakers’ fast speed, bad quality of cassette tapes and etc The majority of the students had trouble with listening because of their low level of English proficiency Besides, their low background knowledge also made them feel stressed when listening All these reasons led to the fact that many of them said they sometimes did not have enough time to complete listening tasks in class Then students’ low motivation was also a problem Only a small number of the students liked learning English listening skills Besides, their English teachers considered the result of the final exam as the most important element They cared much about teaching vocabulary, grammar, structures and reading skills Obviously, this attitude decreased students’ interest in learning listening 2.6.1.4 Teachers’ difficulties in teaching ELS to 11th form students Not only the students but also the teachers coped with numerous problems when teaching listening The difficulties the teachers at QX school were coping with were the factors from the students such as the low level of English proficiency, low background knowledge relating listening topics and their low motivation The next difficulty was the problem of large class Teachers had to face difficulties in shortening a big gap among their students’ different abilities In the same class, some students who were good at English were active while many others were de-motivated The good ones usually dominated the activities that pair work and group work were needed while the weaker ones were shy and contributed nothing In addition, English classes at the school were very large There were more than 40 students in a class Hence, it was difficult for the teachers to give each of the student individual attention For the next difficulty, teaching equipments and reference materials were important in the teaching process; however, the teaching condition in the school was not good Moreover, there were not available listening materials in the library for students to improve their listening competence The final challenge was the limited time for listening 14 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com lessons According to 71% of the teachers in QX school, the time was too short for listening practices Thus, teachers should encourage students to learn listening by using flexible techniques, exploring internet websites which facilitate listening teaching and learning, and so on With all the difficulties mentioned above, it was necessary to have workable solutions to overcome the existing problems for further improvement of the listening lessons 2.6.2 Suggested solutions As concluded previously, teachers teaching listening should spend more time and effort in order to upgrade their teaching The researcher, in this part, tries to give some suggestions for English teachers at QX1 school to improve their teaching 2.6.2.1 Doing pre-listening activities effectively Because of the low level of English proficiency, lack of background knowledge, students need to be provided necessary words, structures and some information about the topic before listening The activities may include: - Using visual aids such as illustrations, drawings, tables, charts, etc relevant to the topic, - Raising questions to explore the topic, - Discussing the title of the unit, - Brainstorming words, terms, phrases or providing students with new words, terms, phrases they may meet during listening, - Describing pictures given in the textbook or based on them to predict what they are going to listen By doing these activities, teachers not only activate learners’ schemata but also get them to predict and think in the right direction to guess the answers effectively 2.6.2.2 Encouraging students to practice ELS outside the class Listening material is now readily accessible, especially with the developments in technology and media While class time (45 minutes) spent on listening is important, it is not sufficient for developing this difficult language skill However, nearly half of the teachers at QX school (43%) never encouraged students to listen to English outside the classroom So it is essential to assist the students to build up the habit of listening English For example, teachers can ask students to listen to the tape at home before listening in class When listening at home, they have to write down all the words they catch from the tape If teachers so, they can save time in class Moreover, teachers should create language-learning environments that stimulate students’ interests and raise students’ passion and enthusiasm for 15 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com learning English In activities outside the class, students need to be taught many different varieties of language phenomena and more knowledge through TV programs, radio and the Internet Teachers need to select a wide range of materials to increase listening contents besides using the textbooks For example, teachers can start with introducing students interesting English songs, games, and films with English text to motivate their students Since, a game is often considered as the first step to draw students’ attention to an English environment Therefore, games should be used in class more frequently If students are made to take part in games voluntarily, they will become more active and hard-working And music is also useful for teaching English listening skills It is used to soothe and relax the mind Hence, it enables learners to be free from pressure and stress Furthermore, it is not difficult to find them online Teachers can use sites such as http://www.mtv.com/, http://www.songsforteaching.com/ and http://www.music.yahoo.com/ which provide music video in a variety of genres Using the Internet to look for these sources, teachers and students can save time and money In these ways it is possible to raise students’ enthusiasm, cultivate their listening interests, and achieve the goals of learning English 2.6.2.3 Giving support and encouragement From the reality of teaching English listening skills in QX school the researcher finds that anxiety, distress, frustration, resistance, and so forth, might distract learners from learning the English listening skills Hence, it is very important for students to have a good psychological state while listening to build up confidence to overcome difficulties Teachers should encourage students to guess the answers by creating a relaxing atmosphere The purpose of checking the students’ answers should be viewed only as feedback, as a way of letting the students to find out how they did and how they are progressing During the listening lessons teachers should teach students how to listen, not always test students’ listening ability And as the result of the study, teachers should encourage students to listen in class by giving comments, high marks or some small prizes often 2.6.2.4 Upgrading teaching aids In terms of materials and facilities, classroom should be equipped with modern equipments like computers, overhead projectors and the library should be equipped with various listening materials The modern facilities will help the teachers use techniques in the pre- listening stage and correct students’ listening tasks more effectively as well as save a lot of time in writing down everything on the board Equipping the library with various listening materials is not only useful for the students to self-study but also help the teachers to design more interesting lessons Besides, making use of computers with the Internet in the library will be necessary for the teachers to make teaching plans or search for 16 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com listening materials online Finally, other types of teaching aids such as pictures, sub-boards should also be equipped to stimulate the students to go in for listening activities more actively 2.6.2.5 Adapting and re-designing the tasks in the textbook to be more suitable to students Teachers should design the tasks in the textbook which focus on what learners can rather than what they cannot For example, teachers can: - Leave out inappropriate or unnecessary parts of a listening lesson - Skip some activities in order to give time to other more useful activities - Adjust the difficulty level of the tasks to match the students’ abilities - Individualize the listening tasks by giving more competent students more difficult listening tasks and vice versa 2.6.2.6 Equipping students with listening strategies From the reality of teaching English listening skills, the researcher realizes that students should be encouraged to listen for general understanding first rather than trying to pick out details immediately Therefore, students should be guided to use listening strategies effectively such as predicting what a speaker is going to say, getting the general ideas, using signals words to predict what comes next and taking notes while listening and so on To improve the students’ listening strategies, teachers should design some listening activities purposefully in order to lead students to get the information with certain purpose and option, such as listening for time, places, events, names, etc For example, before playing the tape, teachers should ask to read the requirements of the tasks carefully, underline the key words in the sentences/questions and guess what they are going to listen 17 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART 3: CONCLUSIONS 3.1 Conclusion Listening is one of the receptive skills, through which students can gain more vocabulary, grammar structures and knowledge about the world Besides, listening helps students learn other skills Therefore, the importance of listening is undeniable In the process of studying the reality of teaching and learning ELS at QX school, the attitudes of the teachers and students towards teaching and learning ELS, the difficulties facing the teachers and students were studied The results from the research reveal the present teaching and learning listening at QX school is far from satisfaction The students faced four main problems at listening class: the low level of English proficiency, low background knowledge, low motivation, and time limitation Also teachers coped with many problems such as students’ low level of English proficiency, students’ lack of background knowledge, low motivation, time limitation, large and mixed-ability classes as well as lack of necessary facilities In order to improve the situation, an effort should be made to present some useful listening techniques which hopefully can be employed to help the teachers at QX school improve their listening skills teaching 3.2 Recommendations for further study On the basis of findings of the study, the following suggestions are made for further research: - A study on the reality of teaching reading, speaking or writing to QX school students - A study on techniques and activities for QX1 school students which help them improve their listening skills Quang Xuong, 20th May, 2021 THE RECTOR’S CONFIRMATION I am absolutely sure that this study belongs to me, not copying the contents or the study from anyone (Signature and full name) Lê Văn Bằng 18 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com REFERENCES Brown, H Douglas (2007), Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, White Plains, New York Buck, G (2001), Assessing Listening, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Davies P & Pearse E (2000), Success in English Teaching, Oxford University Press, Oxford Freeman, D.L (2000), Technique and Principles in Language Teaching, Oxford University Press, Oxford Hedge, T (2000), Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom, Oxford University Press, Oxford Hess, N (2001), Teaching Large Multi-level Classes, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Hoang Van Van, Phan Ha, Hoang Thi Hong Hai, Hoang Thi Xuan Hoa, Kieu Thi Thu Huong, Vu Thi Lan, Dao Xuan Loc, Chung The Quang, David Kaye (2012), English 11, Education Publishing House, Hanoi Lingzhu, J (2003), Listening Activities for Effective Top-down Processing, The Internet TESL Journal, Vol VI, No 10, October 2000, http://iteslj.org/ Nguyen Thi Anh Tuyet (2007), A study on improving the method of teaching listening skills to non-major students of English at Haiphong foreign language centre, Haiphong University, Department of Graduate Studies (VNU-College of foreign languages), Hanoi 10 Nunan, D (1992), Research Methods in Language Learning, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 11 O’Malley, J.M, Chamot, A.U & Kupper, L (1989), Listening Comprehension Strategies in Second Language Acquisition, Applied Linguistics 10(4),418-437 12 Rixon, S (1986), Developing Listening Skills, Macmillan Publisher Ltd, London 13 Underwood, M (1989), Teaching Listening - Longman handbooks for language teachers, Longman, London 14 Ur, P (1984), Teaching Listening Comprehension, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 15 Ur, P (1991), A Course in Language Teaching, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 16 Vandergrift (1997a) Listening: Theory and Practice in Modern Foreign Language Competence, http://www.lang.ltsn.ac.uk/resources/ref6#ref6 17 White, G (1998), Listening, Oxford University Press, Oxford 18 http:// www.mtv.com/ 19 http:// www.songsforteaching.com/ 20 http:// www.music.yahoo.com/ 19 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS (Vietnamese version) Mục đích câu hỏi điều tra thiết kế nhằm tìm hiểu khó khăn việc học kĩ nghe học sinh lớp 11 trường THPT Quảng Xương Câu trả lời em đóng góp to lớn nghiên cứu Xin chân thành cảm ơn hợp tác em! Hãy điền thêm thơng tin khoanh trịn trước lựa chọn I Thơng tin cá nhân Giới tính: ………… (Nam/Nữ) Lớp: 11……… Em học tiếng Anh năm? II Việc học kĩ nghe tiếng Anh Học kĩ nghe hiểu tiếng Anh có quan trọng với em khơng? A Rất quan trọng B Quan trọng C Hơi quan trọng D Không quan trọng Em đánh tập nghe sách giáo khoa tiếng Anh 11? A Rất khó B Khó C Bình thường D Dễ Em có đồng ý 45 phút đủ để học kĩ nghe hiểu tiếng Anh không? A Đủ B Thừa C Thiếu Ngoài học tiếng Anh lớp em có thường luyện nghe thêm kĩ khơng? A Luôn B Thường xuyên C Thỉnh thoảng D Không Thầy (cơ) giáo em làm để khuyến khích em nghe? A Khen gợi B Cho điểm cao C Tặng q D Khơng làm Theo em học kĩ nghe tiếng Anh lại khó? A Giáo viên chưa có phương pháp dạy phù hợp với học sinh B Các chủ điểm nghe hoạt động nghe nhàm chán C Học sinh thiếu động học tập D Khả tiếng Anh học sinh thấp E Học sinh thiếu kiến thức liên quan đến nội dung nghe F Lớp học q đơng G Tốc độ người nói nhanh H Thời gian nghe hạn chế 10 Theo em, thầy giáo nên làm để tiết học nghe hay hiệu hơn? A Dành nhiều thời gian soạn dạy nghe cẩn thận B Giúp học sinh cải thiện kiến thức ngôn ngữ xã hội C Hướng dẫn học sinh cách nghe nhà D Hướng dẫn học sinh cách làm nghe hiệu E Trao đổi kinh nghiệm phương pháp dạy nghe với F Có nhiều cách khuyến khích học sinh nghe (như khen thưởng, cho điểm cao) G Cho học sinh nghe nhiều hát tiếng Anh CẢM ƠN SỰ HỢP TÁC CỦA CÁC EM RẤT NHIỀU! I LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS (English version) The purpose of the research is to clarify difficulties that teachers and students of 11 th form at Phu Ly B High School have in teaching and learning listening skill Please complete the questions below PERSONAL INFORMATION - Your gender: Male □ Female □ - Your age: ……… - Years of teaching: ………………………………………… * Please circle the appropriate choice(s) in answering each of the following questions What you think about listening tasks in “Tieng Anh 11” textbook? A very interesting B interesting C appropriate D boring What is your students’ attitude towards listening comprehension skills? A Very interested B Interested C Not very interested D Totally ignorant What are your difficulties when teaching English listening skills? (Rank them in order of the most difficult one: 1- 6) A Students’ low motivation B Students’ low background knowledge relating listening topics C Students’ low level of English proficiency D Large class problems (noise, mixed ability, class management) E Lack of necessary facilities (cassette tapes, VCD, CD, projector) F Time limitation Please put a tick () in the techniques you in your listening lessons Activities Very often Often Sometimes Never - use pair or group work - use English games and songs - use different pre-listening activities to warm up - encourage students to listen in English outside the classroom - equip students with necessary strategies in listening comprehension - re-design listening tasks to be more suitable to students’ listening levels and interests What should teachers to overcome the difficulties? (Please circle your choice(s)) A help students improve their knowledge of the language and knowledge of the world B spend more time preparing the listening lessons more carefully C encourage student to listen to English outside the classroom D ask for improvement of the teaching and learning conditions E equip students more listening strategies F exchange experiences in teaching among the English staffs G encourage students to listen by giving evaluation (comments, feedback and marks) THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR COOPERATION! II LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com APPENDIX 3: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS (English version) Do you like teaching listening skill? Why (not)? - Do you have enough time to teach “After you listen” in the textbook? - If not, you assign this part to your students to at home? Do you guide students to listen to English outside the classroom? Why (not)? Do you re-design the tasks in “While you listen”? Why few students pay attention to learning listening skills? What is the best way to encourage students to listen to English? Do you conduct tests on listening? Why (not)? III LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com APPENDIX 4: FOUR TEACHERS’ ANSWERING INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Questions Mrs Hang Mrs Hong Mrs Nhung Do you like teaching listening skill? Why (not)? + No + No + No + Reasons: Ss’ low level and + Reason: Ss are not + Reason: There are bad listening ability eager to listen and not listening skills in they catch nothing the final exam from the tape - Do you have enough time to teach “After you listen” in the textbook? - If not, you assign this part to your students at home? Yes No No No Yes Yes Do you guide students to listen to English outside the classroom? Why (not)? + Ss’ low motivation + Ss’ limited + Most Ss not like listening ability English, especially + Limited ELS vocabulary + No excitement Do you re-design the tasks in “While you listen”? Yes Yes Yes (Change (Sometimes because “Answering of limited time) questions” into True/False) Why few students pay attention to learning ELS? + Limited vocabulary + Limited + Limited vocabulary vocabulary + Don’t be familiar + Limited listening with native speaker’s ability accent + Lack of + Lack of background background knowledge knowledge What is the best way to encourage students to listen to English? + Set the aims of the lesson + Have well+ Re-design the tasks suitable to Ss’ level prepared lesson plan to interest students + Re-design the tasks + Re-design difficult parts Do you conduct tests on listening? Why (not)? + No + No + No + Reason: It is difficult to + Reason: It is too + Reasons: It is too carry out the test difficult for students difficult for students to and there is no listening test in the final exam Mrs Lien + No + Reason: There are not listening skills in the final exam No Yes + Limited time + Lack of listening sources Yes + They are bored because they catch nothing from the tape + Don’t have interesting listening lessons + Give many comments and high marks to Ss + No + Reasons: Teachers lack of time to prepare listening tests and find the sources IV LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ... All of the above reasons have inspired the author to the research ? ?Some solutions to improve the teaching English listening skill to the 11 th form Students at Quang Xuong High School? ?? with the. .. in 11 th form in QX school have had to undergo - Suggesting some feasible solutions to the teaching of ELS for 11 th form students It may appear contradictory that in the first two concentrations,... suggested solutions to improve listening teaching Pages 7 9 10 11 12 ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1. 1 Rationale of the study In Vietnam, in the
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