INTRODUCTION
Rationale for the thesis
Listening comprehension plays a key role in language learning Rost (1994, as cited in Nunan & Miller, 1995) confirms that listening is vital in language classrooms because it provides input for learners Without understanding inputs at the right level, any kind of learning simply cannot occur Listening, therefore, is essential not only as a receptive skill but also to the development of spoken language proficiency
An important issue in the teaching and learning of listening is the material
Hutchinson and Torres (1994: 3) state that the material is “an almost universal element of English language teaching and learning” Tomlinson (2003: 2) also asserts that material “include anything which can be used to facilitate the learning of a language.”
Among available material, careful consideration is needed in order to evaluate and choose the best materials The importance role of material evaluation has been recognised by many researchers and experts in foreign language teaching such as Ellis (1997) and Robinson (1991), who claim that material evaluation should be carried out not only to choose the most suitable for one‟s particular situation but also to determine whether the chosen ones work for that situation after having been used for a period of time It can also bring general insights into how teachers use materials and suggest directions both for materials development and professional development activities (Hutchinson & Torres, 1994)
At Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI), listening skills have been taught for non-major English college freshmen based on the textbook New Headway Elementary (the third edition by Liz and John Soar) for a long time From the researcher‟s observation and professional experience as a teacher of English, teaching and learning listening skills have still faced some difficulties and the students‟ ability to listen English has not improved much However, no research has been done to evaluate the listening skill section in New Headway Elementary
Therefore, an evaluation of listening skills in the textbook New Headway Elementary from teachers and students‟ perspectives was carried out with an expectation that a solution for the situation of teaching and learning listening skills at HaUI with the textbook New Headway Elementary will be found.
Aims of the study
New Headway textbook is used for first year students during two semesters or twenty weeks Each unit is instructed in nine or ten periods of teaching and learning The listening component is studied in one or two periods The research aims to both evaluate the usefulness of the book and determine whether the textbook is suitable for teaching listening in the limited time More specifically, this study seeks to examine the following research questions
1 What are the non- major English college freshmen‟s needs when learning listening skills at HaUI?
2 To what extent does the current listening in-class component in New Headway Elementary meet their needs at HaUI?
Scope of the study
Due to the small scale of the study as well as the limitation of time, this study only focuses on evaluating the current listening component in the New Headway Elementary for non- major English college freshmen at HaUI from the perspectives of the users of these materials (e.g the students and teachers taking part in teaching and learning with the New Headway Elementary in school year 2013-2014 The other components such as speaking, reading and writing are not within the scope of this study.
Significance of the study
The findings of the thesis may serve as useful information not only for the researcher, the course book designers but also for the teaching staff and the non- major English college freshmen at HaUI It is also hoped that the thesis will make great contributions towards the development of the listening materials at HaUI
To achieve the aims stated, both quantitative and qualitative methods were used The data collected for the study come from two survey questionnaires (of 110 non- major English college freshmen at HaUI who have just finished studying New
Headway Elementary ,and 22 teachers who have taught non- major English college freshmen using the textbook) and interviews from 10 random ones among 110 students
Design of the study
Chapter 1: Literature review presents literature related to the study including material and material evaluation such as definitions and classifications of materials and materials evaluation, and criteria for materials evaluation Theoretical backgrounds to listening and teaching listening includes definition of listening comprehesion, approaches to the teaching of listening skills, methods of teaching listening communicatively, and potential diffificulties in listening The last part is need analysis in language teaching and learning
Chapter 2: Methodology shows the procedure for carrying on the research such as selection of sample, instruments for data gathering, and methods of data analysis
Chapter 3: Findings and Discussion report the main findings obtained from the data collection and discuss the prominent aspects
Part III: Conclusion, which is the last chapter, followed by references is the summary of the whole study The limitation of the study and suggestion for further study are also recommended.
DEVELOPMENT
LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1 Materials in language teaching and learning 1.1.1 Definitions and Classifications of materials
According to Tomlinson (1998), materials will be considered anything which is used to help language learning Examples include: coursebooks, workbooks, CDs, flashcards, and CD-ROMs
Richard (2001) states that materials can be instructional, experiential, elucidative, and exploratory but they must provide experience of the language in use and help learners to make discoveries about the language
According to McGrath (2002), materials include those that have been either specifically designed for learning and teaching language (e.g textbooks, worksheets, computer software); authentic materials ( e.g off-air recordings, newspaper articles) that have been specially selected and exploited for teaching purposes by the classroom teacher; teacher-written materials; and learner-generated materials However, in the local setting, textbook seem to be most widely used material in the language program
As being a kind of materials, the textbook New Headway Elementary is used in this study for evaluation of teaching and learning listening skills at HaUI
1.1.2 Roles of materials in language teaching and learning
In the English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom, materials are an important aspect of the curriculum They are the most observable feature of a teacher‟s methodology, and can contribute greatly to a course‟s syllabus (White,
Stressing on the role of materials, Richards (2001) points out that materials can serve as the basis for much of the language input that the learners receive and as the source for much of the language practice that occurs in the classroom Richards
(2001) further explains that materials provide basis for the content of the lesson, the balance of skills taught, and the kind of language practice students take part in In addition, good materials are of great help to inexperienced teachers and poorly trained teachers (Nunan, 1991) They can serve as “a form of teacher training”
(Richard, 2001: 251) and teachers can get ideas on how to plan and teach the lesson from the materials
According to Bell and Gower (1998, as cited in Rubdy 2003: 39), materials
“provide teachers and learners with a range of professionally developed materials within tried and tested syllabus structures”, allowing teachers to spend their valuable time on facilitating learning than materials production Materials can be adapted and supplemented to meet the needs of specific classes
Obviously, according to all the authors above, materials are a key and crucial component in any language teaching and learning contexts, the teacher needs to take account of the roles as well as the requirements of materials when designing or selecting materials for his/ her own teaching situation to facilitate the most learning from the students
1.2 Materials Evaluation 1.2.1 Definitions of materials evaluation
According to Brown (1995), evaluation is the systematic collection and analysis of all relevant information necessary to promote the improvement of a curriculum and assess its effectiveness within the context of the particular institution involved It is understood that information be gathered and analyzed in a systematic manner and that only relevant information should be included, that is other information can be ignored
Nunan (1988) states that evaluation be “a process not a final product” that means it takes place at any time of the material design It is essential to determine whether the goals and objectives of a language program are being attained
Hutchinson and Waters (1987) present that evaluation is really a matter of judging the fitness of something for a particular purpose “Given a certain need, and in the light of the resources available, which out of number of possibilities can represent the best solution? There is no absolute good or bad- only degrees of fitness for the required purpose”
In sum, it can be concluded that materials evaluation involves the determination of what needs to be evaluated, the objectives and requirements for the materials, and the judgments of the value of the materials being evaluated in relation to the objectives and requirements determined
1.2.2 Materials evaluation in English language teaching and learning
Ellis (1997) gives two main reasons for carrying out materials evaluation
The first reason is that there are too many materials available to choose, and it is needed to get the most suitable one The second one relates to a need for materials evaluation to determine whether the material which has been chosen works for that situation after it has been used for a period of time
Robinson (1991) adds that evaluation can be used as part of quality control
The advantages and disadvantages as well as the effectiveness of the being used materials can be seen by evaluating Therefore, the decision choosing materials for language teaching and learning can be reused or it needs to be adapted to meet the need of the particular teaching situation or needs to be changed absolutely
In short, materials evaluation will provide the input for responsible people to evaluate the effectiveness of the materials
Criteria are what evaluators use to “reach a decision regarding what needs to be evaluated” (Tomlinson, 1998: 220) Before evaluating materials, evaluators must know the definition of criteria Criteria for materials evaluation depend on what is being evaluated and why they need to be evaluated (Dudley – Evans and St John,
Ur (1996 ) presents a list of several criteria composed of nineteen features.These features include: objectives being explicitly laid out in an introduction and implemented in the material, approach educationally and socially to the target community, clear attractive layout and easy print to read, appropriate visual materials available, interesting topics and tasks, varied topics and tasks, clear instructions, systematic coverage of syllabus, clearly organized and graded content, periodic review and test sections, plenty of authentic language, good pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar explanation and practice, fluency practice in all four skills, encouraging learners to develop their own learning strategies and to become independent, adequate guidance for teacher; audio cassettes, and being readily available locally
METHODOLOGY
2.1.1 The context of the study
Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI) was officially established in 2005 on the basis of Hanoi Industrial College where thousands of skilled workers and engineers are trained every year HaUI is in the process of reaching one of the great universities of Southeast Asia
All non- major students at HaUI learn English for five courses: New Headway Elementary is used in the first and second course, in next two courses they study New Headway Pre- intermediate and specialized English is learnt in the last one English contains six credits in each course
The English teachers in the Faculty of Foreign Language consists of 130 teachers aged 23 to 45 years old At present, most of them have M.A degree or are doing an MA course There are a lot of teaching methods such as communicative method or learner- centred approach, etc It good to say that communicative method is applied in teaching and learning English at HaUI
A majority of students are at the age of 18- 22 Most of them come from urban areas and they have learnt English for 3 or 7 years However, the problem is that most of them do not consider English as their major, so they did not pay much attention to study English at that time Besides, they are not really interested in learning English, especially in listening and speaking Moreover, they have been familiar with the tradition teaching and learning method focusing on grammar The teachers must work a lot to help their students
Teaching and learning facilities at HaUI are well equipped with a projector, a computer, a cassette player and two loudspeakers at the corners of rooms
Moreover, colour photocopied books are used in order to get more students‟ interest in problem is that the class size for an English lesson is about 50 to 55 students each which causes noise during listening lesson
As already mentioned, a textbook plays a crucial role in the language learning process The listening component in New Headway Elementary has been chosen as a subject of this study for the following reasons (adapted from Desislava, 2000): a) The authors Liz and John Soars state that Headway Elementary has been designed for adults and young adults who want to use English both accurately and fluently and all four language skills are developed systematically (Soars & soars
1993) b) New Headway Elementary covers the initial stage of language learning This makes it suitable to work with beginners and false beginners like non-major English college freshmen at HaUI c) Each teaching unit is about a certain topic which is structured into sections:
Grammar, Vocabulary, Everyday English, Reading, Speaking, Listening, and Writing In listening part, texts and discussions are used to help students activate their knowledge about topics And then they must listen to the tape to check their ideas and listen more to do some related exercises The students sometimes practise speaking skills using conversation pieces in this part
In order to evaluate the listening part, the survey questionnaires were employed to answer the two following research questions:
1 What are the non-major English college freshmen‟s needs when learning listening skills at HaUI from students‟ perspectives?
2 To what extent does the current listening in-class component in New Headway Elementary meet their needs at HaUI from the teacher‟s and students‟ perspectives?
This study was carried out with the participation of 22 full-time teachers and
110 freshman students who were teaching and learning English as a foreign language at HaUI The 110 students under investigation were in their first academic year These students and teachers were randomly chosen from first year students at HaUI They were asked and answered questions by the end of the academic year when they have just finished the textbook
It is obvious that questionnaires, as a common tool to collect data in research on applied linguistics, offer certain advantages As Seilinger and Shohany (1989) pointed out, questionnaires do not take much time to administer as other procedures
Also, since the same questionnaire is given to all the subjects at the same time, the data are more uniform, standard and accurate Lastly, questionnaires can be easily quantified because multiple-choice questions are used Due to these advantages questionnaires were used as a main data collection method in this study
In this study, two sets of questionnaires were used to get information about the students‟ needs in learning listening skills as perceived by the Ss, and the Ss and Ts‟ views on the current listening in the textbook The questionnaire type constructed by the author belongs to both „close-ended‟ and „open-ended‟ items
The steps of constructing the questionnaires were performed as follows: (1) Constructing and piloting the questionnaires; (2) Revising the questionnaires; (3) Delivering the questionnaires
The first set of questionnaires – students’ listening needs
The content of these questionnaires was based on the literature in chapter 2 to answer the first question of the study The first part of the questionnaires includes questions 1 about their aims in listening in a course From questions 2 to questions
7, it is hoped to find out the students‟ needs in lesson and knowledge Questions 8-
16 seeks students‟ needs in activities Students‟ needs of topics are asked from question 17 to 19 Methods in the book are investigated from questions 20 to 23
Questions 24, 25 aim to find students‟ needs after the course Issues of layout and practical concerns are designed in next 3 questions
The second set of questionnaires – an evaluation of the listening component in the textbook New Headway Elementary
The second one is designed with same items in the first set of questionnaire to answer the question number 2 of this study so that it can be found out the suitability of the book to the students‟ needs
The questionnaires for students and teachers contain the same questions
Questions 29 in the teachers‟ questionnaire is designed to find out teacher‟s opinions for improving the book Since the students were freshmen, the author assumed that it would be hard for them to understand all questions so they were translated into Vietnamese (see Appendix 2 and 3)
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
This chapter presents the data results, analysis and the discussions of these findings from the study
3.1 Students’ listening needs 3.1.1 Students’ needs in the aim of listening in a course
As can be seen from the figure 3.1, the students thought that it was important to identify the aim of listening in the course This can be seen in the quite high percentage of students (23 64 %) choose the option 1(Strongly agree) and 64.55% students choose options 2(Agree)
Figure 3.1: Ss’ needs in the aim of listening in a course
3.1.2 Students’ needs in term of lesson and knowledge
Regarding the aim of lessons in term of listening in question 2, it was indicated clearly from the figure 3.2 that the largest components were “strongly agree” and “agree” Remarkably, most of the students stated that they needed clear lesson aims (54.5%) and 29.1% of them strongly agreed so None of them strongly disagreed with the statement Few of them did not satisfy or had no idea about it
Regarding the vocabulary in question 3 and 4, the figure shows that there was a strong agreement among the students about the suitable vocabulary to their level
(35.5% strongly agree and 53.6% agree) Almost all the students (90%) agreed that they needed interesting vocabulary Only 9% of the students were neutral and 0.9% disagreed with it Nobody had choice of “strongly disagree” Accordingly, the students‟ needs in vocabularies are positive
One of the basis for this view of listening comprehension is the listeners‟ grammatical (question 5) Understanding the importance of grammar structures, nearly 75% students agreed with the statement Hearing the sound is difficult for many learners because learners do not perceive certain English sounds with any accuracy because they do not exist in their first language Therefore, over 85 % students had desire of following sounds easily Going along with sound speed of the listening passage causes challenge for student It can be seen that the high percentage of agreement on ability to catch with the speed of the listening message in question 7 was remarked
Figure 3.2: Ss’ in lessons and kowledge of the lessons
Students found the listening text less difficult when teachers presented background knowledge of the topic and linguistic content of the text through pre- listening (question 8) It is good to see that 96% of students strongly agreed or agreed with this statement No one strongly disagreed to join these activities Only 1% was neutral with it Pre- listening activities conducted students to while – listening with various and suitable activities to students‟ level (question 9) Just when realizing the necessity of these activities, 27 % of the students chose the option 1, 67% of them got the second one and no one took the options 4 or 5
Nevertheless, there were 5.5% students were reluctant to choose doing various and suitable activities to their level In order to have an effective listening period, exercises after listening play an important role (question 10) Therefore, 82.7% of the students had agreement with the statement and 9.1% of strongly agreed
However, still 8.2% students who did not find the questions after listening effective or not Luckily, none of them were pessimistic in these three stages were not important
Figure 3.3: Ss’ needs in three stages of listening
Most students thought that they needed to take part in authentic and motivational activities, to be given suitable activities, to do activities from easy to difficult, to be well instructed in all activities, to join suitable pair and group activities
In term of authentic activities (question 11), the number of students strongly agreeing with this accounts for 26.4% and 62.4% students agreed with it No students thought they did not need to be taken in authentic activities
As can be seen from the result of question 12, the percentage of students agreed that they liked taking part in motivational activities was very high (81%)
Only 2.7% students did not think that they needed motivational activities Nobody strongly disagreed with joining motivational activities
Most students wanted to be given suitable activities to the lesson aim (question 13) Therefore, over 85% of them had the options of “strongly agree” and
“agree” Exactly the same number chose “neutral”, “disagree” (7%), and even no one strongly agreed with it
Activities that are too difficult and challenging discourage students to take part in listening periods (question 14) Consequently, 85% students liked activities from easy to difficult Not surprisingly being seen 0% option of strong disagreement
When being asked about instructions of activities (question 15), the students said that they would perform better if all activities were well instructed 67.3% of them were optimistic about it with high percentage of respondents choosing
“agree” No one disagreed with this statement Moreover, 21.8% strongly agreed with it Few of them chose “neutral” (6.4%) and “disagree” (4.5%)
Pair or group activities (question 16) are very helpful in not only speaking skills but also listening skills Students were wise to say that they liked listening activities in pairs or groups through very high percentage of strong agreement (14.5%) and agreement (80%) Once again, no students had choice of number 5
Figure 3.4: Ss’ needs in activities
It can be seen clearly from figure 3.5 that there is a high level of agreement on the significance of familiar topics in teaching and learning listening skills (question 17) Most students agreed that familiar topics were very important (23.6%) and important (66.4%) in teaching and learning listening skills
Surprisingly, none of students thought that familiar topics were unimportant It means that familiar topics should be taught and learnt
Beside familiar topics, interesting topics were mentioned, which got enthusiastic approvals from students (question 18) 20% students considered it very important and 69.1 of them thought it important The same with the above question, nobody found it unimportant
Learning a foreign language as well as learning listening kills, knowing various topics is very important (question 19) HaUI‟s students were interested in learning various topics with shown percentage (75%) in the figure 3.5 of question
19 In all three questions, none of students found them unimportant
Figure 3.5: Ss’ needs in topics
Teaching methodology is always vital in teaching and learning situation
Thus, it is essential to take a close look at what the students need the actual teaching methods that teachers utilized during the teaching process of listening skill Notably and interestingly, seeing a number of students (almost over 80%) favoured with statement from questions 20 to 24 When being asked about motivation of focusing on the listening objectives and clear listening context, 66.4% students found them important Most students (87%) liked being motivated to focus on the learning objectives and only 12.7% of them did not decide it importantly or not Happily, nobody found it not very important and unimportant Same activities make students bored, thus it should be varied activities to stimulate the students‟ interest and challenge them with something new Students shared their viewpoints with this statement, 25% of them considered it very important and 55.5% thought it important However, nearly 3% students did not consider they are encouraged to learning listening through activities This number is as same as the number of students who wanted to be passive in listening periods The left students (nearly 84%) indicated that they needed chances to be active in listening periods Moreover, the students reported that they expected to be explained clearly about the listening important one are equal (6.4%) As being shown in Figure 3.6, authentic recordings also contributed effective teaching and learning listening skills with 84% students were favourable of authentic recordings 1,8% students claimed that it is not important to listen authentic recordings No one said that authentic recordings were unimportant
Figure 3.6: Ss’ needs in methods
3.1.6 Students needs at the end of a course
CONCLUSION
Conclusion of the study
Materials evaluation obviously plays a very important role in language teaching and learning The results from materials evaluation help to determine whether the set of materials is suitable for a particular situation Most often material evaluation is carried out to find out the strengths and weaknesses of the materials so that changes need to be made to improve the suitability and enhance the effectiveness of the materials This is also the reasons for carrying out this evaluation study
In general, the findings have shown that the book meets the students‟ needs except for following points Regarding lesson aim presented in the book, some of them were not clear enough for the students Post- listening and pair or group activities were not really effective The students were still passive in listening periods, and visual materials were not much helpful
Based on the findings, this study can also give the following suggested recommendations to improve the listening component of the textbook with a hope of contribution to the material development.
Recommendations for material improvements
In terms of time allocated to listening skills, it is a good idea to increase time for listening periods According to the Faculty‟s regulations, listening and speaking periods which account 2 periods in each unit In teaching process, the researcher finds that the students had a few chances to practice in class With such reasons, the Faculty needs to add more time for listening periods
Apart from time, facilities are also a necessary element in the listening course Classrooms should be better equipped with modern technology such as good projectors, computers with headphones and Internet connection, TVs, etc This could contribute a lot to maximizing positive changes to other parts of the course such as recordings in form of music videos, movies, TV programs, etc and eliminating negative external factors such as background noise in the classroom, inappropriate volume of listening passages, etc
In terms of a suitable environment to practice listening skills, the students should be given opportunities to expose more to English via communication with native speakers, English competitions, etc These activities will help the students improve not only their English but also life skills such as communication, team work
In terms of peer co-operation, it is suggested that there are more experience and learning strategies sharing activities among the students of the same level
These activities can be carried out in form of workshops or more informal sections in class and in groups
It has been proven that teachers‟ guide is indispensable to the students As reflected in the perspectives of both the students and teachers, it is suggested that listening the teachers should be more aware of sharing their own learning experience as well as learning strategies with their students The teacher staff should also be more varied with more native speakers of English to motivate the students more in their studies and create a more authentic environment for them to practice English
Besides changes to make to the in-class listening materials, it should be noted that there should be more supplementary materials for students‟ home practice They should be in various forms such as textbooks, websites, authentic materials, etc It is also a good idea to provide the students with reliable sources of supplementary materials and clear guidelines how to choose the appropriate ones for their level.
Limitations and suggestions for further studies
The first limitation is that the book under evaluation is the core material for all the first non- major English freshmen at HaUI in several years However, the respondents of this thesis were limited to the students of the course 2013- 2014, who have just finished the book Therefore, their opinions about the book might be representative of all the students who had learnt the book before at HaUI
In addition, this thesis is an insider who has taught the book in the classroom
So her close involvement may result in subjective judgments of the evaluation
Due to limit of time and scope, limitations and shortcomings are inevitable
Only survey questionnaires have been used as an instrument to collect data
Moreover, this study only investigated learners and teachers‟ evaluation, but not the evaluation from course designers and other outsiders for a more objective result
Hopefully, further researches in the future will reach particular success in above fields
Duong Thu Mai, Pham Thi Thu Ha, Thai Ha Lam Thuy (2012) Building an
Assessment Competence Framework for Pre-service and In-service ELT Teachers in Vietnam
Andrew White (1988) Evaluation of a ELT Coursebook Based on Criteria
Designed by McDonough and Shaw
Bachman, L.F (1990) Fundamental considerations in language testing.Oxford University Press
Bachman, L.F & Palmer, A.S (1996).Language testing in practice Oxford:
Brindley, G (1984) Needs Analysis and Objectives Setting in the Adult Migrant Education Program (p 31) Sydney: AMES
Brinkman, S (2008) Interviewing The Sage Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods, 470 – 472 Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc
Brown, J D (1995) The Element of Language Curriculum Newbury House
Brown, J D (2001) Teaching by principle–an interactive approach to language pedagogy Addison Wesley Longman: New York
Buck, G., (2001) Assessing Listening Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Canale, M & Swain, M (1980) Theoretical basis of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing Applied Linguistics
Cunningsworth, A (2002) Choosing your coursebook (pp 5-17) Shanghai:
Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press
Dudley – Evans, T., & St John, M J (1998) Developments in English for Specific Purposes Cambridge University Press
Ellis, R (1997) The Empirical Language Teaching Materials ELT journal,
Goh, C (2000) A cognitive perspective on language learners' listening comprehension problems ELT Journal 28(1), 55-75
Harmer, J (1998) How to teach English: an introduction to the practice of English language teaching Harlow, UK: Longman
Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A (1987) English for Specific Purposes: A learning-centered approach (pp 21-97) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Hutchinson, T., & Torres, E (1994) The textbook as agent of change, ELT Journal, 48(4), 315-328 Oxford: Oxford University Press
Justine Ross (2007) Designing Lessons for EFL Listening Comprehension Classes
McGrath, I., (2002) Materials Evaluation and Design for Language Teaching (p.7) Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press
Mangubhai, F (2002) Methodology in teaching a second language–study book
University of Southern Queensland: Toowoomba
Mountford, A (1981) The what, the why and the way Aupelf/Goethe Institute Council, 1, 19-34
Nunan, D (1988) The learner-centered Curriculum (pp 14- 98) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Nunan, D & Miller, L (1995) New ways in teaching listening Pantagraph Printing, Bloomington, Elinois USA
Richards, J.C (2001) Curriculum development in language teaching (pp 1 –
Robinson, P C (1991) ESP today: A practitioner’s Guide (pp 8 – 15) New York: Pentince Hall
Tomlinson, B (1998) Materials development in language teaching
Tomlinson, B (2003) Developing materials for language teaching (pp 2-
Vandergrift, L (1999) Facilitating second language listening comprehension: acquiring successful strategies ELT Journal 53(3),168-76
Underwood, M (1989) Teaching listening New York: Longman
Ur, P (1996) A course in language teaching: practice and theory
Yagang, F (1994) Listening: Problems and solutions English Teaching
Zabawa, J (2001) Criteria for FCE textbook evaluation: an attempt at questionnaire formulation Retrieved from: http://www.univ.rzeszow.pl/fil_ang/wsar2/sar_v2_17.pdf
APEENDIX 1 Câu 1: Nhu cầu của sinh viên để cải thiện môn nghe
S1: Em nghĩ là cần có nhiều tiết nghe trên lớp hơn để trao đổi kinh nghiệm và học được từ thầy cô và bạn bè Em mong được tiếp cận với nhiều tài liệu nghe cho những người mới bắt đầu như chúng em
S2: Em muốn được tiếp cận với tài liệu nghe phù hợp với trình độ của bọn em Em nghĩ là cần những chủ đề phong phú hơn và đòi hỏi phải đưa vào những từ mới Từ đấy có thể khó nhưng phải gần gũi với mình, phục vụ cho đời sống, giao tiếp hàng ngày của mình nhiều hơn ạ Đấy là để nâng cao vốn từ cho chúng em, không phải là học từ khó chỉ để nghe trong bài đấy thôi
S3: Cô giáo nên giới thiệu những trang web tham khảo nghe hay tài liệu phù hợp với trình độ của bọn em
S4: Em thấy loa của trường không được tốt Em mong khi học về từ vựng trong nghe thì gắn liền với cuộc sống thực tiễn
S5: Em mong thầy cô thiết kế các bài nghe để phù hợp với khả năng của chúng em
Em mong được làm việc theo cặp hoặc theo nhóm phù hợp với trình độ của em để em học hỏi thêm
S6: Em mong muốn là cơ sở vật chất, chất lượng máy chiếu đôi khi không tốt ( bị mờ, có lúc hỏng không dùng được) Số lượng sinh viên trong lớp lại quá đông (55 sinh viên) gây ồn ào khi nghe Em monng muốn lớp ít sinh viên hơn
S7: Em muốn được giáo viên hướng dẫn chiến lược nghe Tức là nếu như có từ khó hoặc mới ở trong bài thì sẽ cung cấp trước những từ đó cho bọn em
S8: Em cần nhiều cơ hội hơn để giao tiếp với người nước ngoài
S9: Thầy cô nên đưa ra thêm một số hoạt động cho học sinh để khuấy động phong trào ví dụ dùng các bài hát để bài học thú vị hơn
S10: Em cần sự hướng dẫn của cô giáo để biết cách nghe
Câu 2: Tài liệu nghe trên lớp nên có những thay đổi gì để giúp em học tốt hơn
S1: Em nghĩ nên đa dạng hơn về dạng bài nghe, không chỉ có hội thoại để em không cảm thấy căng thẳng và hơi nhàm trong giờ học Em muốn nghe hát để học nghe vì nghe hát làm cho em thoải mái hơn khi nghe
S2: Sau mỗi bài nghe nên có tapescript và audio gửi đến cho các em để các em nghe thêm ở nhà Em mong thầy cô cho bài tập nghe về nhà để em luyện nghe tốt hơn Ví dụ cũng là phần nghe đó nhưng thiết kế bài tập khác để về nhà chúng em tự nghe ở nhà
S3: Trước mỗi bài nghe nên có những cuộc thảo luận về chủ đề đấy hoặc đưa ra những bức tranh để em dễ hình dung được là em sẽ nghe gì và tranh ảnh sinh động, thú vị
S4: Em muốn nó sinh động hơn, hình ảnh bắt mắt hơn để hấp dẫn hơn Em thích nghe bài hát bằng Tiếng Anh hoặc các câu chuyện
S5: Em muốn các thầy cô thiết kế bài nghe cho dễ tiếp cận hơn Có những bài nghe người ta nói chuyện rồi bảo bọn em trả lời các câu hỏi, điều đó khó vì chúng em không nắm bắt được hết nội dung của các cuộc hội thoại Thêm nữa là vốn từ vựng của chúng em còn yếu chưa thể làm được loại bài tập đó Em mong được thiết kế lại những bài tập đó dễ hơn cho chúng em Nhiều bài nghe không rõ Trước mỗi bài nên có gợi ý hoặc hoạt động liên quan đến chủ đề ấy
S6: Em nghĩ nên giảm tốc độ bài nghe để phù hợp hơn với trình độ của sinh viên
S7: Nên có những hoạt động học hát các bài tiếng Anh, tranh ảnh làm bọn em thích thú hơn
S8: Tài liệu nghe nên có gợi ý về từ mới và kiến thức nền liên quan đến chủ đề S9: Phần bài tập thì nên cho giống bài thi nhiều để bọn em quen Sau khi học xong một bài các thầy cô giáo nên đưa ra phần tapescript và audio để về tự ôn lại để hiểu thêm về bài đó
S10: Trước mỗi bài nên có gợi ý hoặc hoạt động liên quan đến chủ đề ấy
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT – ENGLISH TRANSLATION Question 1: What do you need to improve your listening skills?
S1: I think there should be more time for listening skill in class to help us share experiences and learn from our teachers and friends I need to access with listening materials for us – beginners
S2: I would like to access with listening materials which are suitable to our level I think it should be provided more interesting topics and new words These words relate to our lives and be more useful for our lives and daily communication
Learning such words is not only to aid our comprehension about the listening passage but also to enrich our vocabulary
S3: I think the teacher should recommend students some good and suitable websites or materials which are suitable for our level
S4: I find that loudspeakers are not good I would like to be give words related to our lives
S5: I would like our teachers to design suitable tasks for our level I also need to work in suitable pairs or groups in order that I could learn more from my friends
S6: What I need is good facilities The quality of the projector is sometimes not good (unclear or broken) A number of students (55) are too crowded which makes noise in class I would like to study in smaller class of students
S7: I would like our teachers to teach us listening strategies I mean they should provide us with new or difficult words in the recordings at the beginning of the lesson
S8: I need more opportunities to communicate with foreigners
S9: Teachers should use more warm-up activities such as songs to make the lesson more interesting to us
S10: I need teachers‟ guide in listening strategies
Question 2: How would you like to change the book to help you study better?
S1: I think it should be more varied listening tasks Besides conversations, there should be more kinds of recordings to make the lessons less tense and boring I want to listen English songs because songs make me comfortable in listening
