Luận văn thạc sĩ VNU ULIS students english listening anxiety causes and solutions

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES LÊ THỊ THU HUYỀN STUDENTS’ ENGLISH LISTENING ANXIETY: CAUSES AND SOLUTIONS (Lo lắng sinh viên học nghe: nguyên nhân giải pháp) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Course: K17 Supervisor: LÊ VĂN CANH Hanoi, 2010 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com v TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements i Declaration ii Abstract iii List of tables iv Table of contents v PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Research Justification Purpose of the Study Research Questions Significance of the Study Scope of the Study Structure of the Thesis PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW Overview of Anxiety 4 1.1 Definition and Types of Anxiety 1.2 Foreign Language Anxiety 1.3 Components of Foreign Language Anxiety 1.3.1 Communication Apprehension: 1.3.2 Test Anxiety 1.3.3 Fear of Negative Evaluation Overview of Listening Comprehension 2.1 Definition of Listening Comprehension 2.2 Significance of Listening Comprehension 2.3 The Listening Comprehension Process: 2.3.1 Two Levels View: Bottom-up and Top-down Processing 2.3.2 A Sequential Process of Listening Listening Anxiety 10 3.1 Related Studies of Language Anxiety in Listening Skill 10 3.2 Causes of Listening Anxiety 10 3.2.1 Listening Anxiety associated with Listening Text Factors 12 a) Complexity and Difficulty of the Lexis and Syntax 13 b) Uninterested or Unfamiliar Topic 13 c) Visual Support 13 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com vi 3.2.2 Listening Anxiety associated with Speakers factors 13 a) Fast Speech Rate 14 b) Phonological Modifications 14 c) Unfamiliar Accents 14 d) Hesitation and Pause Phenomena (usually grouped together) 15 3.2.3 Listening Anxiety associated with Listener Factors 15 a) Limited Vocabulary 16 b) Memory 16 c) Background knowledge 16 d) Application of Strategies 16 3.2.4 Listening Anxiety associated with Listening Environment 3.3 Instructional Approaches for Listening Anxiety Reduction CHAPTER II: THE STUDY 17 17 17 Participants 19 Data Gathering Instruments 19 Procedures 19 Techniques of Data Analysis 19 Data Analysis and Findings 20 5.1 Students’ Attitudes toward Listening Skills 20 5.2 Students’ General Listening Anxiety 21 a) Students’ feelings about their listening skills 21 b) Reasons for their feelings about listening skills 22 5.3 Listening anxiety associated with each listening factors 23 5.3.1 Listening Anxiety associated with Listening Text factors 23 5.3.2 Listening Anxiety associated with Speakers factors 25 5.3.3 Listening Anxiety associated with Listeners factors 27 5.3.4 Listening Anxiety associated with Listening Environment 29 PART C: CONCLUSION 31 Summary of the findings 31 Suggestions for classroom practice 34 2.1 Solutions related to Listening Text 34 2.2 Solutions related to Speakers 35 2.3 Solutions related to Listeners 36 2.4 Solutions related to Listening Environment 39 Limitations and suggestions for further research 39 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com vii REFERENCES 40 Appendix 1: Questionnaire 43 Appendix 2: Informal Interview 46 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com iv LIST OF TABLES Tables Titles Pages Table Students’ attitudes toward listening skills 20 Table Students’ feelings about their listening skills 21 Table Reasons for their feelings about listening skills 22 Table Listening Anxiety associated with Listening Text Factors 23 Table Listening Anxiety associated with Speakers Factors 25 Table Listening Anxiety associated with Listeners Factors 28 Table Listening Anxiety associated with Listening Environment 30 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION Research Justification  Listening was taught, but very little at secondary school I didn’t pay attention to listening, but grammar because there’s no listening in University Entrance Examination However, listening is one of main major subjects at the university, thus I feel very worried while learning it (S12)  I feel nervous in listening classes I forget what I’ve heard (S19)  I listen very badly (S5)  I get nervous in listening class because I cannot completely comprehend.(21)  I am really disappointed with my English ability…(S30) (Quoted from the interview of this study) Teachers and researchers of foreign language are too familiar with statements like the ones above, which indicate a common problem that the majority of foreign language students are faced with It is well recognised that foreign language anxiety is a rather pervasive phenomenon (Aida, 1994) Although language anxiety could be considered as facilitating anxiety that motivates learners, many language teachers and researchers have been concerned about the possibility that anxiety may function as an affective filter (Krashen, 1982), preventing a learner from achieving a high level of proficiency in a foreign language (Scovel 1991) Anxiety should be reduced because anxious students are not able to develop their potential foreign language skills Reducing anxiety is a key to success in foreign or second language learning It ―directly influences how often students use second language learning strategies, how much students interact with native speakers, how much input they receive in the language being learned (the target language), how well they on curriculum-related achievement tests, how high their general proficiency level becomes, and how long they preserve and maintain second language skills after language study is over ‖ (Oxford and Shearin, 1996, p.121-122) According to a survey conducted in the author‘s classes of first-year English majors at Hong Duc University, overwhelmingly 83% of the students thought listening was the most difficult skill of the four basic language skills; 100% of them disagreed with the statement ―I am completely satisfied with my current listening ability‖ This showed that learner anxiety in listening is a great concern Hence, it is really valuable to think about the causes of first year English major students at Hong Duc University in listening class and at the same time the ways to minimize the harmful effect, so that the teaching and LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com learning can be more effective and fruitful especially for those anxious learners This is my motivation in conducting this study Purpose of the Study The major purpose of the research is to find out why the first year English major students at Hong Duc University feel anxious or embarrassed while listening to English In other words, this study seeks to identify the factors or causes that make students stressful and nervous while listening to English in the language classroom setting This includes considering the factors that originate from listening text, listeners, speakers, and listening environment The second most important aim of this study is to find out and suggest some solutions in order to alleviate English listening anxiety in the students Research Questions The research is carried out with an attempt to address the following research questions:  What are the possible causes that make the first-year English major students at Hong Duc University anxious and nervous while listening to English?  What are possible solutions that may reduce listening anxiety of the students? Significance of the Study Foreign language anxiety is a universal phenomenon that has a significant factor adversely affecting the language learning process This study could be of considerable interest to teachers and students at Hong Duc University: (1) to improve the teachers‘ theoretical understanding of foreign language anxiety, especially causes of listening anxiety; (2) to enhance the students‘ awareness of causes of listening anxiety they encounter in foreign language, and from this they can manage their anxiety level in other language skills This study is also significant with respect to the understanding of the students‘ anxiety and the causes of that anxiety, thereby solutions can be suggested to help learners reduce their listening anxiety Hopefully, all given solutions will be more motivating for the students to learn and make progress in listening 1.5 Scope of the Study A study of the students‘ listening anxiety is such a broad issue investigated by many authors However, in my study, I will focus on the students‘ listening anxiety – its causes and solutions: A study of the first year English majors in the Department of Foreign Language, Hong Duc University, Thanh Hoa 1.6 Structure of the Thesis The thesis is divided into three parts: LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Part is the introduction, which presents the research justification, the purpose, the research questions, scope and the structure of the thesis Part is the development which includes two chapters Chapter one review the literature in terms of foreign language anxiety in general and listening anxiety in particular Chapter two presents the study Part is the conclusion which presents a summary of the study and concluding comments derived from the findings of the study It also discusses the limitation of the study and suggestions for further research Finally, some solutions to reduce listening anxiety are suggested LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW The main aim of this chapter is to review the literature on second language anxiety in general and listening anxiety in particular The chapter starts with a literature review on anxiety This is followed by an overview of listening comprehension The end of the chapter is a discussion of listening comprehension anxiety Overview of Anxiety 1.1 Definition and Types of Anxiety ―Anxiety is a psychological construct, commonly described by psychologists as a state of apprehension, a vague fear that is only indirectly associated with an object‖ (Hilgard, Atkinson, & Atkinson, 1971 cited in Scovel, 1991: 18) In another definition, Scovel (1978: 134) suggests that anxiety is associated with feelings of uneasiness, frustration, self-doubt, apprehension, or worry Spielberger (1983), as cited in Horwitz, E.K., Horwitz, M.B, and Cope, J (1986: 125), defines anxiety as ―the subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with an arousal of the autonomic nervous system‖ According to many psychologists, anxiety can be experienced at three perspectives The first one is trait anxiety, which is defined as an individual‘s likelihood of becoming anxious in any situation (Spielberger,1983 cited in MacIntyre et al 1991, p.87) Some people are generally anxious about many things in a number of different situations Therefore, state anxiety is viewed as ―a steady personality feature‖ (Brown, 2007) Its negative effects are thought to ―impair cognitive functioning, to disrupt memory, to lead to avoidance behaviors, and to have several other effects‖ (Eysenck,1979, in MacIntyre et al 1991: 87) The second perspective is state anxiety which is ―interested in the here-and-now experience of anxiety as an emotional state‖ (MacIntyre et al 1991, p.87) State anxiety is an apprehension experienced at a particular moment in time, for example, prior to taking examinations (Spielberger, 1983, cited in MacIntyre et al 1991, p.90) Finally, situation-specific anxiety is related to apprehension unique to specific situations and events such as public speaking, examinations, or class participation (Ellis, 1994:480) The last one seems likely to be more closely related to attempts to learn a foreign language and communicate in it 1.2 Foreign Language Anxiety Research on the affective factors in second language acquisition has been mounting steadily for a number of decades because students are ―physical and cognitive, but LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com primarily emotional, being‖ (Rogers, cited in Brown, 2007: 97) ―Among the affective factors influencing language learning, anxiety ranks high‖ (Arnold, 1999: 59) The construct of anxiety has been recognized as one of the most important predictors of foreign language performance Foreign language anxiety is a universal phenomenon that has a significant factor adversely affecting the language learning process Gardner & MacIntyre (1993, cited in Arnold 1999:59) refer to language anxiety as ―fear or apprehension occurring when a learner is expected to perform in the second or foreign language." Scholars have studied anxiety and its effect on foreign language learning for many years However, ―for all the work conducted in this area, many fundamental questions remain unanswered‖ (Speilmann & Radnofsky, 2001) ―Teachers have long been aware of the fact that many of their students experience discomfort in the course of language learning [yet] researchers have been unable to establish a clear picture of how anxiety affects language learning and performance (Horwitz and Young, 1991, p xiii) Alpert and Haber (1966) determined that anxiety could have a beneficial or facilitative effect on student performance (as cited in Elkhafaifi, 2005, p.208) In 1977, , Kleinmmann‘s (cited in Aida, 1994) study of Spanish-speaking and Arabic-speaking ESL students found that facilitating anxiety was correlated with students‘ oral production of linguistically difficult (thus challenging) English structures (e.g., infinitive complements and passive sentences) However, there was no evidence that debilitating anxiety negatively influenced oral performance Spielmann and Radnofsky (2001) concluded that anxiety has a detrimental effect on language acquisition Horwitz (2001) reiterated that the issue of understanding the relationship between anxiety and achievement is unresolved Horwitz, E.K., Horwitz, M.B, and Cope, J (1986) conceptualize foreign language anxiety as ‗a distinct complex of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors related to classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning processes‖ (p.128) 1.3 Components of Foreign Language Anxiety Horwitz et al (1986) integrated three related anxieties to their conceptualization of foreign language anxiety: communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation This conceptualization lay the foundations for the concept of second/ foreign language anxiety, providing an insight to comprehend the sources or causes it can originate from LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 33 while listening to spoken message Meeting new words while listening may cause students to miss out on other things and fail to comprehend the overall message well Uninterested and unfamiliar topics are also believed to increase the students‘ listening anxiety Students got tired quickly, and then could not concentrate on listening process Besides, without the help of visual support, students found it more difficult to comprehend what was delivered by the speakers They believed that visual support motivated them to get involved in the listening process because visual support reminded them of linguistic and knowledge related to the topic (2) The second cause of listening anxiety comes from the speakers The study showed that the students had a tendency to be highly anxious in listening classes when hearing the natural speech which was delivered in fast speed, full of hesitation and pause, in varied accents, as spoken by the native speakers Some students were so discouraged that they only wanted to quit from the listening classes (3) The difficulties come from learners such as limited vocabulary, weak memory, lack of background knowledge and ineffective application of listening strategies are the third cause of listening anxiety that was investigated in the study Ineffective application of listening strategies such as listening for the general idea or predicting has been found to be the highly anxiety provoking that impede listening process of the student Some students tried to listen to every word, they were so busy finding on the meaning of unknown word, and then miss the next parts Consequently, they got upset and wanted to quit Moreover, they were not familiar with the target language‘ culture, or in another words, they lacked necessary background knowledge which lead to misunderstanding or inability to comprehend what was heard Besides, it is due to the lack of necessary vocabulary related to the topic, students got embarrassed when they were unable to retain enough necessary information of the spoken message in their short-term memory (4) The last factor pertained to listening environment, which is considered as one of the main causes of discomfort for both teachers and students Unclear sound from any reasons such as poor-quality tape recorder, poor classroom conditions or outside noises created difficulty in comprehending the spoken message, and lead to their frustration in listening activities Based on the findings of the present study, it is safe to conclude that students in the study seem to face great pressure while listening to the target language The main causes of this highly anxiety among the students may be attributed to several reasons such as perceived difficulties of listening comprehension coming from listening text factors, LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 34 speakers factors, listeners and listening environment factors These negative feelings slow down their normal thinking speed and distract their concentration, thus resulting in dull atmosphere and poor foreign language performance Suggestions for classroom practice The findings of this study raise several possible solutions for foreign language teaching and learning in order to reduce the negative effects of anxiety on the students so as to better facilitate students with their English learning However, not all the problems described above can be overcome such as certain features of the listening text and the speakers But this does not mean that the teachers cannot anything to solve them They can at least offer the students with suitable listening text, background and linguistic knowledge, unconstrained atmosphere, and useful exercises of various types to help them discover effective listening strategies Accordingly, here are possible solutions to cope with the above-mentioned causes of listening anxiety and they are classified into four categories as follows: 2.1 Solutions related to Listening Text : Provide diversified and suitable listening texts The findings indicate that high anxiety is detrimental to performance on difficult listening texts It follows that there is a great need for low-anxiety listening texts that increase student confidence and prospects for success Great care needs to be taken when selecting listening texts, which are appropriate and interesting for students so that it can create more opportunities for students to experience, at least, small success in the target language If the students are attracted by the listening message, they will have incentive to make greater efforts The following points should be taken into account regarding the choice of listening materials: (1) Authentic materials should not be much more difficult than the students‘ level, as too advanced speech will not be comprehensible for students Listening messages of simulated real-life situation are usually of great interest to the students (2) Besides using textbooks, teachers should provide a wide range of materials to help students increase listening content such as live talk, lectures, radio news, English songs, films, TV plays, interview, announcement, story-telling, everyday conversations, and so on The language should be real with current expressions and natural hesitations, repetitions and so on (3) Teacher should provide different styles of listening exercise (multi-choices questions, gap-filling, note-taking, etc.) in order to avoid the boredom because of the identity and repetition of exercise patterns LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 35 (4) Different contents, such as environment, shopping, health, food, and so on, should be provided to improve students‘ vocabulary and syntactic structure and background knowledge It is useful to be introduced the syntactic structure of the target language and its uses before they are required to listen for the meaning As soon as students have been familiar with the vocabulary and syntactic structure, they will have more opportunities to succeed in listening process (5) Try to find visual aids associated with the listening topics to help students guess or imagine actively, to remind them of the ideas and language they may know but have temporarily forgotten 2.2 Solutions related to Speakers The other main obstacle to successful and rewarding L2 listening learning process among the students is difficulties proceed from listening messages which are delivered in fast speech rate, full of hesitation, pause, assimilation, elision, and so on, at varied accents It is due to the fact that students lack exposure to natural English and have little opportunities to interact with English native speaker To solve these problems, the author offers some solutions below: (1) As far as pronunciation is concerned, teachers should help students get accustomed to how English is spoken out by the English native speaker from listening to authentic recorded materials Teachers need to adopt the bottom-up processing mode, which emphasize on linguistic information at lexical and syntactic level Two forms of pronunciation exercises should be available in the listening classes First, exercises that help distinguish the pronunciation of every single word Second, exercises that show students when words are put together to make sentence in informal speech (such as assimilation, elision, contraction, weak forms or strong form, etc.) Students benefit from recognizing every single word and rules of combining words (2) With reference to fast speech rate, teacher should encourage students to practice listening to English authentic texts every free time (inside and outside the classroom) to make familiarize with the nature feature of the spoken English To identify the stress, liaison and elision of words in speech Teacher should give them some common phenomenon of how real-English is pronounced (3) Imitating the ways English is pronounced is suggested a good way to gain good pronunciation Therefore, students should listen to the spoken English, imitate it, record their imitation, and then compare what they have pronounced with what the LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 36 native speaker did to revise Gradually, students would also be used to features of spoken English and would understand listening material more effectively (4) When listening process finishes, teacher may help students shadow-read the tapescript, i.e., they read the script with the tape This activity helps students familiar with natural and normal speech which is delivered in different stress, pronunciation, fast speech rate, varied accents, expressions, etc 2.3 Solutions related to Listeners The result shows that the students were anxious due to some certain difficulties while listening to English such as limited vocabulary, weak memory, lack of background knowledge, and ineffective application of listening strategies Students experiencing anxiety when listening to English may be less effective at processing information Therefore, in order to lessen students‘ listening anxiety, teachers can teach in a manner that makes information easier to process However, it is not an easy task for EFL teachers Here are a few helpful ideas: (1) providing background knowledge and linguistic knowledge - Teachers need to build students‘ awareness about intercultural communication Teachers need to provide background knowledge and syntactic structures which are relevant to the listening topic, especially when the topics demand cultural backgrounds that differ from that of the student Teachers need to highlight the major role in the interpretation of discourse and energize students‘ involvement in different cultures, too Surely, students understand the context of the discourse before listening to spoken messages This would make the listening task easier so that students get all students involved in the listening process - Here are some types of pre-listening activities which may enrich students‘ background knowledge such as: questioning and discussing about the listening topic, making a list of possibilities, describing a picture, etc (they are suggested to be done in groups) (2) Teaching listening strategies - The bottom-up processing is believed to improve the students‘ linguistic knowledge; however, teachers should not ignore the importance of top-down processing and listening strategies The study showed that students were always trying to follow the spoken language word by word, busy on recognizing a word or a phrase they haven‘t understood, and then miss the next part of the tape; or try to translate what is heard into their mother tongue This habit should be discouraged LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 37 They should be encouraged to listen for general understanding first rather than trying to pick out details immediately - Students were unable to apply listening strategies effectively such as predicting what a speaker is going to say, getting the general ideas, and so on To improve the students‘ listening strategies, teachers should design some listening activities purposefully in order to lead students to get the information with certain purpose and option To enhance the ability to take gist, students should know which the prerequisite of understanding the whole discourse are, or which is the most important, for example, listening for time, places, events, names, etc To extract the main idea of the message, students should pay attention to the topic sentence, the concluding sentence and the transitional terms - To help students predict what is coming next, teachers, firstly, need to provide them background knowledge before recorded material is played and secondly, help them associate this prior knowledge with the clues from what they have heard to make a successful guess The clues can be the heard words, printed words, the speaker‘s mood or attitude, the interpretation of stress, intonation, loudness, pictures, etc - Teachers should not focus in too many strategies on each lesson One or two strategies will much help so that students will value the importance of applying the strategies in developing their overall listening skills and their English proficiency (3) Increase students‘ retention of information - In order to reach full comprehension, teacher should help students increase the speed of short-term memory and put the short-term information into long-term memory Factors affecting students‘ retention of information are vocabulary, syntax, amount of information that has to be processed and the amount of time available Thus, processing a lesser amount of information for a longer time would reduce excessive memory load, and then retain information longer The information asked for should relate to specific problems or a specific situation The length of time should be approximately 10-15 minutes - Repetition and dictation are of high practical value to extend the span of short-term memory To save information longer, information should be periodically repeated, or rehearsed During dictation, the text is split up into phrases or chunks of several words, students need to consciously remember as much words as they can at a time so as to write down the whole sentences correctly LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 38 - The skill of jotting something down is also much helpful for retaining concepts Teacher should train students to cultivate the habit of writing down the main ideas and important details such as the time, the place, the number, the participants and concentrate on the main point and important information in a passage Besides, they should know how to write the minimum to give sufficient meaning such as Latin abbreviations and special symbols (4) build up an unconstrained atmosphere and motivate students - Teachers need to bear in mind that most students bring their fear and stress to the listening class Therefore, during listening practice, teacher should make the listening class go on in an enjoyable and relaxing way, where both students and teachers can breathe freely; otherwise no teaching method will work It is suggested that teachers‘ behavior such as appropriate eye contact, gestures, movement about the classroom, sense of humor, and enthusiasm are highly-effective teaching behaviors which can help students alleviate their discomfort when listening to English Teachers also need to make clear instruction so that listening material makes sense, vocabulary is not hard or jargon any more Teachers should be willing to help students whenever necessary, in supportive manner, rather than as a correction - ask students to give feedback when everything is still fresh in students‘ mind Giving feedback help students know how well they have performed in the listening task, where students failed to comprehend or missed important things, and discuss why these happen From that they make an effort for the next listening lesson Teachers‘ positive and supportive feedback is really helpful in alleviating students‘ anxiety - Teachers should use praise regularly when students something right or something well, and then encourage them trying to force themselves to communicate ―Don‘t panic! Don‘t worry about your mistake! Let‘s see mistake as a friend! Without practice, you can not get improvement!‖ or something like that are actually positive encouragement expression, which teachers can give to students to help them feel more confident Positive comments to students always encourage them to their best When a student sees that a teacher is fond of his/her ideas, he/she will try to better When students make mistake, teachers should make an effort to respond appropriately - Encourage students face listening difficulties, adjust their states of mind, breathe freely, establish realistic goals when listening to English LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 39 - encourage students work in pairs or small groups to help each other Because it is believed that ―pair- and groupwork help remove some of the feelings of isolation and anxiety, and can make listening into a more pleasurable activity.‖ (Underwood, 1989, p.27) 2.4 Solutions related to Listening Environment Choosing a suitable listening text is only the first step, a great care of environment factors need to be taken to help students hear clearly and comfortably - Selecting high-quality recordings and playing them on adequate equipment with a moderately powerful amplifier A pair of speakers designed to fill a room of that size is also helpful The equipment should be efficiently operated because teachers have to start, stop, pause and rewind the tape during the listening practice - Closing all the doors and windows to cut out the background noise and to absorb the best-quality sound - Adjusting the volume so that every student sitting anywhere in the classroom hear clearly and comfortably In conclusion, the part discusses some major findings and limitations of the research, and suggestions for further research It concludes with the possible solutions, which are believed to help students reduce listening anxiety Limitations and suggestions for further research It was acknowledged that there were some inevitable limitations of the study One is that sample size is small The investigation focused on only thirty students who are studying in the Faculty of Foreign Language, Hong Duc University It might not be representative of all university students Another limitation is the self-designed questionnaire that needs to be further validated Therefore, both internal reliability and external reliability of the data might be a problem All subjects in the study viewed listening skill as the most difficult one, whereas many teachers think that listening is not difficult to teach Future study should explore teachers‘ belief about students‘ listening anxiety to find out the gap between teachers and students‘ beliefs about listening anxiety Correlational studies to identify the correlation between students‘ listening proficiency and their anxiety are highly recommended LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 40 REFERENCES Aida, Y (1994) Examination of Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope‘s construct of foreign language anxiety: The case of students of Japansese Modern Language Journal, 78, ii, 155-168 Anderson, J R (1983) The architecture of cognition Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press Anderson, J.R 1985 Cognitive psychology and its implications [M] New York: W.H.Freeman Anderson, A and Lynch, T (1988) Listening Oxford University Press Arnold, J 1999 Affect in language learning Cambridge University Press Aydin, S (2008) An investigation on the language anxiety and fear of negative evaluation among Turkish EFL Learners Asian EFL Journal, Teaching Articles, 421—444 Brown, H.D (1994) Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy London: Prentice Hall Regents Brown, S (2006) Teaching listening Cambridge University Press Brown, G and G Yule 1983 Teaching the spoken language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Buck, G (2001) Assessing listening Cambridge University Press Call, M 1985 Auditory short-term memory, listening comprehension, and the input hypothesis TESOL Quarterly 19, 765–81 Chang & Read, J (2008) Reducing listening test anxiety through various forms of listening support Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language June 2008, 12, Chastain, K (1971) Developing second-language skills: Theory to practice Chicage: Nally College Publishing Djiwandono, P.I.( 2006) Cooperative listening as a means to promote strategic listening comprehension English teaching Forum, 3, 36 Ellis, R 1994 Instructed second language learning Blackwell Elkhafaifi, H (2005) Listening comprehension and anxiety in the Arabic language classroom The modern Language Journal, 89(2), 206-220 Hatch, E (1983) Psycholinguistics: A second language perspective Rowley, MA: Newbury House Helgesen, M and Brown, S (2007) Practical English language teaching: Listening The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 41 Horwitz, E.K., Horwitz, M.B, and Cope, J (1986) Foreign language classroom anxiety Modern language journal, 70, 125-132 Horwitz, E.K & Young, D.J (Eds) (1991) Language anxiety: From theory and research to classroom implications Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Horwitz, E.K (2001) Language anxiety and achievement Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 21, 112-126 Goh, C ( ) How much learners know about the factors that influence their listening comprehension? Retrieved March 1, 2010 from http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkjo/view/5/500059.pdf Goh, C (1998) How ESL learners with different listening strategies use comprehension strategies and tactics Language Teaching Research, 2(2), 124-147 Kelch, K (1985) Modified input as an aid to comprehension Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 1, 81-90 Krashen, S (1980) The theoretical and practical relevance of simple codes in second language acquisition In R Scarcella and S Krashen (Eds.) Research in Second Language Acquisition Rowley, Ma.: Newbury House pp 7-18 Krashen, S 1982 Principles and practice in second language acquisition New York: Pergamon Press Lucas, J (1984) Communication apprehension in the ESL classroom: Getting other students to talk Foreign Language Annals, 17, 593-598 MacIntyre, P.D., & Gardner, R.C (1991) Methods and results in the study of anxiety and language learning: A review of the literature Language Learning, 41, 1, 85-117 McGroskey, James C (1984) ―The Communication apprehension perspective‖ Avoiding Communication: Shyness, Reticen, and Communication Apprehnsion Ed John A Daly & James C McCroskey Beverly Hills, CA: SAGE: 13-38 Nunan, D (2002) Listening in language learning In J.C Richards & W.A Renandya (Eds.), Methodology in language teaching: An anthology of current practice (pp 238-241) Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press Oxford, R.L., 1990 Language learning strategies: What every teacher should know New York: Heinle and Heinle Oxford, R L., & Shearin, J (1996) Language learning motivation in a new key In R Oxford (Ed.), Language learning motivation: Pathways to the new century (Technical Report #11), (pp.120-160) Honolulu:University of Hawaii Press Rivers, W (1966) Listening comprehension The Modern Language Journal, 80, 196-204 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 42 Rivers, W (1981) Teaching foreign language skills Chicago: University of Chicago Press Rixon, Shelagh (1986) Developing listening skills Macmillan Publishers Ltd Rost, M (1994) Introducing listening London: Penguin Rost, M (2002) Teaching and researching listening London: Longman Ross, J 2007 Designing lessons for EFL listening comprehension classes English Teacher Forum, Number Rubin, J (1994) A review of second language listening comprehension research The modern Language Journal 78 (2), 199-220 Sarason, I G (1978) The test anxiety scale: concept and research In C D Spielberger & I G Sarason (Eds.), Stress and anxiety (Vol 5) Washington, DC: Hemisphere Publishing Corp Scovel, T (1978) The effect of affect on foreign language learning: A review of the anxiety research Language Learning, 28, 129-42 Scovel, T (1991) ―The Effect of Affect on Foreign Language Learning: A Review of the Anxiety Research‖, in Horwitz, E.K, & Young, D.J (eds.) Language Anxiety: From Theory and Research to Classroom Implications Englewood Cliffs, NJ:Prentice Hall, pp 15-24 Schmidt-Reinhart, B C (1994) The effects of topic familiarity on second language listening comprehension The Modern Language Journal 78(2), 179-189 Spielmann, H., & Radnofsky, M.L (2001) Learning language under tension: New directions from a qualitative study Modern Language Journal, 85, 259-278 Vogely, A J (1998) Listening comprehension anxiety: Students‘ reported sources and solutions Foreign Language Annals, 31, 67–80 Underwood, M (1990) Teaching listening New York : Longman Ur, P 1984 Teaching listening comprehension Cambridge: Cambridge Universtiy Press Yagang, F 1994 ―Listening: problems and solutions‖ January, pp 189-96 In Kral (ed.) Young, D.J (1991) Creating a low anxiety classroom environement: What does language anxiety research suggest? The Modern Alnguage Journal, 75, 426-43 Wang Hong-yu (2009, Feb) Exploration on college students‘ reluctance to participate in group discussion in EFL listening and speaking classes Sino-US Teaching, ISSN1539-8072, USA., 6, (Serial No.62) Willis, J (1981) Teaching English through English London: Longman LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 43 Appendix 1: QUESTIONNAIRE Dear Participants, We’re undertaking a research project on what makes students feel anxious or nervous while listening to English This questionnaire is aimed to understand what causes your anxiety while listening to English Please answer ALL the questions as truly as you can Your responses are not assessed or marked and they are used confidentially for the research purpose only Thank you for your cooperation Part I Put a tick (√) in the “True” column if the statement is TRUE to you and in the “False” column if it is NOT true to you 10 I feel nervous when I listen to English if … speakers speak too fast speakers‘ pronunciation is unfamiliar I don‘t have knowledge about the topic being spoken about The speaker uses words I don‘t know The speaker uses the grammatical structures that I don‘t know I find it difficult to concentrate while listening I don‘t know how to listen effectively I am completely satisfied with my current listening comprehension ability I feel comfortable in my listening classes I am really disappointed with my limited vocabulary True (1) False (2) II Listening Problems Put a tick (√) in the appropriate column Item Listening Problems No I find it difficult to predict what speakers are going to say from the title of the spoken text After my teacher stops the tape I find it difficult to predict what will come next I get upset when I cannot catch the main idea of the spoken text from the first listening I feel anxious when I hear a word I don‘t know I sometimes can understand all words but I still didn‘t Never (1) Seldom( 2) Sometim es(3) Often (4) Always (5) LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 44 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 know what the speaker was trying to say, this bothers me I find it difficult to understand natural speech which is full of hesitation and pauses I find it difficult to understand the meaning of the spoken text without seeing the speaker‘s body language I find it difficult to understand well when speakers speak too fast I find it difficult to understand well when speakers speak with varied accents Visual clues help me understand the spoken text (picture, diagrams, charts, video, etc.) Tape scripts provided before listening exercises help me understand the text I find it more difficult to listen to a recorded spoken text than to my teacher reading aloud Unclear sounds resulting from poor-quality tape-recorder interfere with my listening comprehension Unclear sound resulting from poor classroom conditions or outside noise interfere with my listening comprehension I find it difficult to get a general understanding of the spoken text from the first listening I feel nervous and worried when I don‘t understand the spoken text I find it difficult to answer questions which require other than a short answer (e.g why and how questions) I find it difficult to understand the spoken text which is not of interest to me It is difficult to listen to the recorded materials because the classroom is so large LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 45 III Personal Information Your gender: 1.□Male □ Female According to you, listening skill is 1.□the most difficult skill □as difficult as other skills □easier than other skills □easy How is listening skill important to you? □very important □rather important □little important □not important at all How you enjoy listening to English? □ very much □ not much 3.□ little □not at all Are you willing to participate in a 30-minute interview after completing this questionnaire? If yes, please give me you name and telephone number or your email address (if possible) Your name: ………………………………………… Class: ………………………… Telephone: ……………………………… Email: ……………………………………… THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 46 Appendix 2: INFORMAL INTERVIEW 1.Em có thấy cảm thấy căng thẳng học nghe khơng? Nếu có, miêu tả cảm giác (Ví dụ: tim đập nhanh, run, lo lắng, quên hết thứ vừa nghe,…) ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 2.Em giải thích khó khăn sau khiến em cảm thấy lo lắng hay căng thẳng học nghe? Và theo em, giải pháp phù hợp cho khó khăn (giải pháp từ phía em từ phía giáo viên mà em nghĩ giúp em chế ngự lo lắng hay căng thẳng)? a) Khi em nghe thấy từ, cụm từ mà em nghĩa ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… Giải pháp: ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… b) Khi nghe chủ đề mà em khơng thích ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… Giải pháp: ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… c) Khi người nói nói ấp úng, ngập ngừng hay giọng phát âm khác (accents) ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… Giải pháp: ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… d) Khi người nói nói nhanh ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… Giải pháp: ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… e) Khi em thiếu kỹ nghe (VD: nắm bắt ý chính, nghe từ khóa, đoạn văn nghe ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… Giải pháp: LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 47 ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… f) Khi em liên hệ kiến thức sẵn có đề tài nghe ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… Giải pháp: ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… g) Khi em bị hổng kiến thức văn hóa, hiểu sai ý tưởng cần truyền tải người nói ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… Giải pháp: ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… h) Khi bị ảnh hưởng yếu tố gây nhiễu tiếng ồn, chất lượng băng kém,… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… Giải pháp: ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… i) Tại câu hỏi Yes-No questions lại dễ câu hỏi Wh-questions (Why, how, what,…) ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… Giải pháp: ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ... Process of Listening Listening Anxiety 10 3.1 Related Studies of Language Anxiety in Listening Skill 10 3.2 Causes of Listening Anxiety 10 3.2.1 Listening Anxiety associated with Listening Text... the understanding of the students? ?? anxiety and the causes of that anxiety, thereby solutions can be suggested to help learners reduce their listening anxiety Hopefully, all given solutions will... possible causes that make the first-year English major students at Hong Duc University anxious and nervous while listening to English?  What are possible solutions that may reduce listening anxiety