Statement of problem and rationale
In the time of globalization, the ability to acquire and use English well is considered the key to achieve success Learning English is no longer a priority but a necessity in the present time It is the reason why many researchers and educators express their concern about the methods to improve the quality of teaching and learning English
In the context of Phuong Dong University (PDU), great concern is put on listening Many students have raised their worries about the weak improvement in their listening ability The students in Phuong Dong University, especially the first year non English major ones found it difficult to perform listening tasks because of various reasons such as their low background knowledge, limited vocabulary and structures, low motivation, act Moreover, some students stated that in their high schools, they did not have chances to access listening, therefore when they move to university they lack experiences in acquiring this kind of skill Others have linked listening lessons with something much difficult and boring For the teachers in PDU, they revealed that sometimes they find it challenging to have a successful lessons and it is really difficult to motivate students in learning listening skill Although they have put great effort to increase students‟ interest, students‟ motivation sometimes is low and the listening lessons are stated to be boring and useless
In addition, although in PDU, many researches were conducted in methods of English teaching, not many of them were in listening Most of them were to focus on speaking and reading as well It means that in this context, there remains a lack of research in the field of listening
This above situation has inspired me to conduct a research study on the reality of listening and teaching listening to first - year non - English major students at Phuong Dong University:
Aims of the study
In general, the study is to investigate the current situation of teaching and learning listening skills to the first - year non – English major students at elementary level at PDU
Specifically, the study aims at:
- Identifying the problems that teachers and students encounter in listening course
- Finding out teachers‟ and students‟ solutions to these problems
- Providing some recommendations for the teachers and students to consult and apply in their teaching and learning listening skills.
Research questions
1 What problems do the teachers have in a listening lesson?
2 What solutions to the problems do the teachers suggest?
3 What problems do the students have in a listening lesson?
4 What solutions to the problems do the students suggest?
Scope of the study
The study put its focus on the reality of listening and teaching listening to first – year non - English major students at Phuong Dong University at elementary level of English proficiency Due to the limited time, the surveys and interviews are conducted on 100 learners of elementary level and teachers in Faculty of Biotechnology (FOB) through their listening course with the textbook named “ New Headway Elementary-Third Edition ” by Liz and John Soars, Oxford University Press By this, the researcher aims to find out their problems and solutions in teaching and learning listening.
Significance of the study
Listening is considered the most difficult skill to the students and “more demanding than talking” Green (2006, p.44) As Rost (1994, p.141) states: “Listening is vital in the language classroom because it provides input for the learners Without understandable input at the right level, any learning simply cannot begin” Therefore, it is necessary for teachers of English language to realize the importance of how to make progress and feel interested in listening comprehension
This study owns its significance to find out the problems encountered by teachers and students and give suggestions for implementing techniques to motivate the first year – non major students to improve their listening skills Therefore, it plays an important role in enriching the methodology of teaching listening skills Furthermore, the results of the study will contribute and suggest ideas for later research on the same field.
Design of the study
The thesis consists of seven chapters:
Chapter one is the introduction to the study which presents the statement of problem and rationale; aims of the study; research questions; scope of the study; significance of the study and design of the study
Chapter two focuses on the basic theoretical background from the literature review on listening skills
Chapter three presents the research methodology which describes how the research was carried out
Chapter four is on data analysis
Chapter five presents and discusses the finding of the surveys In other words, it helps to find the answers for the four research questions
Chapter six provides some recommendations for the development of teaching and learning listening to the first year non English majors at PDU
Chapter seven is the conclusion which summarizes the thesis and makes some suggestions for further study
Definition of listening
There appear many different points of view on the definition of listening:
Underwood (1989, p.1) describes listening in a simple and easily understandable way:
“Listening is the activity of paying attention to and trying to get meaning from something you hear”
As a matter of fact, to succeed in listening, the duty of listeners is not only to understand of the words given, but also seek the real meaning hidden in words
Buck (2001, p.3) asserts listening in communicative approach:
“Listening comprehension is the result of an interaction between a number of information sources, which include the acoustic input, different types of linguistic knowledge, detail of the context, and general world knowledge, and so forth, and listeners use whatever information they have available, or what ever information seems relevant to help them interpret what the speaker is saying”
In this definition, Buck aims to highlight the active role of the learners who act as the negotiators and integrators in the process of learning listening In this process, learners activate both linguistic cues and nonlinguistic knowledge to achieve the meaning In other words, listening is the active combination of new input gained by what the listeners get and their prior knowledge and experience This view is valuable and worth considering in setting up listening syllabus in the sense that it aims to build communicative competence to the learners in listening lessons
To conclude, listening demands many skills It is an active process in which learners use their prior knowledge to infer the message of the listening text.
Types of listening process
There are two ways of processing a text: top-down processing and bottom-up processing
According to Hedge (2000, p.230), in the bottom-up part of the listening process, the learners understand the meaning of the listening text by using the knowledge of the language to analyze all acoustic cues to capture the sense of the sound More specifically, she states that in this case, “we segment speech into identifiable sounds and impose a structure on these in terms of words, phrases, clauses, sentences, and intonation patterns” And “at the same time, we use whatever clues are available to infer meaning from the developing speech” Having the same idea, Buck ( 2001, p.2) describes bottom-up process as “a one-way street” which
“sees language comprehension as a process of passing through a number of consecutive stages, or level, and the output of each stage becomes the input for the next higher stage” In top-down processing, learners base on their schematic knowledge, the context to find the meaning of the listening text In order to capture the meaning, the learners link between the spoken message and various types of prior knowledge which they had inside their head (Hedge, 2000, p.232)
Top-down and bottom-up are not in opposite sides to each other, but are mutually independent Therefore, listening is “an interactive one in which linguistic information, contextual clues, and prior knowledge interact to enable comprehension” (Hedge, 2000, p.234) It can be denied that to be successful in listening, learners should combine flexibly extensive and intensive listening.
Common methods of teaching listening skill
In the past, common methods of teaching listening are grammar-translation method and direct method Currently, researchers put focus on audio-lingual method and task – based method as the view provided by Larsen-Freeman (2000, p.35-145):
Audio-lingual method: Following this method, dialogues and drills (backward build up, chain, substitution, transformation, and question-and-answer) are used to introduce new vocabulary and structures Learners get the dialogues by imitation and repetition Learners receive the knowledge of grammar naturally through examples provided by the teachers
Knowledge of culture is given in the dialogue or by the teacher Teacher acts as “orchestra leaders” and their role is “directing and controlling the language behavior of her students” and “providing her students with a good model for imitation” In this case, the learners perform as “imitators of the teacher‟s model” and “follow the teacher‟s directions and respond as accurately and as rapidly as possible”
Task-based method: By this method, learners are equipped with a natural context for listening The time they perform the task is the time they have interaction with each other which activate language acquisition The author focuses that: “by interacting with each other, they get to listen to language which may be beyond their present ability, but which may be assimilated into their knowledge of the target language for use at a later time” and “the language practiced in the classroom is not predetermined, but rather derive from the nature of a particular project that the students elect to do”.
Teaching listening in the view of task – based approach
Based on task-based approach, there are commonly 3 stages in a listening lesson: Pre- listening, While-listening and Post-listening
As Davies and Pearse (2000, p.77) state, the pre-listening stage acts as a preparatory step which helps learners to have the beginning idea about what they will listen to such as the theme or the kind of language And in this stage, the teachers are advised not just to ask the listeners to do the listening and turn on the listening material, but to set up needed background knowledge and find out the purpose for listening When mentioning this stage, Llurda (2006, p.76) reveals that pre-listening activities “are also there to lower feelings of anxiety about a listening task”
Underwood (1989, p.31) introduces a range of activities for pre-listening including:
- the teacher giving background information;
- the students reading something relevant;
- the students looking at the pictures;
- discussion of the topic/situation;
- consideration of how the while-listening activity will be done
In while-listening stage, students are asked to do activities while they are listening
The purpose of this stage is to check learners‟ comprehension and most importantly, to “help learners develop the skill of eliciting messages from the spoken language” (Underwood,
1989, p.45) and to “motivate students to want to listen” (Underwood, 1989, p.44)
Davies and Pearse (2000, p.78) suggest some activities for while-listening stage:
- identify the exact topic, or an aspect of it;
- note two or four pieces of information;
- complete a table, map or picture
The post – listening stage includes tasks which are carried out when the listening gets done Davies and Parse (2000, p.78) present some activities for post-listening stage:
All in all, these stages are mutually dependent In listening lessons, the three stages cooperate with each others through various activities to build up a united listening lesson
Perceiving the importance and effectiveness of task-based approach, in PDU, teachers tend to apply task-based syllabus in listening lessons with an aim to drive students into communicative and active way of learning listening in elementary level.
Teachers and students’ problems and solutions in teaching and learning listening……………………………………………………………………………………… 7 1 Situational problems
Problems from student factors
Students‟ low motivation is really a problem in listening lessons As the matter of fact, if the students get tired and feel not interested in the lesson, it will be difficult for them to seek the success in the process of listening This fact is also confirmed by White (1998, p.13) as “listening well involves motivation and concentration” Many researchers provide the solutions for this kind of problem Ur (1996, p.112) suggests teachers not to make “the listening passage too long overall” and insists “breaking them up into „chunks‟ through pause” Hedge (2000, p.247) gives another suggestion which highlights that: “creating purpose for listening can motivate students” This view point is reasonable because if the students make out the point of what they are performing, they will feel encouraged to join the listening tasks Teachers can gain this by “providing tasks which are as realistic as possible, so that the students can relate what they are doing in the lesson to things that happen in real life, outside classroom” (Underwood, 1989, p.21) Along with these, the students will get disappointed when they always fail in doing tasks Therefore, to motivate and encourage students during the lesson, it is advisable for the teachers to “help students see how successful they have been in doing the task” (Hedge, 2000, p.244) And Ur (1984, p.25) expresses the same idea when he gives the confirmation as “task should be success oriented”, it means “having learners do the activity more or less successful, not by having them fail”
Tuyet (2007, p.35) provides one solution which states that: “teachers had better not treat the activities as tests to be marked or scored” Giving students background knowledge before listening is also a good advice The use of visual aids should be taken into consideration when teachers try to seek the path to have students‟ motivation Students themselves can seek the interest in learning listening through English songs, movies and stories at home as well as joining in pair-work and group-work in class
+ Students’ low level of proficiency
Teaching listening to intermediate and advanced students is difficult, and for the beginners, the case is more complex because they do not gain themselves a lot of experiences with listening, plus their lack of linguistic and cultural knowledge of the language Therefore, it is not easy to understand the provided input to infer the meaning of the listening text Buck
(2001, p.47) approves the use of visual aids in teaching listening to low competent learners
This will help the students feel more exciting in acquiring the lesson Davies and Pearse
(2000, p.79) propose the applying of parallel texts in teaching listening in which teachers design some modified versions of the texts to help the learners practice And this way is described like the way “babies hear their mothers use the same words and phrases over and over again” In addition, with the beginners, the listening tasks given should be simple enough They tend to be interested in the simple ones first, and then move to the more complex one because they need time to get used to the level of difficulty in each task For students, it is a need to practice a lot with simple listening exercises at home because everything always starts with the simplest points
The feeling of anxiety always appears among beginners who are worried about the difficulties and the failure encountered during the lesson Rixon (1986, p.79) and Hedge
(2000, p.237) give some suggestions for teachers who wish to cope with students‟ anxiety including: contextualizing the text; activate the prior knowledge; the pace and the length of listening task are not too taxing; the degree of response should be simple; treating the listening lesson like training lesson, not a test.; giving students sense of autonomy
For students, they should be exposed much to English through songs, movies, stories and get the chance to have conversations with native speakers Furthermore, it is good advice for them to read more about the country whose language they are learning These ways can help them more confident when dealing with the listening text
+ Students’ limited vocabulary and structures
Wood ( 1989, p.17) pinpoints this problem as: “an unknown word can be like a suddenly dropped barrier causing them to stop and think about the meaning of the word and thus making them miss the next part of the speech” There are many solutions for teachers in this case which suggest instructing them how to identify the important words that they need to listen to, giving students chances to guess the meaning from the relevant clues and presenting some important words and structures before allowing the students to do their listening For students, Rixon (1986, p.5) advises that they should use dictionary to find out the meaning, ask teachers for explanation and repetition One considerable solution stated by this author for students is to “hold doubtful sections of what is heard in suspense and hoping that clarification will come later”
+ Students’ lack of background knowledge
Lack of background knowledge will cause the wrong interpretation to the listening text given because “when we listen we use our background knowledge of the world to set up expectations, and then we use those expectations to help us comprehend what we hear”
(Buck, 2001, p.8) Get the importance of this, Lingzhu (2003) states that it is advisable for teachers to introduce the listening topic and after that, students write down as many words and phrases related to the topic as they can The problem also can be solved by giving students some questions related to the text and having them answer to get prior knowledge
In addition, looking at some pictures is considered a very exciting way for students to gain background knowledge One important point is that in listening lessons, students should be active to ask teachers for help in case they do not have any background knowledge
The setting of the study
The study was carried out at the non-major English Faculty of Biotechnology (FOB)
The training course of students lasts 4 years and in this course, English is a compulsory subject In the first 2 years, students study General English with text book named “New Headway – Third edition by Liz and John Soars, Oxford University Press, and in the last two years before their graduation, the students move to English for Specific Purposes
When these students entered PDU, they have mixed level of English competency Therefore, they were required to take a placement test Base on the result of the test, the English Faculty placed the students with the same level of proficiency in a class However, the replacement tests were not effective because the tests were only on grammar Therefore, there were still multi level classes which caused many difficulties for teachers.
Participants
The study was conducted with the participation of 10 teachers and 100 non-English major students from the Faculty of Biotechnology, PDU, and Hanoi
They are 10 teachers (9 females and 1 male) who have taught or are teaching English for all students at Faculty of Biotechnology All of them graduated from Hanoi University of language and international studies, Vietnam National University Five of them had an M.A degree in English, three are doing their post graduates studies in the CFL, and two others are B.A in English Two are nearly forty years old with more than 15 years of teaching experience; four others are in their early thirties with 7 years of teaching experience, the last four aged from 24 to 26 with 2 years of teaching experience The 10 teachers will be the subjects of the first questionnaire and interview in order to find out their problems and solutions in teaching listening
They are 100 first year English non - major students randomly selected from the FOB They are both females and males aged from 18 to 20 with the elementary level of English Their knowledge of English is not the same as they have experienced different years of learning English at schools About 65% has learned English for 7 years, 25% has just done it for 3 years and 10% seems not to learn English at all Besides, their aim of study is not English so they did not take much care of learning English in their years at high schools.
The data collection methods and procedures
Both quantitative and qualitative methods are employed in this study More specifically, the research is carried out by exploiting survey questionnaires for both teachers and students A long with questionnaires, follow-up interviews are conducted to double check the findings provided by survey questionnaires
One survey questionnaire is for 10 teachers to get their ideas on the learning reality, problems experienced by them as well as their recommendations for improving the students‟ listening skills The survey questionnaires for teachers are carried out directly with teachers
The second survey questionnaire is made for the 100 non English major students to identify their problems and solutions in learning listening In detail, in 110 survey questionnaires were delivered, the author received 100 back Among 100 survey questionnaires, 30 were conducted directly, 70 were carried out via email The questionnaires for students are translated into Vietnamese to make sure they understand all the questions properly
The two questionnaires consist of three parts The first part is about participants‟ general information The second parts is to state the problems encountered by teachers and students
The second part is to find out teachers‟ and students‟ solutions to these problems
The exploitation of survey questionnaire is good for this study because it is suitable for the large sample of 10 teachers and 100 students
After exploiting questionnaire, the study exploits two follow – up interviews for teachers and students to get the more insightful information to support the findings The author exploited interviews for the reason that the results from survey questionnaires can be reliable enough
Therefore, interviews double - check the findings from the questionnaires and get more information for the study
The interviews with 4 teachers were carried out directly and at the same time written down by the author The interviews with 8 students were conducted via telephone and in Vietnamese and also written down by the author The contents of the interviews focus on teachers‟ and students‟ problems and solutions in teaching and learning listening skills Each of the interviews lasts about 10 minutes and individually.
Data analysis
All the statistical data from the questionnaires will be shown in the form of percentage and supported by qualitative data from the interviews In all of the questions for teachers and students in the survey questionnaires, more than one choice is acceptable This is the reason why the results for the questions are presented in the percentage of the options chosen.
In this part of the paper, results from the questionnaires and interviews are presented
The findings are presented in four major themes corresponding to the research questions, i.e teachers‟ problems in teaching listening, teachers‟ solutions to the problems, students‟ problems in learning listening, and students‟ solutions to their problems.
Teachers’ problems in teaching listening
0 20 40 60 80 100 a b c d a Background noise b Large class c Multi-level class d Poor teaching equipments
Chart 1 states situational problems that teachers encountered in teaching listening
The prominent problem given by them is multi-level class (90%) In PDU, the number of students in English class is from 31 to 35 Therefore, 6 teachers (60%) claimed that they had to administer listening lessons in large classes The large classes made a lot of noise which was mentioned by 60% of the teachers Among 10 teachers, 5 of them did not satisfy with teaching equipments
The result from the interview is strongly in line with the one from survey questionnaires when it shows that almost of the participants agreed that they taught listening in large classes More specifically, the teachers confessed: “I see I have a lot of students in English class The maximum is 34, sometimes the number is 30 or 31 when some are absent” or
“There are many Let me think, firstly, there are always about from 31 students to 35” 2 out of 4 teachers experienced noise which came from the microphone of the next door classes and students‟ talking in class The same number of teachers faced problem of multi-level class where many students are not good at listening, but some are quite good because beside university class, they also join extra evening class When the more competent students completed their tasks, they talked to other which also caused noise Complaint about poor teaching equipments was given by 2 out of the 4 teachers as they stated: “Every time, only cassette players, I need at least CD player, but there is none” and “I have complained much about the large class and teaching equipments, but nothing done from the department”
Chart 2: Teachers’ problems from listening materials
0 20 40 60 80 100 a b c d a Unfamiliar topics to students b Different accents to students c Speed of speech d Unfamiliar sounds to students
When being asked about the problems from listening materials, 80% of the teachers revealed that they met obstacles when the listening texts have fast speed of speech
Unfamiliar sounds to students caused big problem to teachers (60%) because of the fact that most of the students are beginners in listening and their pronunciation is not good 60% of the informants blamed on different accents to students while only 30% of them stated that they find the listening texts have unfamiliar topics to students
From the interviews, the fact is that 50% of the teachers interviewed said that the speakers often speak too fast The third teacher said: “Well, most of students are not good at listening, they can not catch up with the speed of speaker” One teacher confirmed that listening texts having unfamiliar sounds to students is a problem in teaching listening
Chart 3: Teachers’ problems from students
0 20 40 60 80 100 a b c d e a Students' low motivation b Students' low level of proficiency c Students' anxiety d Students' limited vocabulary and structures e Students' lack of background knowledge
Similar to point of view, students‟ limited vocabulary and structures troubled teachers the most The majority of response to what makes teachers difficult to carry out listening tasks is their students did not have large enough vocabulary and structures 80% of teachers were afraid of students‟ low motivation Motivation plays very important role in encouraging students to join listening lessons The same number of participants (60%) had difficulty with students‟ low level of proficiency and lack of background knowledge Other 3 teachers complained students‟ anxiety barriers their teaching listening
In the interviews, 2 out of 4 teachers mentioned students‟ limited vocabulary and structures
Students‟ low motivation is the problem of one participant in the interview
4.2 Teachers’ solutions to these problems Chart 4: Teachers’ solutions to the problem of background noise in teaching listening
0 20 40 60 80 100 a b c a Use cassette, CD, VCD and DVD with good quality b Teach listening in the laboratory c Ask students to keep quiet during the listening lesson
With the purpose of investigating teachers‟ solutions to background noise in listening class, question 1 is designed Background noise often happens in large class, therefore the highest percentage of response to the solution to the problem is using cassette, CD, VCD and DVD with good quality and asking students to keep quite during the listening lesson
However, none of the teachers chose to teach in the laboratory room
The result from the interview stated that coping with background noise, teachers often asked their students to keep quiet and exploit pair-work and group-work
Chart 5: Teachers’ solutions to the problem of large class
0 20 40 60 80 100 a b c a Set up classroom rituals and routines b Exploit pair-work and group-work c Ask for smaller class
The teachers‟ solutions for problem of large class are presented in chart 5 Exploiting pair-work and group-work was most of the teachers‟ choice (5 teachers) Setting up classroom rituals and routines was favored by 66% (teachers) And there is a fact that only one out 6 teachers required the faculty of English to arrange them smaller class
From the interviews, we can see that when teaching in large class, teachers preferred to exploit pair-work and group-work, especially in pre-listening and while-listening as one of them said: “During the lesson, I always stopped to ask my students keep quiet, but this costs much time I also let my students to join pair-work and group-work” It is seen that by this way, teacher could control class easier When pairs and groups work, teachers went around the class to help them
Chart 6: Teachers’ solutions to the problem of multi-level class
0 20 40 60 80 100 a b c a Exploit pair-work and group- work b Individualize the tasks by giving more competent students more difficult listening tasks and vice c Administer placement tests
Multi-level class posed teachers big problem because it made teachers difficult to control the whole class and to satisfy all students‟ need 80% (equivalent to 8 teachers) of the participants surveyed for their solutions to the problems of multi level class appreciated the exploitation of pair-work and group-work Smaller number of teachers minimized the negative affect of multilevel class by individualizing the listening tasks By this way, they gave more competent students more difficult listening tasks and vice versa No one asked for placement tests
Solving the problem of multi-level class, teachers interviewed also considered pair-works and group-works the best choice Another choice is teaching all students at the same rate, and giving more competent students more difficult exercises at home By this way, they could satisfy the need of all students
Chart 7: Teachers’ solutions to the problem of poor teaching equipments
0 20 40 60 80 100 a b c d e a TV b CD player c VCD, DVD player d Computer e Projector
In reality, almost of English non major classes only offer cassette players A significant fact to note down is that 100% of teachers (5 teachers) hoped to teach in classes with modern equipment like T.V, CD players, VCD players and DVD players 3 others stated that it is good to use computers in listening class The same number required projectors
The result from the interviews shared the same ideas when almost of the teachers suggested that classes should be equipped with modern facilities like T.V, CD players, VCD players and DVD players Every time, only cassette player, the teacher needed at least CD player, but there is none There is a lab, but not many wanted to teach in the lab because “the quality of the lab is not good”
Chart 8: Teachers’ solutions to the problem of unfamiliar topics to students
60 80 100 a b a Have students practice as much as they can on these topics b.Provide students with background knowledge
When meeting listening texts which had unfamiliar topics to students, 100% of the students (3 teachers) revealed they provide students with background knowledge 1 teacher had idea of asking students to practice as much as they could on the unfamiliar topics at home
Chart 9: Teachers’ solution to the problem of texts having different accents
0 20 40 60 80 100 a b c d e a.Have students listen to recorded materials in which different accents are presented at home b.Have students listen to a lot of English c.Record the listening with some other teachers before class, read all or part of the tapesript out in your accent, then design the listening task for student d.Encourage students to have conversation with native speakers e.Expose students to different accents in class
Students’ problems in learning listening
0 20 40 60 80 100 a b c d a Background noise b Large class c Multi-level class d Poor teaching equipments
From the data collected above, we can come to the conclusion that students faced many situational problems 75% of them admitted that they learned listening in large class A smaller number (62%) complained about the background noise Poor teaching equipments were one of the factors preventing the effectiveness of their listening (60%) Learning in a multi level class was also a problem to 43% of the students
Interviews from students are also in line with the data from the questionnaire, among 8 students interviewed 5 students complained about the problems of large class To them, the size of the class really posed them difficulty The average number of students in classes is from 31 to 35 which made much noise in listening class because of students‟ talking It is not easy for students at the end of the class to hear the text clearly As students stated, they wished to learn listening in class of 15 students to 20 ones The complained about noise was given by 50% of the informants Noise in class was not only caused by large class but also came from the low quality of teaching equipments and from the construction site next to the university and the noise from microphones of the next classes Concerning the teaching equipments in listening class, 3 out of 8 participants revealed that in classes for non major English students, there were cassette players, not T.V, CD-VCD-DVD players, computers and projectors Some of modern equipments are only in classes for major classes Only one student complained about the multi level class
Chart 18: Problems from listening materials
0 20 40 60 80 100 a b c d a Unfamiliar topics to students b Different accents to students c Speed of speech d Unfamiliar sounds to students
The result from chart 18 demonstrates problems caused by listening materials
Almost of the students confirmed that it was not easy for them to understand what the speakers said because they spoke too fast This truth is understandable because the beginners in English like these first non- English majors only focused on the single word and tried to catch the meaning of its Consequently, they missed other part of the sentence and could not infer the meaning of the whole utterance 80% of students complained that the listening texts have many unfamiliar sounds which are not appeared in their first language A smaller number (40%) experienced problem of different accents Like their teachers, not many (32%) of the students found listening texts have unfamiliar topic That is maybe because the topics in the 6 first lessons are simple and like what they experienced in their daily life
The interview also reveals that students felt speakers in the listening texts spoke too fast (5 out of 8 students) Students only can understand the Vietnamese teachers when they speak at low speech rate, but when listening to the native speakers or foreigners talking in tapes, it is really difficult for them to catch up with them When being interviewed, 3 out of 8 ones stated they their pronunciation is not good enough, therefore they met many unfamiliar sounds which Vietnamese does not have The listening texts having different accents were the problem of one student And no one mentioned the problem of unfamiliar topic
0 20 40 60 80 100 a b c d e a Students' low motivation b Students' low level of proficiency c Students' anxiety d Students' limited vocabulary and structures e Students' lack of background knowledge
Beside situational problems and problems from the listening materials, students had many other difficulties We can see clearly that students shared the same opinion as their teacher when 94% of them stated that limited vocabulary and structures is a big problem
And 86% confirmed that their low motivation also hindered their interest to listen This figure is worth concerning and need the effective techniques from the teachers to raise students‟ interest 70% of the participants blamed on their low level of proficiency, lack of background knowledge and anxiety (60% and 55%, respectively)
Limited vocabulary and structures was mentioned by the highest percentage of students in interviews ( 5 students) When they did not know the meaning of one word, two words, many words, they could not understand anything More specifically, students learned with many topics and her teacher always introduced new words and structures of each topic in reading but, in almost of listening texts there still appeared new vocabulary and structures to them
Low motivation was also mentioned by 4 students interviewed The roots of students‟ low interest in listening lesson are the difficult listening texts to students and students‟ health problems Some of students did not know what they listen for 2 informants said that they met obstacles because the listening texts were too difficult for them
4.4 Students’ solutions for these problems Chart 20: Students’ solutions to the problems of background noise in listening lessons
0 20 40 60 80 100 a b c d a Ask teacher for cassettes or CDs with good quality b Ask teacher to teach listening in labroom c Keep quiet during the lesson d Follow class's rituals and routines
In responding to the question: “What do you do when having problems of background noise in listening lessons?” 75.8% (47 students) wanted to learn listening with good cassette,
CD, VCD and DVD Not many students were interested in learning listening in laboratory room 32.25% of the students (20 students) kept quiet during the listening lesson The same number followed class‟s rituals and routines
In the interviews with students, teachers‟ use of good cassette, CD, VCD and DVD was preferable among most of the participants Other solutions were moving to the first table in class and paying attention to the lessons These ways helped students have clearer listening
VCD and DVD helped to give students interesting motion pictures while listening
Chart 21: Students’ solutions to the problem of listening in large class
0 20 40 60 80 100 a b c a Join in pair-work and group-work activities b Follow rituals and routines of the class c Ask for smaller classes
Concerning students‟ solutions when learning listening in large class, 88% of the participants (66 students) preferred to join in pair-work and group-work activities Following class‟s rituals and routines of the class was another choice of students‟ in this case (34.66%, equivalent to 26 students) Only 5 out of 75 students solved the problem of large class by asking for smaller classes
The result from the interview shows that joining pair-work and group-work activities was the best choice of the majority of students‟ And pair-work and group-work were often exploited in pre-listening and post-listening In pre-listening, students joined pairs to discuss the questions given by teachers With post-listening, students and their partners used new words and structures to make sentences Students preferred to study listening in class which ranges from 15 to 20 students They explained that teachers in small classes have much more time to pay attention to each student And it is difficult for teachers to explain and answer questions from all students when they teach in large class
Chart 22: Students’ solutions to the problem of listening in multi-level class
0 20 40 60 80 100 a b a Join in pair-work and group-work activities b Ask teacher to provide listening tasks that fit your proficiency
When learning listening in a multi-level class, 35 out of 43 students wanted to have listening task that fit their proficiency And 31 out of 43 students liked to join in pair-work and group-work activities
Unlike the survey, the result from interviews shows that only one student stated that she learned listening in multi-level class The student wanted to work in pair-work and group- work in this case for the reason that she felt confident and not shy when asking and discussing with partners
Chart 23: Students’ suggestions for teaching equipments in listening lesson
0 20 40 60 80 100 a b c d e a TV b CD player c VCD, DVD player d Computer e Projector
Chart 23 presents students‟ suggestions for teaching equipments in listening class
The highest percentage of the students required CD players (86.66%, equivalent to 52 students) Others needed TV (68.33%, equivalent to 41 students), VCD or DVD (68.33% or equivalent to 41 students), computer (26.66%, equivalent to 16 students) and 8 out of 60 students chose projector
Most of the informants in the interviews suggested T.V, CD player, VCD or DVD player and computer for listening classes No one interviewed mentioned the need of projector
Chart 24: Students’ solutions to the problem of unfamiliar topics
0 20 40 60 80 100 a b c a Practice as much as you can on these topics at home b Ask your teacher about the topic c Ask your partners about the topic
Teachers’ problems in teaching listening
In the view from the teachers, they had certain obstacles in teaching listening
Considering the situational problems, the result from the survey reveals that most of teachers faced the problem of having to teach listening skill in large and multi-level classes which are noisy The number of students in one class in PDU is from 31 to 35 students which caused noise and made teachers unable to control the class In fact, large-size classes are popular in private institutions in Vietnam for financial reasons The decision to reduce the number belongs to the heads of the faculty, not the teachers Therefore, asking for smaller class is not feasible Although before dividing the students in the faculty in each English class, the department has held placement test, the teachers still had uneven level students in class
There were both less competent and good students in the same class Therefore, teachers found it difficult to shorten the gap between these students The better one when having completed the listening tasks always talked with the others which caused noise and affected the less competent ones‟ attention Teachers had no choice, but tried to adjust Besides, lack of modern classroom equipment caused other situational problems to teachers In reality, most of the teachers admitted that the only equipment they had in class is one cassette-player in poor quality The university has one lab room, but as stated by many participants, teaching in the university‟s lab room was not effective and time consuming because the quality is not good with frequent technical problems In reality, poor teaching equipments made teaching English listening more challenging and became the barriers to teachers‟ activities aiming at motivating their students
Discussing the problems rooted from teaching material, the biggest obstacle that teacher encountered is the case that the speakers in the tape speak too fast while their students only focused on catching the meaning of one part and miss the next part The problem of unfamiliar sounds to students was also complained by many participants These two material problems are understandable because almost of the students have finished their high school for one year with not much experience in listening and in high schools, their teachers did not focus them much on pronunciation When moving to university, teachers did not have much time for teaching them pronunciation, just the overall introduction, but not much practicing
Some of them could tell the meaning of the words, but could not pronounce them exactly
Students‟ limited vocabulary and structures put another problem to English teachers in PDU
During the listening, they had to stop and explained new words and structures for students
Besides, it is not happy to know that although many students did not have enough vocabulary and structures, they did not learn new words at home In post listening, teachers asked students to make sentences with new words appeared in the listening texts The students followed the task, but they seemed to forget the meaning of the words right after the lesson
Furthermore, 80% of the informants raised their voice about students‟ low motivation
Students did not see the aim of learning English, they only focused on their major In fact, almost of students just paid attention to the activities they like
Last but not least is the challenge from the fact that many students did not have autonomy in learning the language in general, and listening in particular It is quite disappointing when the finding from the study shows that almost of the students did not like practicing at home and getting the chances to communicate with native speakers and foreigners A lot of students in PDU were not interested in self-study of listening at home
5.2 Teachers’ solutions for the problems
Teachers in PDU gave many solutions for their problems
Facing the problem of large and multi-level classes, most of teachers agreed with the opinion given by Hess (2001) as they appreciated the exploitation of pair-work and group-work, especially in pre-listening and post-listening Using this method, teacher could control their classes effectively While students were discussing, teachers went around and helped whenever they had difficulty Another solution for multi-level class was in the line with Hess
(2001, p.137-138) when the finding assures that teachers also preferred to individualize the listening texts More specifically, in class they taught the whole class at the same rate, but gave more competent students more challenging exercises at home
Almost of the participants expressed their demand for more modern teaching equipments like
CD, VCD, DVD player, T.V and computer This demand is reasonable because in reality, poor teaching equipment made teaching English listening more challenging and not effective as expected With modern teaching equipment, teachers had chances to create more attractive and exciting lessons to raise students‟ interest in learning listening
Considering the problem of fast speed of speakers, the majority of teachers suggested their students to pick out what is essential in the listening From the interview, other solution was found in which teachers let students listen to the listening text several times and during the listening, teachers paused the tape into small “chunk” to help the students catch up with the fast speech Helping students to get used to skill of picking up important words is very important because with the beginner in listening who can not listen and understand the whole utterance, this solution is a good choice
To solve the problem of unfamiliar sounds to students in the listening text, the highest percentage of teachers agreed to ask students to guess the meaning of the words One teacher in the interview deled with this situation by pausing the tape and introducing the sounds to students, teaching them how to pronounce the word correctly and have them practice many times till they are able to achieve the accurate pronunciation However, it is surprising to find out that very few teachers required students to practice pronunciation at home as well as talking with native speakers Without requirement for practicing at home from their teachers, students could not get used to the unfamiliar sounds and the next time when they met the sounds, they felt it is the first time And consequently, there was no progress in pronunciation
Dealing the problem of students‟ limited vocabulary and structures, presenting some important words and structures before allowing the students to do their listening was favored by a large number of teachers In this case, the finding confessed that teachers had an effective technique in pre-listening stage because by teachers‟ providing key words and structures before the listening tasks, students will feel confident and not worry much about the tasks coming
Finally, almost all of teachers showed that they were experienced in raising students‟ motivation in learning listening as they confirmed that they tried to make the listening purposeful for the students and included lots of pair work and group work in listening lesson
Creating purpose for listening was suggested earlier by Hedge (2000, p.247) and proved to be effective because when the students realized the point of what they are doing, they felt like joining the listening tasks
5.3 Students’ problems in learning listening
In learning listening skill, first-year non-major students found some obstacles that hinder their listening competence
When being asked about the situational problems, almost of students shared the same view with their teachers Large class, background noise and poor teaching equipments were what students voiced their worries about Learning in large class made students have the feeling of not receiving enough attention from their teacher Students‟ listening was distracted by the noise from other classmates talking, from next-door classes and construction site near the university which prevented them from capturing the essential words or phrases It is not surprising when 60% of the informant in the survey questionnaire complained about poor teaching equipments Cassette player was not enough for helping students to have interest in listening They needed something that can bring the difference in listening lessons like CD, VCD, DVD players and computers
Speed of speech and unfamiliar sounds in the listening texts were also students‟ major problems Actually, as mentioned earlier by Wood (1989, p.16) students found it difficult to control the speed of the speakers and they just focused on finding the meaning of one word and can not follow the next Moreover, the difficulty doubled when there were many unfamiliar sounds in the texts The problem of unfamiliar sounds was mentioned by Ur
(1991, p.111) and Rixon (1986, p.38) and for first –year non major students, it was really a big barrier
Students’ problems in learning listening
In learning listening skill, first-year non-major students found some obstacles that hinder their listening competence
When being asked about the situational problems, almost of students shared the same view with their teachers Large class, background noise and poor teaching equipments were what students voiced their worries about Learning in large class made students have the feeling of not receiving enough attention from their teacher Students‟ listening was distracted by the noise from other classmates talking, from next-door classes and construction site near the university which prevented them from capturing the essential words or phrases It is not surprising when 60% of the informant in the survey questionnaire complained about poor teaching equipments Cassette player was not enough for helping students to have interest in listening They needed something that can bring the difference in listening lessons like CD, VCD, DVD players and computers
Speed of speech and unfamiliar sounds in the listening texts were also students‟ major problems Actually, as mentioned earlier by Wood (1989, p.16) students found it difficult to control the speed of the speakers and they just focused on finding the meaning of one word and can not follow the next Moreover, the difficulty doubled when there were many unfamiliar sounds in the texts The problem of unfamiliar sounds was mentioned by Ur
(1991, p.111) and Rixon (1986, p.38) and for first –year non major students, it was really a big barrier
The finding of the study is in line with the statement of Wood (1989, p.17) when the majority of students encountered the problem of not having enough vocabulary and structures For first year non English majors, limited vocabulary and structures is one of the biggest barriers
It can be denied that when students had limited vocabulary they were too dependent on teachers, partners and also dictionaries Students felt that lack of vocabulary and structures means that they lack the basic skeleton to build the understanding of the whole utterance
The study also reveals that low motivation was the problem of a large number of students
Many students felt not interested in listening lessons because the listening tasks were still too difficult for them And it is rather conflicting when in the survey for teachers, most of teachers confirmed that they tried to make listening purposeful for students, but many students still did not know what they learn listening for and what they should do in one lesson This fact implies that it is necessary for students to be well prepared for the listening tasks
Finally, from the finding of the study, it is easy to realize that students did not actually feel confident and comfortable when discussing with their teachers They were shy when others knew that they are less competent
5.4 Students’ solutions for the problems
Regarding the problem of large class and background noise, students asked their teacher for good cassette, CD, VCD and DVD It is very astonishing to know that not many students had the awareness to keep silent during the lesson or want to follow the class‟s rituals and routines Learning in a large and noisy class, it is advisable for students to keep quiet In case students themselves do not want to keep quiet, the noise is unavoidable and it is really difficult for teachers to control the class Like their teachers, students also gave the requirement for modern teaching equipments including CD, VCD, DVD player, T.V and computer
Picking out what is essential was not the choice of the majority of students in case the speakers speak too fast To face this problem, students preferred to ask their teachers to let them listen several times And 39.53% of the students in the survey questionnaires confessed that they saw the transcript to find the answer From the finding, one assumption can be drawn that students did not get used to the communicative approach in learning listening
They depended much on teachers and some of them felt not confident when the textbooks do not have transcript at the back
There is a gap between the teachers‟ solutions and students‟ solutions for unfamiliar sounds in the listening texts While most of teachers required students to get the meaning of the sentence without mastering the unfamiliar sounds, a large number of students wanted to ask their teachers for explanation whenever they met the sounds which are not familiar to them
From the finding, it is easy to make out the reason why the first year non major students in PDU are not good at pronunciation It is because a few of them practiced pronunciation exercises at home and tried to get chance to communicate with foreigners or native speakers
They only had English lessons with Vietnamese teachers, not English teachers and seldom spoke English in real life
Considering the lack of vocabulary and structures, the finding is in line with Rixon (1986, p.5) when almost of students asked their partners and teachers for explanation However, students‟ opinion is different from Rixon‟s as not many of them used dictionary to find out the meaning of new words
Lastly, the finding on what students did to have interest in listening lesson can be the suggestion for teachers when they design listening tasks Most of students asked their teachers to let them join listening tasks for fun like playing games, listening to English songs, ect When students are motivated to do something, it is easier for them to achieve success without boredom
It is undeniable that from the findings of the study, teachers and students encounter many obstacles when teaching and learning listening skills Therefore, the aim of this chapter is to give some suggestions and practical solutions to improve the quality of teaching and learning listening skills
It is a need for the leaders of the Faculty of English to consider the change of teaching and learning equipments Findings from the survey and interviews suggest that a large number of teachers and students have negative opinion on the teaching and learning equipments in PDU It is advisable for the faculty to provide classes with modern equipments like T.V; CD, VCD, DVD players Besides, the lab room should be upgraded and checked frequently to help teachers utilize their teaching listening techniques
The problem of large and multi-level class also needs the attention from the faculty It would be not effective if the number of students in one class is from 31 to 35 Furthermore, although at the beginning of the course, the faculty has administered the placement tests in order to find the same students for the same class, but the result was not good Many teachers and students still complained about the fact that they teach and learn listening in class in which some students are good, some are quite good, and some are very bad The faculty and teachers should find the way to make the placement tests stricter and more effective
Implications for the university
It is a need for the leaders of the Faculty of English to consider the change of teaching and learning equipments Findings from the survey and interviews suggest that a large number of teachers and students have negative opinion on the teaching and learning equipments in PDU It is advisable for the faculty to provide classes with modern equipments like T.V; CD, VCD, DVD players Besides, the lab room should be upgraded and checked frequently to help teachers utilize their teaching listening techniques
The problem of large and multi-level class also needs the attention from the faculty It would be not effective if the number of students in one class is from 31 to 35 Furthermore, although at the beginning of the course, the faculty has administered the placement tests in order to find the same students for the same class, but the result was not good Many teachers and students still complained about the fact that they teach and learn listening in class in which some students are good, some are quite good, and some are very bad The faculty and teachers should find the way to make the placement tests stricter and more effective
Last but not least, the faculty should facilitate more chances for students to have lessons with foreign teachers By this way, they will help students to improve English level in general and listening skill in particular More importantly, students can be used to the natural style in communication with foreigners which help them be more confident in listening.
Implications for the teachers
It is a good advice for teachers to make students aware of the nature of listening process which is known as “an interaction between a number of information source, which include the acoustic input, different types of linguistic knowledge, detail of the context, and general world knowledge” (Buck, 2001, p.3) Teachers play an important role in helping students realize that listening is an active process in which many strategies are exploited at the same time and that it is a process in which students need guidance from teachers as well as their practice at home As an enthusiastic guide, teachers days by days introduce and teach students how to apply strategies in each lesson
In addition, it is a need for teacher to create comfortable listening environment in which students feel more relaxed, free and flexible when asking their teachers for what they do not understand It is teachers who help students forget the feeling of losing face or being shy in front of teachers or their classmates when they do not know something related to the lesson
Focusing on introducing and explaining new vocabulary and unfamiliar sounds before and during listening tasks for students is a good choice for teachers because with first year non major students, they always hope to have something related to the listening topics before doing the listening tasks And as mentioned earlier, limited vocabulary and familiar sounds are the two considerable difficulties of almost of the non major fresh men Therefore, students feel more confident when they know that their teachers are eager to help them with new words, structures and unfamiliar sounds
Finally, teachers should find the effective ways to raise students‟ motivation in listening lesson From the findings, there is a fact that many students reveal that they feel uninterested partly because they do not know what they should do in the coming listening lesson and what they listen for Therefore, it is significant for teachers to give clear instruction and warm them up with some related questions before doing the listening When students realize the point of what they are performing, they will feel encouraged to join the listening tasks
Specifically, before doing listening, teachers should set the purpose for listening by guiding students some types of ways to approach the listening texts such as listening for specific ideas, listening for general ideas, extensive listening and intensive listening, etc The use of visual aids should be taken into consideration when teachers wish to have students‟ interest, especially for beginners Teachers can use visual aids to help students have background knowledge and necessary vocabulary in pre-listening stage The first year non majors prefer to learn listening through games, songs, ect Therefore, it is very effective if teachers explo it tasks for fun which make students feel comfortable and relaxed to join the lessons.
Implications for the students
As stated earlier, almost of the first year non-English major students in PDU are not experienced in listening skills because they do not have chances to be taught listening in high school Therefore, it is high time for students to change their learning listening method as well as their attitude towards listening.
On the way to reach to the success in doing listening tasks, students always receive enthusiastic help from teachers However, this does not mean that students depend totally on teachers It is students who have to act as active participants during the process of listening
From the prior knowledge and clues provided by teachers, students should think actively to gain themselves listening input or discuss in pairs and groups to have motivation when listening
Furthermore, it is not good for students to focus much on the meaning of every single word, structure and phrase which proves ineffective and preventing students to catch up with the speed of speech to have the general meaning of the utterances In the process of listening, it is good for students to base on their background knowledge, the context and essential clues to understand the meaning of the message, not the specific word or structure
It can‟t be denied that listening is the most difficult skills Therefore, achieving success in listening is not a short-term effort, it is a long-term process It is a need for students to have the habit of practicing listening English at home everyday because “practice makes perfect”
Only doing listening tasks in class is not enough At home they can spend time listening again the “in class” listening texts or new listening exercises from internet and other sources
They must have extra practice including watching English TV programs, listening to English songs and stories which help them to get used to the accents of foreigners as well as improving their English pronunciation
Lastly, one finding is revealed that the majority of students in the study are not interested in having talk with foreigners More specifically, they feel shy and not confident in front of the people coming out side Vietnam It is advisable for students to get chances to speak with foreigners By doing so, they can help their pronunciation better and enrich vocabulary, background knowledge which is very essential for successful listening
Summary of the study
The study aims to identifying the problems teachers and students encounter in listening course, find out teachers‟ and students‟ solutions to these problems and provide some recommendations for the university, teachers and first year non English major students in teaching and learning listening The study consists of two major components: literature review and a study to get quantitative data through survey questionnaires and qualitative data through interviews From the literature review, the study provides understanding on listening
The literature review presents definition of listening, types of listening process, common method in teaching listening skill, teaching listening in the view of task-based approach
More importantly, the study reviews teachers‟ and students‟ problems and solutions in teaching and learning listening which are found by some researchers before With aim to investigate the problems and solutions in teaching and learning listening to first year non majors, survey questionnaires and interviews with teachers and students are conducted From the findings of the study, it is clear that teachers and students encountered many obstacles in listening lessons Both teachers and students were not satisfied with the teaching and learning equipments as well as the large and multilevel classes Besides, students‟ limited vocabulary and low motivation also hindered the success of listening To cope with these difficulties, teachers and students had their own solutions The study proposes some suggestions for teaching and learning English listening It presents the university the need to change the teaching and learning equipments, reduce the number of students in each class and make the placements tests stricter and more effective The thesis also provides ways to make English speaking more exciting; to help the students more confident and become more successful in listening by giving them some necessary strategies
7.2 Limitations of the thesis and suggestions for further study
Firstly, the study only involved teachers and first year non English majors in Faculty of Biotechnology in PDU The survey questionnaires and interviews cannot be conducted on the students of other faculties Secondly, the study did not cover other factors that affect the process of teaching and learning listening such as participants‟ ages, personalities etc This limitation hopes to be solved in other researches Finally, the author only focused the study on listening skill Researches on reality of teaching and learning others skills should be done
1 Buck, G (2001), Assessing Listening, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
2 Davies P & Pearse E (2000), Success in English Teaching, Oxford University Press,
3 Freeman, D.L (2000), Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching, Oxford
4 Green, A (2006), Effective personal communication skills for public relations, Kogan Page, London
5 Hedge, T (2000), Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom, Oxford University
6 Hess, N (2001), Teaching Large Multilevel Classes, Cambridge University Press,
7 Lingzhu, J (2003), Listening Activities for Effective Top-down Processing, The Internet TESL Journal, Vol VI, No 10, October 2000, http://iteslj.org/
8 Llurda, E (2006), Non-Native Language Teachers: Perceptions, Challenges and Contributions to the Profession, Springer, New York
9 Nunan, D (1992), Research Methods in Language Learning, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
10 Nguyen Thi Anh Tuyet (2007), A study on improving the method of teaching listening skills to non-major students of English at Haiphong foreign language center, Haiphong University, Department of Graduate Studies (VNU- College of foreign languages), Hanoi
11 Rixon, S (1986), Developing listening skill, Macmillan Publisher Ltd, London
12 Rost, M (1994), Introducing Listening, Penguin Group, London
13 Underwood, M (1989), Teaching Listening-Longman handbooks for language teachers,
14 Ur, P (1984), Teaching Listening Comprehension, Cambridge University Press,
15 Ur, P (1991), A Course in Language Teaching, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
16 White, G (1998), Listening, Oxford University Press, Oxford
This survey is designed to collect information for the study on:
“Reality of teaching and learning English listening skills to the first year non-English major students at Phuong Dong University ( PDU): Solutions and Problems”
Your completion of this questionnaire is highly appreciated The data collected are used in the research paper only, not for other purpose
Before answering the questions, please fill in some information:
+ Gender: Male/ Female + Your age: ………
+ How long have you been teaching English?
+ What materials are you using to teach English at your University?
Please, circle the appropriate answers for the following questions You may choose more than one option
SECTION I: PROBLEMS IN TEACHING LISTENING SKILLS
2 Problems from the listening materials
B Students‟ low level of proficiency
D Students‟ limited vocabulary and structures
E Students‟ lack of background knowledge
SECTION II: SOLUTIONS TO THESE PROBLEMS IN TEACHING LISTENING SKILLS
1 What did you do when you had the problem of background noise in teaching listening?
A Use cassette, CD, VCD or DVD with good quality
F Teach listening in the laboratory room
G Ask students to keep quite during the listening lesson
2 What did you do when you taught listening in large class?
A Set up classroom rituals and routines
B Exploit pair-work and group-work
3 What did you do when you taught listening to multi-level class?
A Exploit pair-work and group-work
B Individualize the tasks by giving more competent students more difficult listening tasks and vice versa
4 What do you suggest for teaching equipments?
5 What did you do when the listening material had unfamiliar topics?
A Have students practice as much as they can on these topics at home
B Provide students with background knowledge
6 What did you do when the listening text had different accents?
A Have students listen to recorded materials in which different accents are presented at home
B Have students listen to a lot of English
C Record the listening with some other teachers before class, read all or part of the tape script out in your accent, then design listening tasks for students
D Encourage students to have conversation with native speakers
E Expose students to different accents in class
7 What did you do when the listening text had fast speed of speech?
A Ask students to pick out what is essential in the listening
B Ask students to expose to as much spontaneous informal talk as they can
C Let students listen to the listening texts several times
8 What did you do when the listening text had unfamiliar sounds to your students?
A Before listening task, introduce students some essential unfamiliar sounds
B Have students practice a lot on pronunciation exercises at home
C Ask students to try to guess the meaning of the words
D Suggest students get chances to talk to native speakers
E Pause the tape and explain the unfamiliar sounds to students
9 What did you do to raise students’ motivation in listening lesson?
A Make the listening purposeful for the students
B Vary types of listening exercises
C Provide students with background knowledge
D Not make the listening passage too long
E Listening tasks should be success – oriented
F Include lots of pair-work and group-work in the listening lesson
G Not treat listening tasks like a test
I Teach listening through songs, movies …
10 How did you deal with students’ low level of English listening?
A Teach students necessary strategies and how to apply them into listening lesson
B Give the simple listening activities
11 How did you deal with students’ anxiety?
C Have students expose to English by T.V and film
D Not make the listening tasks too long
E The degree of response should be simple
12 How did you deal with students’ limited vocabulary and structures?
A Instruct them how to identify the important words that they need to listen to
B Give students chances to guess the meaning from the relevant clues
C Present some important words and structures before allowing the students to do their listening
13 How did you deal with students’ lack of background knowledge?
A Give students the topic of listening task and ask them to write down as many words and phrases as possible related to the topic
B Give students some questions related to the listening text and have them answer
C Have students discuss background knowledge in pairs or groups
C Have students look at pictures before listening
PHIẾU KHẢO SÁT DÀNH CHO SINH VIÊN
Các câu hỏi dưới đây là để lấy dữ liệu cho đề tài Luận Văn Thạc Sỹ:
“ Thực trạng dạy và học nghe đối với sinh viên năm thứ nhất không chuyên tiếng Anh tại
Trường Đại Học Phương Đông: vấn đề và giải pháp”
Rất mong em bớt chút thời gian trả lời một cách trung thực và chính xác các câu hỏi Mọi thông tin của em đều được bảo mật
Xin chân thành cảm ơn sự cộng tác của em
Trước khi trả lời các câu hỏi, xin vui lòng điền đầy đủ các thông tin dưới đây:
- Giới tính: Nam/Nữ - Tuổi : ………
- Em đã học tiếng Anh bao lâu rồi? ………
- Em đang học giáo trình tiếng Anh nào tại trường?:………
Xin vui lòng khoanh tròn những câu trả lời phù hợp cho những câu hỏi sau:
PHẦN I: NHỮNG VẤN ĐỀ SINH VIÊN GẶP PHẢI KHI HỌC KỸ NĂNG NGHE
1 Những vấn đề liên quan đến lớp học
C Lớp học có trình độ không đồng đều
D Lớp học thiếu các phương tiện giảng dạy E.Ý kiến khác:………
2 Những vấn đề xuất phát từ giáo trình
A Chủ đề nghe không quen thuộc
B Bài nghe có nhiều giọng khác nhau
C Bài nghe có nhiều âm không quen thuộc đối với sinh viên
D Tốc độ của người nói quá nhanh
3 Những vấn đề xuất phát từ chính sinh viên
A Em không có hứng thú
B Khả năng nghe tiếng Anh của em chưa tốt
C Em cảm thấy lo lắng
D Em thiếu vốn từ vựng và cấu trúc cần thiết
E Em thiếu kiến thức nền
PHẦN II: NHỮNG GIẢI PHÁP CỦA SINH VIÊN CHO NHỮNG VẤN ĐỀ
1 Em làm gì khi học kỹ năng nghe trong lớp học ồn?
A Yêu cầu giáo viên sử dụng băng, đĩa có chất lượng tốt
B Yêu cầu giáo viên tổ chức giờ học nghe trong phòng lab
C Giữ trật tự trong giờ học nghe
D Tuân theo các quy tắc trong lớp
2 Em làm gì khi học nghe trong một lớp đông?
A Tham gia vào hoạt động cặp đôi và hoạt động nhóm
B Tuân theo các quy tắc trong lớp học
C Xin chuyển sang lớp học nhỏ hơn
3 Em làm gì khi học nghe trong lớp học có trình độ không đồng đều?
A Tham gia vào các hoạt động nhóm và cặp đôi
B Yêu cầu giáo viên cung cấp bài tập nghe phù hợp với khả năng của em
4 Lớp học nghe của em nên được trang bị những phương tiện giảng dạy nào?
5 Em thường làm gì khi gặp phải chủ đề nghe không quen thuộc?
A Em luyện tập nghe thường xuyên các chủ đề nghe này ở nhà
B Hỏi giáo viên về chủ đề đó
C Hỏi bạn cùng lớp về chủ đề đó
6 Em thường làm gì khi bài nghe có nhiều giọng khác nhau?
A Thường xuyên nghe các tài liệu nghe có các giọng điệu khác nhau ở nhà
B Luyện nghe tiếng Anh nhiều
C Nắm bắt cơ hội nói chuyện với người bản địa
7 Em thường làm gì khi bài nghe có nhiều âm không quen thuộc?
A Luyện tập các bài tập phát âm ở nhà
B Nói chuyện nhiều với người bản địa
C Bỏ qua những âm không quen thuộc và cố gắng đoán nghĩa của câu
D Yêu cầu giáo viên dừng băng và giải thích các âm không quen đó
8 Em thường làm gì khi em không bắt kịp tốc độ của người nói trong bài nghe?
A Chỉ nghe những từ và cụm từ cần thiết nhất
B Tập nghe những bài hội thoại thông thường hàng ngày
D Yêu cầu giáo viên cho nghe nhiều lần
E Xem diễn giải băng phía sau sách
9 Em làm gì để có hứng thú khi học nghe?
A Nghe các bài hát và truyện tiếng Anh ở nhà
B Xem phim tiếng Anh ở nhà
C Đề nghị giáo viên cung cấp thông tin liên quan đến bài nghe trước khi nghe
D Đề nghị giáo viên tổ chức các hoạt động nghe vui nhộn
E Tham gia tích cực vào các hoạt động cặp đôi và nhóm
10 Em thường làm gì khi bài nghe trên lớp quá khó đối với em?
A Đề nghị giáo viên cung cấp các từ và cấu trúc mới
B Đề nghị giáo viên cung cấp các hoạt động nghe đơn giản
C Đề nghị giáo viên tổ chức hoạt động nghe theo cặp, theo nhóm
D Đề nghị giáo viên cho nghe nhiều lần
F Thấy nản và không nghe nữa
11 Em thường làm gì khi em cảm thấy lo lắng trong giờ học kỹ năng nghe?
A Đề nghị giáo viên cung cấp kiến thức nền của bài nghe
B Nghe hiểu tiếng Anh qua các chương trình T.V, bài hát và phim ảnh bằng tiếng Anh
C Thảo luận những vấn đề mà em chưa hiểu theo cặp, theo nhóm
D Luyện tập nghe thường xuyên ở nhà
12 Em thường làm gì khi em gặp từ và cấu trúc mới trong bài nghe?
A Em dùng từ điển để tra nghĩa
B Đề nghị giáo viên giải thích nghĩa của các từ và cấu trúc quan trọng
C Để lại những phần chưa hiểu và hi vọng sẽ được rõ sau đó
D Đoán nghĩa dựa vào ngữ cảnh
13 Em thường làm khi em thiếu kiến thức nền khi nghe?
A Đặt các câu hỏi cho giáo viên để từ đó thu thập kiến thức trước khi nghe
B Viết ra càng nhiều từ vựng và cấu trúc về chủ đề nghe càng tốt
C Thảo luận kiến thức nền với các bạn theo cặp hoặc theo nhóm về chủ đề nghe
D Không làm gì và đợi giáo viên cho tiến hành hoạt động nghe
Hi, I would like to carry out this interview to get the information for my M.A thesis which is on “Reality of teaching and learning English listening skills to the first year non-English major students at Phuong Dong University ( PDU): Solutions and Problems”
Thank you much for your help!
THE INTERVIEW WITH THE FIRST TEACHER
The interviewer: Hi, are you ready to get my questions?
The first teacher: Yes, go ahead!
The interviewer: When teaching listening, do you have any difficulties?
The first teacher: Yes, many, really First, I see I have a lot of students in English class The maximum is 35, sometimes, the number is 30 or 31 when some are absent Well, the next is about the noise Students talk in class too much, I really don‟t know why they talk with each other too much And, you know, really, I have a multi-level class Some of students, about 10 of them are good, but many are not good enough because they seem not to have necessary vocabulary And there are many unfamiliar sounds to them
The interviewer: How do you cope with large and multi-level class?
The first teacher: During the lesson, I always stopped to ask my students keep quiet, but this costs much time I also let my students to join pair-work and group-work
The interviewer: Pair-work and group-work, more specifically, please!
The first teacher: Oh, for example, before listening, I asked them to answer my questions in pairs or groups I exploited pair-work more frequently than group-work
The interviewer: What do you do when your students lack vocabulary and structures?
The first teacher: Sometimes, I let them listen to English songs Oh, they are interested in love songs Listening to English songs helps them to gain words Before listening, I often give them some important words and structures
The interviewer: What about the problem of unfamiliar sounds to students?
The first teacher: When students are listening, I ask them to omit the unfamiliar sounds and try to guess the meaning of the sentence
THE INTERVIEW WITH THE SECOND TEACHER The interviewer: Hi, what are you doing?
The second teacher: Just watching T.V
The interviewer: I need you to help me with some questions to collect data for my M.A thesis Ok?
The interviewer: What problems do you have in teaching listening?
The second teacher: There are many Let me think, firstly, there are always about from 31 students to 35 And they are noisy, of course Besides, my class is opposite an auditorium and there, teachers uses microphone to give lessons, this makes noise, also What‟s more, many students don‟t want to learn listening They find it is difficult because they don‟t learn much listening in high school And some of them only focus on their major They only learn listening for the exam
The interviewer: What do you do with large-class and noise?
The second teacher: Oh, I think working in pairs and groups is the best choice Students, they discuss with each other about the topic given by me They help each other to solve the problems and they feel exciting
The interviewer: Working in pairs and groups makes noise, also?
The second teacher: Yes, it is difficult to avoid this, but by this way, I can control my class easier When pairs and groups work, I went around the class to help them
The interviewer: What about students‟ low motivation?
The second teacher: Yes, it is a big problem Beside the difficult tasks in the textbook, I myself designed more simple listening tasks And, games and songs are what I often exploit
THE INTERVIEW WITH THE THIRD TEACHER The interviewer: Hi, very sorry to bother you on holiday?
The third teacher: No problem! You are busy with your thesis?
The interviewer: Yes, many to do And I would like you to complete my interview
The interviewer: Tell me difficulties that you have in teaching listening?
The third teacher: You know, for students, listening is the most difficult skill Well, most of students are not good at listening, they can not catch up with the speed of speaker Some are quite ok because they also join the extra evening class And, next is the matter of unfamiliar sounds to students Students can not pronoun exactly so they can not listen to what the speakers said in the tapes One more thing, I would like to mention equipments Every time, only cassette players, I need at least CD player, but there is none There is a lab, but you know, not many want to teach in the lab because the quality of the lab is not good
The interviewer: What do you do when most of students are not good at listening, but some are quite ok?
The third teacher: Well, I taught all of the students at the same rate, for more competent students, I give them more difficult exercises, but at home
The interviewer: What about speed of speech?
The third teacher: Let them listen again several times and stop the tape many times
The interviewer: And familiar sounds to students?
The third teacher: Yes, when meeting the unfamiliar sounds, I stopped the tape and introduced the sounds to students I teach student how to pronoun correctly and let them practice many times until they can achieve the accurate pronunciation
The interviewer: Which equipments do you suggest?
The third teacher: I need CD player, VCD player is also needed
THE INTERVIEW WITH THE FORTH TEACHER The interviewer: Hi, What problems do you have in teaching listening?
The forth teacher: I have complained much about the large class and teaching equipments, but nothing done from the department And the biggest problem I have are students‟ lack of vocabulary and the fast speed of speech which makes them unable to understand the listening Moreover, many students don‟t like listening
The interviewer: How many students in your class?
The interviewer: How many do you prefer?
The forth teacher: 20 or 22 is ok
The interviewer: How do you cope with this case?
The forth teacher: To control the large class, I divided class into pairs and groups, especially in pre-listening and while-listening I also gave some English songs
The interviewer: What about teaching equipments?
The forth teacher: I want to have CD players, VCD players
The interviewer: What about students‟ limited vocabulary and structures?
The forth teachers: Before listening, I gave students some essential words And during listening, when students asked me about new words and structures, I explained for them
The interviewer: How can you cope with fast speed of speech?
The forth teacher: I let my students listen to the tape several times
The interviewer: What do you do when your students don‟t like listening?
The forth teacher: The same listening tasks always make students bored, so I give students many types of listening tasks in every listening stage
Chào các em, Cô là Mai Trang - giáo viên tiếng Anh tại khoa Ngoại Ngữ, trường Phương Đông Cô thực hiện buổi phỏng vấn này là để thu thập dữ liệu cho đề tài “Thực trạng dạy và học nghe đối với sinh viên năm thứ nhất không chuyên tại Trường Đại Học Phương Đông: vấn đề và giải pháp” Rất mong em bớt chút thời gian để trả lời các câu hỏi của Cô
CUỘC PHỎNG VẤN VỚI SINH VIÊN THỨ NHẤT
Người phỏng vấn: Chào em, Cô muốn hỏi em có gặp khó khăn gì trong giờ học kỹ năng nghe hiểu trên lớp không?