Luận văn thạc sĩ VNU ULIS a survey on the perception of students at thanh liem a high school of the benefits of fre listening activities in learning listening skills

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES  VŨ THỊ THẢO A SURVEY ON THE PERCEPTIONS OF STUDENTS AT THANH LIEM A HIGH SCHOOL OF THE BENEFITS OF PRE-LISTENING ACTIVITIES IN LEARNING LISTENING SKILLS (Nghiên cứu khảo sát nhận thức học sinh Trường THPT Thanh Liêm A lợi ích hoạt động tiền nghe hiểu việc học kĩ nghe) M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD : ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE : 60.14.0111 HANOI – 2013 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES  VŨ THỊ THẢO A SURVEY ON THE PERCEPTIONS OF STUDENTS AT THANH LIEM A HIGH SCHOOL OF THE BENEFITS OF PRE-LISTENING ACTIVITIES IN LEARNING LISTENING SKILLS (Nghiên cứu khảo sát nhận thức học sinh Trường THPT Thanh Liêm A lợi ích hoạt động tiền nghe hiểu việc học kĩ nghe) M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD : ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE : 60.14.0111 SUPERVISOR : Dr TRẦN THỊ THU HIỀN HANOI – 2013 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Statement of authorship I certify that the minor thesis entitled “A survey on the perceptions of students at Thanh Liem A high school of the benefits of pre-listening activities in learning listening skills” is the result of my own work It is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Education This minor thesis or any part of the same has not been submitted for any other universities or institutions i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENT To complete this thesis, I have benefited a great deal of useful and practical support from a variety of people First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Dr Tran Thi Thu Hien, my respected supervisor, for her close and experienced guidance, encouragement and invaluable detailed critical feedback in the process of completing my thesis I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the M.A lecturers who have been teaching K20 M.A course in Vietnam National University - University of Languages and International Studies and the post-graduate staff for their contributions to the success of the course My sincere thanks are also for all teachers of English at Thanh Liem A high school for their help in answering the interview questions, for their constructive suggestions to this research, and for their willingness to share their relevant problems with me I wish to convey my thanks to the students of classes 10A1, 11A6 and 12A7 I have visited in order to gather information for survey questionnaire and observed Without their help, this study would not have been successful Finally, I am grateful to my family for their love, care, tolerance and encouragement ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT This research focuses on the perceptions of students at Thanh Liem A High School of the benefits of pre-listening activities in learning listening skills With a desire to study and analyze the benefits of pre-listening activities to improve listening skill and introduce them to the teachers at Thanh liem A high school, the author has found out related researches as the theory background of the thesis From that, the researcher has enough reasoning base to support and protect the thesis The data are collected from survey questionnaires for 100 students, observation of three classes and interview with six teachers The results show students’ preferences and comments on the pre-listening activities in three textbooks From major findings of the study, the author mentions recommendations for implementing pre-listening activities, significance of the proposed research supporting for teaching in this school, pedagogical implications from the findings, limitations of the study and suggestions for further research iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Statement of authorship i Acknowledgement ii Abstract iii Table of contents iv List of abbreviation vii List of tables and charts viii PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale Aims of the study Research questions Scope of the study Methodology Significance of the study Structure of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1 Theory of listening LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com v 1 Definition of listening and listening comprehension 1 1.1 Definition of listening 1 Definition of listening comprehension 1 The process of teaching and learning listening lesson 1 Factors make listening difficult Pre-listening activities Definition of pre-listening 2 Pre-listening activities Benefits of pre-listening activities in learning listening skills Summary 10 Chapter 2: CURRENT SITUATION OF TEACHING AND 13 LEARNING ENGLISH AT THANHLIEM A HIGH SCHOOL 14 2.1 The institution 2.2 The teachers 2.3 The students 2.4 The listening materials 2.5 The teaching and learning English at TLAHS 2.6 Summary Chapter 3: RESEARCH METHOD The participants 15 15 15 16 17 17 18 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com vi Instruments of collecting data 19 3 Data collection procedure 19 3.4 Summary 19 Chapter 4: FINDINGS, DISCUSSION AND 20 RECOMMENDATIONS 21 4.1 Discussion of the results collected by means of the survey questionnaire 4.1.1 Students’ attitude towards listening skill 22 4.1.2 Students’ perceptions of pre-listening activities 4.1.2.1 Students’ opinion about the necessity of using prelistening activities 4.1.2.2 Students’ opinion about the teacher’s frequency of 22 22 23 using pre-listening activities 4.1.2.3 Students’ preference for teacher’s applying pre- 23 listening activities 4.1.2.4 Students’ benefits from pre-listening activities 25 4.1.2.5 Students’ point of views about pre-listening activities in the textbooks 4.1.2.6 Students’ suggestions for the changes of pre-listening activities in the textbooks 27 30 4.2 Discussion of the results collected by means of the classroom observation 31 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com vii 4.3 Discussion of the results collected by means of the interview 4.3.1 Teachers’ attitude towards listening skill 32 4.3.2 Teachers’ opinion on pre-listening activities in the textbooks they are teaching 4.3.3 Teachers’ frequency of teaching pre-listening 4.3.4 Teachers’ opinion on benefits of pre-listening activities in teaching and learning listening skill 33 35 35 4.4 Recommendations 4.4.1 Encouraging students to learn listening skill from the beginning stage of listening 4.4.2 Improving teachers’ teaching method in pre-listening stage 4.4.3 Improving the pre-listening activities in the text books 4.5 Summary PART C: CONCLUSION Summary of the study Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study 36 36 37 38 38 38 39 40 43 43 References Appendices 44 45 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com viii Appendix I Appendix I Appendix V Appendix X XI List of abbreviation IT: Information Technology NCLRC: the National Capital Language Resource Center SLA: Second Language Acquisition TLAHS: Thanh Liem A High School VNU: Vietnam National University LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com II (đánh dấu (√) vào cột tương ứng với 1: cần, 2: cần , 3: tương đối cần , 4: không cần, 5: không cần chút ) a Được cung cấp từ cấu trúc liên quan đến nội dung nghe b Thảo luận theo cặp/ nhóm câu hỏi liên quan đến chủ đề nghe c Được xem, nghe, nhìn hình ảnh, đoạn phim, đoạn nhạc… liên quan đến chủ đề học d Trả lời số câu hỏi nhanh liên quan đến nội dung nghe: câu hỏi đúng/ sai, câu hỏi có/ khơng, câu hỏi mở … e Thơng qua trị chơi để giới thiệu chủ đề nghe Thầy cô giáo em sử dụng hoạt động trước nghe thường xuyên nào? (đánh dấu (√) vào cột tương ứng với 1: sử dụng, 2: thường xuyên sử dụng, 3: sử dụng, 4: sử dụng, 5: khơng sử dụng) a Cung cấp từ cấu trúc liên quan đến nội dung nghe b Cho học sinh thảo luận theo cặp/ nhóm câu hỏi liên quan đến chủ đề nghe c Cho học sinh xem, nghe, nhìn hình ảnh, đoạn phim, LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com III đoạn nhạc… liên quan đến chủ đề học d Cho học sinh trả lời số câu hỏi nhanh liên quan đến nội dung nghe: câu hỏi đúng/ sai, câu hỏi có/ khơng, câu hỏi mở… e Giới thiệu chủ đề nghe thơng qua trị chơi Trước nghe, em thích giáo viên thực hoạt động sau đây? (có thể đánh dấu vào nhiều lựa chọn) a Hướng dẫn học sinh liệt kê: từ vựng cấu trúc ý đốn câu trả lời cho câu hỏi phần nghe b Yêu cầu học sinh thảo luận nội dung nghe theo: cặp nhóm lớp c Giới thiệu từ cách: sử dụng tranh ảnh, đồ vật thật, hành động để em đoán nghĩa từ giải thích từ Tiếng Anh giải thích từ Tiếng Việt giải thích cách dùng từ đồng nghĩa, trái nghĩa d Giới thiệu nội dung dựa vào: tranh ảnh đoạn phim, đoạn nhạc tiêu đề e Hỏi câu hỏi dạng: LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com IV câu trắc nghiệm lựa chọn câu hỏi dạng sai câu hỏi mở Theo em, hoạt động trước nghe có tác dụng gì? (Em đánh dấu (√) vào nhiều lựa chọn) Làm em thích học kĩ nghe Làm em thấy dễ hiểu nghe hơn, kết nghe tốt Được giao tiếp nhiều Biết thêm nhiều từ vựng cấu trúc câu Tự tin nghe Khơng có lợi ích Ý kiến khác: ………………………………………………………………………… Em nghĩ hoạt động trước nghe sách em học? Các hoạt động phù hợp với trình độ em Hữu ích, gây hứng thú cho em học nghe Chưa đa dạng Còn nhàm chán Em có đề xuất cho việc thay đổi hoạt động trước nghe giúp em học kĩ nghe hiệu hơn? Bổ sung thêm nhiều hoạt động tiền nghe Thường xuyên thiết chỉnh hoạt động tiền nghe cho phù hợp trình độ học sinh Giảm bớt hoạt động tiền nghe LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com V Sử dụng hoạt động tiền nghe thường xuyên Các đề xuất khác: ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VI Appendix 2: CLASSROOM OBSERVATIONS The first observation Unit 6: AN EXCURSION Class 10A1 Period 35 Date: November 17, 2012 Time 5’ Teacher’s activities Students’ activities -At 9:45 a.m , teacher comes in and greets - Stand up and greet the students teacher a Asks students to work in pairs and asks each other the following questions - Do you often go for a picnic? - Work in pairs to ask and answer the questions - Who you go with? - When is the best time for a picnic? - Why people go for picnic? - Asks some students to give their answer -Some students stand up and give their answer b Shows the pictures and asks students to - In group, look at the look at the pictures and give description 6’ pictures and give description - Copy the words and phrases LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VII Meanwhile, the teacher introduce the new words / phrases through the pictures: Picture a: glorious wonderful / (adj): famous / beautiful spacious (adj) adjective of space Picture b: sing on the bus Picture c: take photos Picture d: left-overs (n): foods left after a meal Picture e: school gate Picture f: sing, dance, play the guitar -Asks students to guess the order of the story basing on the pictures -Asks students read after the tape the words in the textbook - One student presents his - Ask students to read the words in pairs point of view LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIII - Ask some students to read the words - Listen and repeat again - Read the words in pairs and correct each other’s 4’ mistakes - Some individuals read the words aloud The second observation Unit 10: ENDANGERED SPECIES Class 12A7 Period 57 Date: January 12, 2013 Time Teacher’s activities Students’ activities - At 8:50 a.m, the teacher comes in and - Stand up and greet the teacher greets students Unit 10: Endangered species – listening 3’ - Plays a video clip about Gorilla (a part of a documentary film in - Watch the video clip then answer the questions Vietnamese), asks students to watch and then answer the questions In which continent can you find LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com IX 5’ most Gorillas? ->- In Africa How tall are they? How much they weigh? ->1.7 m high How long can they live? ->180 kg - Introduces the content of the passage 5’ -> More than 30 years and new vocabulary - Listen to the teacher and take Gorilla [gə'rilə] (n) notes Bared teeth (n)[beəd ti:θ] - Listen and repeat after the Sociable ['sou∫əbl] teachers Silverback ['silvər bæk] - One student stands up and reads Sub-adult [sʌbædʌlt] aloud Civil war ['sivl wɔ:] Nest [nest] Forest rangers ['fɔrist] [reindʒə] LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com X The third observation: Unit 11: SOURCES OF ENERGY Class 11A6 Period 67 Date: February 22, 2013 Time Teacher’s activities Students’ activities -At a.m teacher comes in and greets 5’ 5’ - Students stand up and greet students teacher -Teacher shows students a picture of - Look at the picture and give kinds of energy that used in home and the answers asks a question related to the picture: The representatives of two What kinds of energy you use in your groups go on the board to write house? down the words Asks students to work in two groups -> Kinds of energy I use in my Asks representative of two groups to house are go on the board to write down the coal, gas, electricity, solar, words Whoever writes more words water, petroleum, … and more quickly , his group win List some kinds of energy that you use in your house List some kinds of energy that you use in your house coal gas Energy used in your house petroleum water electricity solar After the students answer the question, - Listen to the teacher teacher asks students to discuss the attentively, and discuss the LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com XI questions in pairs: 4’ questions excitingly Students True / False Prediction: exchange their ideas with their The natural environment isn’t vital friends with enthusiasm for life -> F Resources are divided into two groups: renewable and non-renewable -> T resources Coal isn’t renewable because it takes millions of years to make coal -> Some students said T, others said F Many fossil fuels are non-renewable resources -> T - Teacher introduces the content of the - Listen to the teacher , take listening text and explains some words notes and repeat in chorus related to the text then asks students to repeat in chorus *Listen and repeat: ecologist fossil fuels resources unlimited renewable fertilized LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com XII Appendix 3: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (For Teachers) This questionnaire is designed for my study on the perceptions of students at Thanh Liem A High School of the benefits of pre-listening activities in learning listening skills Your assistance in answering the following questions is highly appreciated All the information provided by you is solely for the study purposes, and you can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Thank you very much for your cooperation How important you think listening skill is in teaching English at school? What problems are your students coping with in learning listening skill? + Before starting each lesson + While teaching each lesson + After teaching each lesson What have you been doing to overcome these difficulties? Do you think pre-listening activities in the text book you are teaching is suitable for your students? Why (not)? Please suggest some activities you used in this stage of teaching listening to improve students’ listening ability? How often you use pre-listening tasks before asking students to listen? Which activities your students like most before listening? Which pre-listening activities you often apply most in teaching listening? How is your students’ listening ability improved after you adapt pre-listening tasks? What benefits you and your students gain in teaching and learning listening skills thanks to pre-listening activities? 10 In your opinion, what should be done to improve pre-listening tasks in the text books? LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com XIII Appendix 4: TRANSLATED VERSION OF THE SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS This questionnaire is designed for my study on the perceptions of students at Thanh Liem A High School of the benefits of Pre- listening activities in learning listening skills Your answers to these questions will be highly appreciated and will be valuable help in the development of better way of teaching and learning listening skill at schools All the information provided by you is solely for the study purposes, and you can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Thank you very much for your cooperation Before answering the questions, please put tick in the box for appropriate information: A Personal information - Gender: - Class: 10 Male Female 11 12 B Questions: How important you find learning listening skill at high schools? Very important Important Not very important Not important at all Quite important How you find learning listening skill? Very difficult difficult not very difficult quite easy very easy In your opinion, what should you in pre-listening stage so that you can listen better? (Please tick the appropriate box according to the level of necessity: Very necessary, Necessary, Quite necessary, Not necessary, Not necessary at all) LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com XIV a being provided new vocabulary and structures relating to the content of the text b discussing the questions relating to the topic of the passage in pairs or in groups c watching short videos, listening pieces of music or looking at the pictures about the topic of the listening lesson d answering some pre-listening questions relating the content of the passage: True/ False questions, Yes/ No questions Open-ended questions e being introduced the topic of the listening passage through games How often your teachers apply pre-listening activities? (Please tick the appropriate box according to the level of frequency: Always, Often, Sometimes, Rarely, Never) Pre-listening activities a providing new vocabulary and structures relating to the content of the text b asking students to discuss the questions relating to the topic of the passage in pairs or in groups c letting students watch short videos, listen pieces of music or look at the pictures about the topic of the listening lesson d getting students to answer some pre-listening questions relating the content of the passage: True/ False questions, Yes/ No questions Open-ended questions LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com XV e introducing the topic of the listening passage through games Before listening, which activities you expect your teachers to apply? (You can tick more than one) a Help students brainstorm: Vocabulary and grammatical structures in the listening passage Main ideas in the listening passage Possible answers to the questions in while stage b Ask students to discuss: in pairs in groups with the whole class c Introduce new vocabulary by using: pictures, real objects, gestures explaining the words in English explaining the words in Vietnamese synonyms or antonyms d Introduce the content of the listening passage through: pictures short videos, pieces of music the title of the text e Use types of questions: 4-choice questions True/ False questions open-ended questions In your opinion, what are the benefits of pre-listening activities? (You can tick more than one) LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com XVI Make you eager to learn listening skills Help you understand listening lessons better and get better results Communicate more Enrich vocabulary and grammatical structures Help you feel more confident in learning listening Nothing Other ideas……………………………………… What you think of the pre-listening activities in the text books? Being suitable for students’ levels Being useful and enhancing students’ motivation for listening Being sufficiently varied Being boring In your opinion, what should be done to reform pre-listening activities to help students listen more effectively? Add more various kinds of pre-listening activities Adapt pre-listening activities in the text books regularly to suit students’ levels Reduce the number of pre-listening activities Use pre-listening activities more frequently Other ideas…………………………………… LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ... VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Chapter 2: CURRENT SITUATION OF TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH AT THANHLIEM A HIGH SCHOOL 2.1 The institution Founded in 1965, Thanh Liem A. .. of authorship I certify that the minor thesis entitled ? ?A survey on the perceptions of students at Thanh Liem A high school of the benefits of pre -listening activities in learning listening skills? ??... learning listening skills Second, they not have to take any listening tests in graduation or entrance examinations so they pay little attention to learning listening lessons Students think that learning