INTRODUCTION
Rational for the thesis
Task - based language teaching (TBLT) has gained favor over the last two decades, both in second language pedagogy and in studies on second language acquisition Tasks in TBLT vary in terms of their complexity and the language they elicit Therefore, one of the major challenges facing those concerned with gauging the influence of task characteristics and performance conditions on candidate performance is how to determine the complexity of tasks (Elder et al 2002)
At Hanoi university of Industry, there are a lot of teaching methods and TBLT is applied in teaching and learning English English language has been taught for non-major English students based on the coursebook New Headway Pre - intermediate (the third edition by Liz, John Soar & Sylvia Wheeldon) for a long time From the researcher‟s observation and professional experience as a teacher of English, it can be found that the students, especially the non-English major students often have a lot of difficulties in doing listening tasks They find the listening tasks somehow complex to accomplish Consequently, students seem to get bored to learn listening component However, no research has been done to evaluate the complexity of listening tasks in this textbook Thus, it urges the researchers to conduct a research on the topic: “An evaluation of listening task complexity in the coursebook New headway Pre- intermediate to the non- English major students at Hanoi university of Industry” with an expectation to make a small contribution towards improving the quality of teaching and learning listening skill at HaUI with listening tasks in the course book New headway Pre- intermediate
Aims of the study
New Headway Pre- intermediate course book is used for the second year students during two semesters or thirty weeks Each unit is instructed in nine or ten periods of teaching and learning The listening component is studied in one or two periods, including three or four tasks The research aims to both evaluate the complexity of listening tasks in the course book and determine whether the complexity of listening tasks are suitable for teaching listening in the situation
More specifically, this study seeks to examine the following research questions
1 What are the non- major English students‟ needs when doing listening tasks at HaUI?
2 To what extent does the complexity of the current listening tasks in New Headway Pre- intermediate meet their needs from perspectives of teachers and students 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 complexity of listening tasks in the coursebook New
Headway Pre- intermediate for non- major English students at HaUI from the perspectives of the users of these materials (e.g the students and teachers taking part in teaching and learning with New Headway Pre intermediate in school year
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 students at HaUI It is also hoped that the thesis will make great contributions towards the development of the listening learning at HaUI.
Methods of the study
To achieve the aims stated, both quantitative and qualitative methods were used The data collected for the study come from two survey questionnaires (of 100 non- major English students at HaUI who have just finished studying New Headway Pre- intermediate ,and 20 teachers who have taught non- major English students using the coursebook) and interviews from 10 random ones among 100 students.
Design of the study
Part II: Development - consists of three chapters:
Chapter 1: Literature review – The first part provides some theoretical background about task- based language teaching, including definition of task and significance of task- based language teaching The next one is theory of task complexity including some definitions of task complexity, significance of determining task complexity and the model of task complexity with the factors affecting task complexity Some theory of listening is reviewed in the third part
And the last one is need analysis in language teaching and learning
Chapter 2: Methodology - in this chapter, the introduction of research method including research questions, data collection instruments are presented
Chapter 3: The study - shows the procedure of carrying on the research and presents the data analysis result from survey questionnaires, interviews
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 Task and task- based language teaching 1.1.1 Real – world tasks
Michael Long (1985, p.19) provides a definition of task in its everyday meaning: “a piece of work undertaken for oneself or for others, freely or for some reward Thus, examples of task include painting a fence, making an airline reservation, borrowing a library book, taking a driving test, typing a letter, weighing a patient, sorting letters, taking a hotel reservation, writing a cheque, finding a street destination and helping someone across a road In other words, by
„task‟ is meant a hundred and one things people do in everyday life, at work, at play, and in between Tasks are the things people will tell you they do if you ask them, and they are not applied linguists.”
In this sense, the concept of task is used when discussing human skills performance models Crookes (1986, p 32) supposed that “It has been shown that the category „task‟, as used by researchers generally, is widely applicable and has psychological reality Much, if not most, of human activity, whether in employment or in the classroom can be seen a series of tasks – some having a communicative aspect, others not”
Skehan (1998, p 95) identifies a series of defining traits most researchers would agree on when conceptualizing a task: “a task is an activity in which meaning is primary; there is some kind of communication problem to solve; there is some sort of relationship to comparable real-world activities; task completion has some priority; the assessment of the task is in terms of outcome”
According to Bygate (2001), however, tasks are susceptible to pedagogic intervention; tasks can be influenced by learner choice and can be potentially reinterpreted by learners Bygate (2001) also pointed out that tasks may have a static, controllable nature if used for research, and they may include more dynamic and extended qualities if they are used for teaching purposes Tasks are clearly
„sequenceable‟ both in practice and theory, although there currently exist considerable doubts as to the validity of the criteria by which tasks can be ordered
That is why they pointed out that it may be necessary to clarify the definition of task under different circumstances, who to determine the tasks‟ goals and how to sequence tasks
In brief, tasks can also be manipulated for different empirical purposes and to test different theoretical constructs in both classroom and experimental settings In this way, researchers usually propose a series of operationalizations that may affect either their internal structure, their interactional design, or the conditions under which they are performed in order to test and measure their effects on learners‟ comprehension, production, or learning
1.1.3 Significance of task- based language teaching
Recently, there has been an increasing interest in TBLT The application of TBLT comes from different reasons Skehan (1998a, p.95) pointed out that "as an approach to instruction, TBLT is theoretically defensible and practically feasible The assumption here, then, is the fact that transacting tasks will engage naturalistic acquisitional mechanisms, cause the underlying interlanguage system to be stretched, and drive development forward" Elsewhere, Skehan (2002, p.293) suggested that a task-based approach is generally based on language use, that the language learning problem is how learners, from such use, develop a system of rules, and that individualization is an important aspect of the learning situation
From different perspective, Ellis (2003) listed three arguments in favor of task-based syllabi According to him, "the rationale for task-based syllabuses that has been advocated by SLA researchers draws on a variety of arguments First, it is based on the theoretical view that instruction needs to be compatible with the cognitive processes involved in L2 acquisition Second, the importance of learner 'engagement' is emphasized And third, tasks serve as a suitable unit for specifying learners' needs and thus for designing specific purpose courses"
1.2 Task complexity 1.2.1 Definition of task complexity
Robinson (2001b) argues that task complexity is the result of the attentional, memory, reasoning, and other information processing demands imposed by the structure of the task to the language learner Robinson (2007, p.210) regards task complexity as differences in intrinsic cognitive processing demands of tasks which will explain within-learner variation in successfully completing any two tasks (such as doing simple addition versus calculus, or doing the simple versus complex intentional reasoning task)
Ellis (2003, p.351) believes that task complexity is the extent to which a particular task is inherently easy or difficult
1.2.2 Significance of determining task complexity
It is a widely accepted idea that research into complexity of second language tasks is necessary to pedagogical decisions regarding the grading and sequencing of tasks for the purposes of syllabus design (Gilabert, 2005, 2007; Long2007;
Rahimpour 1997, 1999, 2008; Robinson, 1995a, 2001b, 2003b, 2005a, 2007a, 2007a; Robinson and Gilabert, 2007; Van Den Branden, 2006) Skehan (1998a, 1998b) reiterates that knowledge of task difficulty provides the teacher or syllabus designer with information about the level of challenge that a task is likely to contain, a level which the teacher will then have to match his or her knowledge with that of the students who will do the task Skehan( 1998) also provides rationale for estimating task difficulty: "the rationale for estimating task difficulty is twofold, firstly, tasks of appropriate difficulty are likely to be more motivating for learners as they feel that they are required to meet reasonable challenges, and secondly, considering that attentional capacities are limited, tasks of appropriate difficulty mean that learners will be able to overcome the difficulties put upon their attentional resources"
In par with the above arguments, Skehan (1998b, p.134) argues that: "If the appropriate level of task difficulty is chosen, there is much greater likelihood that noticing will occur, that balanced language performance will result, and that spare attentional capacity can be channeled effectively" Researching in the framework of the Cognition Hypothesis, Rahimpour (1997) is of the belief that criteria for distinguishing the difficulty of second language tasks are an important issue for SLA researchers, syllabus designers, and second language instructors who are concerned with implementing task-based proposals for syllabus design Like other researchers working in the cognitive framework, Gilabert (2005) relates the construct of task complexity to the syllabus design by stating that, "the concept of task complexity was born from the need to establish criteria for sequencing tasks in a syllabus from easy/simple to difficult/complex in a reasoned way that will foster interlanguage development."
Apart from application in syllabus design, Robinson (1995a) rightly points out that the emergent debate about task complexity promises to be an important site for the development of comprehensive theories of second language acquisition
Additionally, Robinson and Gilabert (2007) argue that research into the effects of task complexity aims both at pedagogic applications of findings regarding the effects of task design and sequencing decisions on learning and performance, and also at the deeper understanding of the second language processing and learning mechanisms that cause these effects
To sum up, all the above statements highlight the significance of task complexity in implementing task-based pedagogy
1.2.3 Models to determine task complexity
Brindley (1987) suggested that the following factors will determine the complexity of what the learner has to do:
Relevance: Is the task meaningful and relevant to the learner?
How many steps are involved in the task?
How complex are the instruction?
What cognitive demands does the task make on the learner?
Amount of context provided prior to the task:
How much prior knowledge of the world, the situation or the cultural context is assumed in the way the task is framed?
Processability of the language of the task:
Is the language that learners are expected to produce in line with their processing ability?
Amount of help available to the learner:
How much assistance can the learner get from the teacher, other learners, books or other learning aids?
Degree of grammatical accuracy/contextual appropriacy:
How 'standard' does the task require learners to be?
Time available to the learner;
How long does the learner have to carry out the task?
Candlin (1987) proposed a set of criteria by which tasks might be selected and graded These are:
Cognitive load: this concerns the general complexity of the content of the task, including the naturalness of the sequence it may be required to follow
METHODOLOGY
2.1 Current situation of teaching and learning English listening at Hanoi University of Industry
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
At HaUI, the number of students in each non-English major class is 50 students 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 There are a lot of teaching methods such as task- based language teaching, communicative method or learner- centred approach, etc It is good to say that task- based language teaching is applied in teaching and learning English at HaUI
The Faculty of Foreign Language consists of 147 teachers aged 23 to 45 years old However, there are only 30 teachers assigned to teach non-English major students using the coursebook New headway Pre- intermediate Out of these 30 teachers, the researcher chose 20 teachers to participate in the study The teachers are all female and graduated from Hanoi University of language and international studies, Vietnam National University Eleven of them had an M.A degree in English, four are doing their post graduates studies in the CFL and five are Bachelor of English Eight of them have ages ranging from 30-40 with more than 10 years of teaching experience; and the last aged from 24-30, who have just worked for the University for about 2-3 years These teachers were the subjects of the questionnaire
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 Among the non-English major students studying the coursebook New headway Pre- intermediate at HaUI, the researcher randomly selected 100 students in 2 classes They are both male and female aged from 19-21 They were also the subjects of the questionnaire
New Headway Pre- intermediate( the third edition) has been chosen as a course book for the following reasons:
The authors Liz, John Soars & Sylvia Wheeldon state that Headway Pre- intermediate 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
New Headway Pre- intermediate covers the next stage of New Headway Elementary
Each teaching unit is about a certain topic which is structured into sections:
Grammar, Vocabulary, Everyday English, Reading, Speaking, Listening, and Writing In listening tasks, texts and discussions are used to help students activate their knowledge about topics The listening tasks do not often new vocabulary before the tasks There are from two to three sub tasks in each task set And then, students must listen to listening texts to do exercises The students sometimes practise speaking in this part
In order to evaluate the listening task complexity, the survey questionnaires were employed to answer the two following research questions:
1 What are the non- major English students‟ needs when doing listening tasks at HaUI?
2 To what extent does the complexity of the current listening tasks in New Headway Pre- intermediate meet their needs from perspectives of teachers and students at HaUI?
This study was carried out with the participation of 20 full-time teachers and
100 second- year students who were teaching and learning the coursebook New headway Pre- intermediate These students and teachers were randomly chosen from the second year students at HaUI They were asked and answered questions by the end of the semester when they have just finished the coursebook
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 doing listening tasks as perceived by the Ss, and the Ss and Ts‟ evaluation on the current listening task complexity in the coursebook 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’ needs in doing listening tasks
The content of these questionnaires was based on the literature in chapter 2 to answer the first question of the study These try to identify students‟ need in listening task in terms of task complexity The first part of the questionnaires includes questions 1 to question 3 about their needs in doing listening tasks in terms of code complexity From questions 4 to questions 10, it is hoped to find out the students‟ needs in cognitive complexity Questions 11- 15 seek students‟ needs in communicative stress
The second set of questionnaires – an evaluation of the listening task complexity in the textbook New Headway Pre- intermediate
The second one is designed to answer the question number 2 of this study so that it can be found out the suitability of listening task complexity to the students‟ needs
The questionnaires for students and teachers contain the same questions The complexity of listening tasks in the coursebook is evaluated regarding to code complexity, cognitive complexity and communicative stress The last question in the teachers‟ questionnaire is designed to find out teacher‟s opinions for improving listening tasks in the coursebook to find out the appropriate complexity of listening tasks Since the students were non English major ones, the author assumed that it would be hard for them to understand all questions so they were translated into Vietnamese
According to Brinkman (2008: 470), interviewing is a conversational practice whose knowledge is produced through the interaction between an interviewer and an interviewee or a group of interviewees They are useful for eliciting perspectives
In this study, interviews were carried out to obtain knowledge about students‟ personal perceptions on the students‟ needs in listening tasks and the current listening tasks in the textbook New Headway Elementary Since the student participants were all non- English major students whose English was at a relatively low level, it was assumed that they might feel more comfortable expressing their ideas in their mother tongue when having an informal talk with the researcher
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
This chapter presents the data results, analysis and the discussions of these findings from the study
3.1 Questionnaire findings 3.1.1 Students’ need in listening task 3.1.1.1 Students’ needs in listening tasks related to code complexity
Figure 3.1: Students’ listening needs in listening tasks related to code complexity
It can be seen clearly from figure 3.1 that there is a high level of agreement on students‟ need in terms of code complexity The largest components both found it “very important” and “important” Regarding the vocabulary in question 1, most students agreed that the suitable vocabulary to their level was very important (32 %) and important (59%) Only 2 % students thought that suitable vocabulary is unimportant It means that vocabulary in the listening text should be considerably suitable to students‟ level
One of the basis for this view of listening task is the grammatical structure (question 2) Understanding the importance of grammar structures, 80% 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 81 % students had desire of
Very important Important Neutral Not very important Unimportant following sounds easily They supposed that following instructions of sound easily was important (18%) and important (63%) Surprisingly, none of students thought that following instruction of sound was unimportant
3.1.1.2 Students’ listening needs in listening tasks related to cognitive complexity
Figure 3.2: Students’ needs in listening tasks related to cognitive complexity
Notably and interestingly, regarding students‟ need in terms of cognitive complexity, a number of students (almost over 80%) favored with statement from questions 4 to 10 As shown in the above figure 3.2, there were a great number of students agreeing on the significance of familiar topics (question 4) Most of the students agreed that familiar topics were very important (24%) and important (66
%) in doing listening tasks while only 10 % chose option “ neutral” and “ not very important” Surprisingly, none of students thought that familiar topics were unimportant It means that familiar topics should be taught in listening tasks
Beside familiar topics, familiar types of task were mentioned, which got enthusiastic approvals from students (question 5) 27% students considered it very important and 50 % of them thought it important The same with the above question, nobody found it unimportant
Very important Important Neutral Not very important Unimportant
The sequencing of task plays a crucial role in doing a task effectively
HaUI‟s students thought that it is necessary to arrange tasks according to difficulty level with shown percentage (86%) in the figure 3.2 of question 6
Regarding information organization (question7), most students (77%) liked being learnt listening tasks which are well organized and only 23% of them did not decide it “neutral” and “not very important” No one thought “unimportant”
When being asked about instructions of activities (question 8), the students said that they would perform better if all tasks were well instructed 67% of them were optimistic about it with high percentage of respondents choosing “important”
No one supposed it “unimportant” Moreover, 21% thought “very important” Few of them chose “neutral” (7%) and “not very important” (5%)
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 9) It is good to see that 97% of students thought “very important” and “important” No one found it unimportant to join the activities
Only 3% was neutral with it
In order to have an effective listening tasks, suitable exercises in while- listening and post- listening play an important role (question 10) Therefore, when realizing the necessity of these exercises, 27 % of the students chose the option 1, 67% of them got the second one, 5% and 1 % chose the option 3 and 4 respectively
In all seven questions, none of students found them unimportant
3.1.1.3 Students’ needs in listening tasks related to communicative stress
Figure 3.3: Students’ needs in listening tasks related to communicative stress
As shown in the figure 3.3, 5 questions are answered in this issue When asked about amount of time to fulfill listening tasks, most of the students reported that they expected to have enough time to do the task 28% students supposed it very important and 57% thought it important The number of students chose the neutral option and not very important one are low (15%) No one thought it unimportant
Clearly, speed of the listening passage causes challenge for students It can be seen that the high percentage of agreement on ability to catch with the speed of the listening message in question 12 was remarked (87%) Once again, no students had choice of number 5, the same as question 11
As being shown in Figure 3.3, numbers of speakers in listening passage make students stuck in doing listening tasks Many speakers sometimes make listeners confused to differentiate the voice of each one Thus, limited number of speakers can contribute students‟ listening less complex Students shared their viewpoints with this statement, 21% of them considered it very important and 61% thought it important
Very important Important Neutral Not very important Unimportant
Regarding the length of listening texts, a majority of components had desire to listen to the text with suitable length to their level (85%) Happily, no one had choice of number 4 and 5
Lastly, task response aspects such as the format and length of response have effects on listening task complexity When being asked about this, students hoped to work with tasks with suitable responses to their level In detailed, the number of students supposed it “very important” and “important” are 32 % and 67 % respectively No one thought it “not very important” and “unimportant”
3.1.2 Evaluation of listening task complexity in the course book 3.1.2.1 Evaluation of listening task complexity in terms of code complexity
Figure 3.4: Ss’ evaluation on listening task complexity in terms of code complexity
20% 5% always often sometimes seldom never
Figure 3.5: Ts’ evaluation on listening task complexity in terms of code complexity
Figure 3.4 and 3.5 reveals students and teachers‟ judment on listening task complexity in the coursebook related to code complexity
CONCLUSION
Conclusion of the study
An evaluation on task complexity obviously plays a very important role in language teaching and learning The results from task complexity evaluation help to determine whether the set of tasks is suitable for a particular situation Clearly, most often task complexity evaluation is carried out to determine task complexity, choosing tasks with appropriate complexity level and arrange them in a reasoned way to foster language teaching and learning This is also the reasons for carrying out this study
In general, the findings have shown that regarding task complexity, listening tasks in the book meets the students‟ needs except for following points In terms of code complexity which is related to linguistic complexity and vocabulary load and variety, many students supposed that vocabulary load was not suitable to their level
Many of them could not also follow instructions of sound easily Regarding cognitive complexity, listening topics did not reach satisfaction of the students It was said that topics were often unfamiliar to the students Pre- listening was not effective when it could not access background knowledge of topic Moreover, activities in while- listening and post- listening were supposed not to be suitable to the students‟ level Regarding communicative stress, the speed of listening passages and the length of listening texts were not suitable to their level The students were also not content with formats and the length of responses
Based on the findings, this study can also give the following suggested recommendations to improve listening tasks in the course book with a hope of contribution to have listening tasks of appropriate complexity in a particular situation.
Recommendation to improve listening tasks in the book
In terms of code complexity, it is a good idea to reduce the load of vocabulary It appears that task complexity is related to a mount of lexis in the input text In teaching process, the researcher finds that provided vocabularies are often not suitable to the students‟ level Therefore, it is highly recommended that vocabulary should be suitable to meet the students‟ need
Apart from code complexity, cognitive complexity also contributes to listening task complexity Generally speaking, most of the factors on this issue reached students‟ satisfaction However, it is indicated that listening topics should be more familiar Clearly, the topic of the task is not familiar to the learner, and then it is hypothesized to be more complex Thus, the topics and the content of listening texts should be more closely related to the students‟ background knowledge Three stages in listening also play a considerable role in listening task The effectiveness and appropriate complexity of activities in three listening stage can foster listening process Undoubtedly, pre-listening stage prepares student by getting them to have a general thought about the topic or situation before they listen to the texts In pre- listening, the students should be provided with useful vocabulary and background knowledge in order to help them understand the listening passage better as well as widen their background and linguistic knowledge Moreover, appealing and interesting pictures should be added to help them access to new words better and background knowledge of the topic Related to activities in while- listening, it is recommended that the activities should be revised and modified in such a way that the difficulty level of the tasks was within their language level The students hope to expose a variety of tasks Some types of task such as gap- filling task or true/ fall task should be added
In terms of communicative stress, there are three issues which need to be changed One input characteristic that has received a significant amount of attention in the students is speed of listening passages Clearly, faster delivery of speech is assumed to cause complexity in listening tasks Therefore, the speed of listening passages should slow down for the students to catch up with In addition, some texts should be shorter to be suitable to non-English major students Lastly, responses are linked to listening task complexity There is an association between more complex task and lengthy, multiple- word answer Therefore, the listening responses should be produced in suitable format and length.
Limitations and suggestions for further studies
Although efforts have been made, some limitations are unavoidable during the process of doing the research The first one is that listening tasks in the book have been taught for all the non- major English students at HaUI in several years
However, the respondents of this thesis were limited to the students of the course 2015- 2016, who have just finished the book Therefore, their opinions about listening task complexity in the book might not 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
Brindley, G (1984) Needs Analysis and Objectives Setting in the Adult Migrant Education Program (p 31) Sydney: AMES
Brindley, J (1987) Factors affecting task difficulty.Guidelines for the development of curriculum resource (pp.45-56) Adelaide: National Curriculum Resource Center
Brinkman, S (2008) Interviewing The Sage Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods, pp.470 – 472 Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications,
Brown, J D (2001) Teaching by principle–an interactive approach to language pedagogy Addison Wesley Longman: New York
Brumfit, C (1984) Communicative methodology in language teaching Cambridge.Cambridge University Press
Buck, G (2001) Assessing Listening Cambridge University Press,
Bygate, M (2001) Effects of task repetition on the structure and control of oral language Researching pedagogic task: Second language learning, teaching, and testing (pp 23-48) Harlow: Longman
Candlin, C (1987) Towards task-based language learning Language learning tasks (pp.5-22) Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall
Crookes, G (1986) Task classification: A cross-disciplinary review
Technical report Honolulu: Center for Second Language Classroom Research, Social Science Research Institute, University of Hawai i at Manoa
Elder, C, Iwashita and McNamara, T (2002) “Estimating the difficulty of oral proficiency tasks: what does the test-taker have to offer?” Language testing, vol.19 no.4, pp 347- 368
Ellis, R (2003) Task-based language learning and teaching Oxford: Oxford University Press
Unpublished Ph D Dissertation University of Barcelona, Spain
Gilabert, R (2007) Effects of manipulating task complexity on self-repair during L2 oral production IRAL (45), 215-240
Goh, C (2000) A cognitive perspective on language learners' listening comprehension problems ELT Journal 28(1), pp 55-75
Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A (1987) English for Specific Purposes: A learning-centered approach (pp 21-97) Cambridge: Cambridge University
Liz, Soars, J., & Wheeldon, S (2000) New-headway series, third edition
Long, M (Ed.) (2007) Problems in SLA, Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum
Long, M H (1985) A role for instruction in second language acquisition:
Task based language teaching In K Hyltenstam & M Pienemann (Eds.),
Modeling and assessing second language acquisition (pp 77-79) Clevedon,
Mountford, A (1981) The what, the why and the way Aupelf/Goethe Institute Council, 1, pp 19-34
Nunan, D (1988) The learner-centered Curriculum (pp 14- 98) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Rahimpour, M (1997).Task complexity, task condition and variation in L2 oral discourse Unpublished PhD Thesis The University of Queensland,
Rahimpour, M (1999).Task complexity and variation in interlanguage In N
Jungheim& P Robinson (Eds.), Pragmatics and Pedagogy: Proceedings of the 3 rd Pacific Second Language Research Forum , 2, 115-134, Tokyo:
Robinson, P C (1991) ESP today: A practitioner’s Guide (pp 8 – 15) New York: Pentince Hall
Robinson, P (1995a) Task complexity and second language narrative discourse, Language Learning, 45(1), pp 99-140
Robinson, P (1995b) Attention, memory and the "noticing" hypothesis
Robinson, P (2001a) Task complexity, task difficulty, and task production: exploring interactions in a componential framework Applied
Robinson, P (2001b) Task complexity, cognitive resources, and syllabus design: A triadic framework for examining task influences on SLA In P
Robinson (Ed.), Cognition and second language instruction (pp.285-316)
Robinson, P (2003b) The cognition hypothesis, task design, and adult task - based language learning Second Language Studies, 21(2), pp 45-105
Robinson, P (2005a) Cognitive complexity and task sequencing: A review of studies in a componential framework for second language task design
International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 43(1): 1-33
Robinson, P (2007a) Criteria for grading and sequencing pedagogic tasks In investigating tasks in formal language learning, Maria Del Pilar Garcia Mayo
Robinson, P (2007c) Task complexity, theory of mind, and intentional reasoning: Effects on L2 speech production, interaction, uptake and perceptions of task difficulty IRAL, pp.193-213
Robinson, P., & Gilabert, R (2007) Task complexity, the Cognition Hypothesis and second language learning and performance RAL 45, pp.161-176
Skehan, P (1998a) Task-based instruction Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 18, pp 268-286
Skehan, P (1998b), A cognitive approach to language learning, Oxford
Skehan, P & Foster, P (2001) Cognition and tasks In Robinson, P (Ed.)
Cognition and second language instruction (pp 183-205) Cambridge:
Underwood, M (1989), Teaching listening New York: Longman
Vandergrift, L (1999) Facilitating second language listening comprehension: acquiring successful strategies ELT Journal 53(3), 168-76
Yagang, F (1994) Listening: Problems and solutions English Teaching
APPENDIX 1 LISTENING NEEDS ANALYSIS SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE
This questionnaire is designed in order to identify your needs when doing listening tasks Your assistance in completing the following items is greatly helpful and highly appreciated All the information provided by you is of great use and solely for the study purpose You can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data
What do you think of the importance of needs in doing listening tasks? Please tick
1: Very important 4: Not very important
1 Provided vocabularies are suitable to your level 2.New grammatical structures are easy to understand
3.You follow instructions of sounds(i.e vowels, consonants) easily
4.Topics are familiar to you
5.Types of task are familiar to you
6.Tasks are arranged level 7.Listening texts are well- organized
9.Pre- listening can access background knowledge of topic 10.Activities in while and post- listening are suitable to your level
11.You have enough time to fulfill listening tasks
12.The speed of listening passages are suitable to your level 13.You can differentiate the voice of speakers thanks to limited number of speaker 14.The length of listening texts are suitable to your level 15.Formats and the length of responses are suitable to your level
BẢNG CÂU HỎI PHÂN TÍCH VỀ NHU CẦU CỦA SINH VIÊN KHI LÀM
CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG NGHE HIỂU
Bảng câu hỏi này được thiết kế để tìm hiểu nhu cầu của bạn khi làm các hoạt động nghe hiểu Sự giúp đỡ của bạn khi hoàn thành các câu hỏi được đánh giá cao và rất hữu ích
Bạn nghĩ sao về tầm quan trọng của những nhu cầu này trong việc làm các hoạt động nghe trong giáo trình Hãy tích √ vào ô tương ứng
1: Rất quan trọng 4: Không rất quan trọng 2: Quan trọng 5: Không quan trọng 3: Trung lập
Nhu cầu liên quan đến sự phức tạp của ngôn ngữ và từ vựng trong các hoạt động
1 Từ vựng trong bài nghe phù hợp với trình độ
2 Các cấu trúc ngữ pháp mới trong bài dễ hiểu
3 Nắm bắt được các âm dễ dàng ( nguyên âm, phụ âm)
Nhu cầu liên quan đến sự phức tạp thuộc về nhận thức
4 Các chủ đề nghe quen thuộc
5 Các dạng hoạt động nghe quen thuộc
6 Các hoạt động được sắp xếp từ dễ tới khó
7 Thông tin của bài nghe được tổ chức tốt
8 Phần hướng dẫn trong các hoạt động nghe tốt
9 Tiếp cận được với kiến thức căn bản liên quan đến chủ đề thông qua hoạt động trước khi nghe
10 Các bài tập trong phần nghe và phần sau nghe phù hợp với trình độ
Nhu cầu liên quan đến áp lực giao tiếp
11 Có đủ thời gian để thực hiện các hoạt động nghe
12 Tốc độ bài nghe phù hợp với trình độ
13 Có thể phân biêt được giọng của từng người trong bài nghe vì số lượng người nói ít
14 Độ dài của bài nghe phù hợp với trình độ
15 Độ dài và dạng của câu trả lời trong bài tập phù hợp với trình độ
APPENDIX 2 SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS
This questionnaire is designed in order to gain your evaluation of listening task complexity in the coursebook New Headway Pre- intermediate which is taught listening skill for the non – majored English students at HaUI Your assistance in completing the following items is greatly helpful and highly appreciated
Here is a checklist for evaluating listening task complexity in the textbook New Headway Pre- intermediate to teach listening skill for the non – majored English students at HaUI Please tick √ the appropriate box
1 Provided vocabularies are not suitable to your level 2.New grammatical structures are difficult to understand 3.You cannot follow instructions of sounds(i.e vowels, consonants) easily
4.Topics are unfamiliar to you 5.Types of task are unfamiliar to you
6.Tasks are not arranged according to difficulty level
7.Listening texts are not well- organized
8.Tasks are not well- instructed
9.Pre- listening cannot access background knowledge of topic 10.Activities in while and post- listening are not suitable to your level
11.Listening time allowance is limited 12.The speed of listening passages is too fast for you to catch up with
13.There are so many speakers that you cannot differentiate the voice of each one
14.Listening texts are so long
15.Formats and the length of responses are not suitable to your level
BẢNG CÂU HỎI NGHIÊN CỨU CHO SINH VIÊN
Bảng câu hỏi này được thiết kế để lấy sự đánh giá của bạn về sự phức tạp của các hoạt động nghe trong quyển sách New Headway Pre- intermediate để học kĩ năng nghe tại trường Đại học Công Nghiệp Hà Nôi Sự giúp đỡ của bạn khi hoàn thành các câu hỏi được đánh giá cao và rất có ích Đây là các câu đánh giá về sự phức tạp của các hoạt động nghe trong quyển sách
Hãy tích √ vào cột tương ứng
2: Thường xuyên 5: Không bao giờ
Sự phức tạp của các hoạt động nghe liên quan đến ngôn ngữ và từ vựng
1 Từ vựng trong bài nghe không phù hợp với trình độ
2 Các cấu trúc ngữ pháp mới khó hiểu
3 Khó nắm bắt đươc các âm ( nguyên âm, phụ âm)
Sự phức tạp liên quan tới nhận thức
4 Chủ đề nghe không quen thuộc
5 Các dạng bài tập lạ, chưa từng gặp
6 Các hoạt động không được sắp xếp từ dễ tới khó
7 Thông tin của bài nghe không được tổ chức tốt
8 Phần hướng dẫn trong các hoạt động không tốt
9 Không thể tiếp cận được với kiến thức căn bản liên quan đến chủ đề thông qua hoạt động trước khi nghe
10 Các hoạt động/ bài tập ở phần nghe và phần sau nghe không phù hợp với trình độ
Sự phức tạp của hoạt động nghe liên quan đến áp lực giao tiếp
11 Thời gian nghe bị giới hạn
12 Tốc độ của bài nghe quá nhanh
13 Có nhiều người nói trong bài nghe nên không thể phân biệt được giọng của từng người
15 Độ dài và dạng câu trả lời không phù hợp với trình độ
APPENDIX 3 SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS
This questionnaire is designed in order to gain your evaluation of listening task complexity in the coursebook New Headway Pre- intermediate to teach listening skill for the non – majored English students at HaUI Your assistance in completing the following items is greatly helpful and highly appreciated
Here is a checklist for evaluating listening task complexity in the textbook New Headway Pre- intermediate to teach listening skill for the non – majored English students at HaUI Please tick √ the appropriate box
1 Provided vocabularies are not suitable to learners‟ level
2 New grammatical structures are difficult to understand
3 Learners cannot follow instructions of sounds(i.e vowels, consonants) easily
4 Topics are unfamiliar to learners
5 Types of task are unfamiliar to learner complexity arranged according to difficulty level
7 Listening texts are not well- organized
8 Tasks are not well- instructed
9 Pre- listening cannot access background knowledge of topic
10 Activities in while and post- listening are not suitable to learners
11 Listening time allowance is limited
12 The speed of listening passages is too fast for learners to catch up with
13 There are so many speakers that learners cannot differentiate the voice of each one
14 Listening texts are so long
15 Formats and the length of responses are not suitable to learners‟ level
16 How should listening tasks in the textbook be changed in order to meet your students’ need?
APEENDIX 4 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS
Question 1: What do you need when doing listening tasks?
Question 2: How would you like to change listening tasks in the coursebook New Headway Pre- intermediate to help you study better?
Câu hỏi 1: Nhu cầu của em khi làm các hoạt động nghe hiểu là gì?
Câu hỏi 2: Em muốn thay đổi các hoạt đông nghe trong giáo trình New Headway Pre intermediate như thế nào để có thể học tốt hơn?
APEENDIX 5 Câu 1: Nhu cầu của sinh viên khi làm các hoạt động nghe hiểu trong sách
S1: Em muốn được làm các bài tập nghe trong sách phù hợp với trình độ của mình
Số lượng từ mới trong bài nghe vừa phải để bọn em có thể nhớ và học được
S2: Em muốn được tiếp cận với các bài tâp 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: Em muốn được học các chủ đề nghe quen thuộc với chúng em hơn
S4: Em mong trước khi nghe được giới thiệu nhiều hơn về nội dung sắp nghe và từ mới trong đoạn nghe
S5: Em mong thầy cô thiết kế các bài nghe để phù hợp với khả năng của chúng em
S6: Em mong muốn là tốc độ bài nghe phù hợp với chúng em
S7: Em muốn bài nghe ngắn hơn để chúng em tập trung nghe
S8: Em muốn các câu hỏi trong bài tâp nghe phù hợp với chúng em Câu trả lời kiểu chọn đáp án thì em thích làm hơn
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 muốn được nghe các bài nghe có tốc độ không nhanh quá, từ mới trong các bài nghe vừa phải để em có thể nhớ đươc ạ
Câu 2: Các hoạt đông nghe trong giáo trình 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: Em nghĩ là các bài tập nghe phải phù hợp với trình độ của bọn em hơn Em nghĩ là dạng bài chọn đáp án đúng sai và điển từ rất hay nhưng trong phần nghe lại không có
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
