Change in percentage of students’ retention after the application
Objectives and significance of the study
The first and foremost aim of the study is to find out the effects of technology-assisted teaching on improving the students‟ performance in English listening skill, so as to change their attitude to listening as well as to enhance the students‟ participation in English listening classes of the 10 th form students at Ngoc Hoi High School (NHHS) The second one is to discover the benefits of technology-assisted teaching that students perceive in listening comprehension Last but not least important, some effective ways for teaching listening comprehension are recommended with a view to improve students‟ listening comprehension
The study is done in a hope that it will help better the situation of teaching and learning English listening comprehension at NHHS Thus, it will help enhance students‟
Research questions
To achieve the aims which are mentioned above, this study was designed to test the following hypothesis:
- Hypothesis: Technology-assisted teaching helps to improve students‟ listening comprehension
In order to draw the conclusion on how hypothesis would be accepted, the following research questions are raised:
1, To what extent does technology- assisted teaching help to improve students’ listening comprehension as measured by the difference between their pretest and posttest scores ?
2, How much do students perceive the benefits of technology- assisted teaching to their listening comprehension ?
It is hoped that the findings of the study will be of benefit to the teachers at NHHS, especially those who are engaged in teaching listening The study can highlight some effects that technology- assisted teaching can bring about to improve students‟ listening comprehension and some benefits of technology- assisted teaching that students perceive in listening comprehension The findings of the study will also contribute to our understanding of the role of technology in language teaching and learning in general.
Scope of the study
The research limits its scope to the teaching of listening skill in English using the regular English text book 10 and to its participants of 10 th form students at NHHS The choice of participants is simply a matter of convenience the researcher is teaching listening for 10 th form students at NHHS
In this study, the term “technology” is used in a very narrow sense In fact,
„technology‟ in this study refers to the use of the Powerpoint as a support to the teaching and learning of listening comprehension in the researcher‟s school She is fully aware that technology is not synonymous with the Powerpoint, but she decided to use the term in this restricted sense because this is a common way that technology is meant in her context
To realize the objectives of the study , the main research method employed in this study is a quasi- experimental design which according to Seliger and Shohamy (1989:136) involves the three basic components of experiments: the population (the 10 th form students at NHHS), the treatment (Technology-assisted teaching) and the measurement of the treatment (t-test) The data for the study were obtained through the following instruments:
* Pre and post-tests which were designed by the researcher to find out the students‟ ability in listening comprehension
* The questionnaires which were also delivered to the students taking part in the experiment as a complementary tool to discover the benefits of technology-assisted teaching (the benefits of the application of Powerpoint presentations) that students perceive in listening comprehension
The thesis consists of three main parts:
Part A is the introduction, which presents an overview of the study with the rationale for the research, the aims and the research questions of the study It also narrows the scope, presents the research method and outlines the content of the study
Part B is the development, which includes three chapters as follows:
*Chapter 1 is the Literature review This chapter presents all the related theoretical background that precedes and necessitates the information of the research
*Chapter 2 describes the research methods used in the study with some necessary components
*Chapter 3 is devoted to a detailed description of of data analysis and thorough discussion of the findings of the study In this chapter some explaination and interpretations of the findings are explored
Part C is the conclusion which presents the study conclusions and teaching implications Besides, it also offers the limitations and suggestions for further study.
Organization of the study
The thesis consists of three main parts:
Part A is the introduction, which presents an overview of the study with the rationale for the research, the aims and the research questions of the study It also narrows the scope, presents the research method and outlines the content of the study
Part B is the development, which includes three chapters as follows:
*Chapter 1 is the Literature review This chapter presents all the related theoretical background that precedes and necessitates the information of the research
*Chapter 2 describes the research methods used in the study with some necessary components
*Chapter 3 is devoted to a detailed description of of data analysis and thorough discussion of the findings of the study In this chapter some explaination and interpretations of the findings are explored
Part C is the conclusion which presents the study conclusions and teaching implications Besides, it also offers the limitations and suggestions for further study.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Listening comprehension
Enlish listening is now well recognized as a crucial role in language learning and communication Over the last two decades, with a new wave of interest in the development of communicative competence in language teaching, listening comprehension skills have ever received much more attention in language teaching classrooms Researchers have different views on the definition of listening comprehension:
Underwood (1989: 1) puts a simple and easy-to-understand definition According to her, listening “is the activity of paying attention to and trying to get meaning from something we hear.” Underwoord emphasizes the consciousness of listeners by using the phrase “paying attention” Besides, listening here does not stress the word level but the meaning of the whole utterance
Listening comprehension is defined by O‟Malley & Chamot (1989: 420) as follows: “Listening comprehension is an active and conscious process in which the listener constructs meaning by using cues from contextual information and existing knowledge, while relying upon multiple strategic resources to fulfil the task requirement”
Buck (2001: 247) provide a broader definition of listening comprehension:
“Listening is a complex process in which the listeners takes the incoming data, an acoustic signals, and interprets it based on a wide variety of linguistic and non-linguistic knowledge The linguistic knowledge includes knowledge of phonology, lexis, syntax, semantics, discourse structure, pragmatics and sociolinguistics The non-linguistic knowledge includes knowledge of the topic, the context and general knowledge about the world and how it works”
Therefore, the concept of listening comprehension can be broadly defined as everything that improves on the human processing which mediates between sounds and the construction of meaning when listeners are expected to attend to what they hear to process it, to comprehend, to interpret, to evaluate and to respond to the incoming data In order to do all these things, they have to get envolved in the process and become active listeners
From the concept of listening comprehension above, in this study the students‟ listening comprehension is their performance on the listening tests
1.1.2 The importance of listening in second language learning
English listening plays quite an important role because the key to acquire a language is to receive language input In Rost‟s point of view, teaching listening is an important part of L2 teaching because the learners are provided with input that helps them able to learn better Listening instruction is also a good chance for the learners to interact and learn spoken language as well as authentic spoken language Besides, Teachers can provide the learners with listening exercises to draw their attention to new form in the language such as vocabulary, grammar, interaction patterns ( Rost, 1991: 141) It is true that listening is of great essence not only as a respective skill but also to the development of the language proficiency Listening skill is obviously a necessary preliminary to the success of the language learning process
Moreover, according to the second language acquisition theory, language input is the most essential condition of language acquisition As an input skill, listening plays a crucial role in students‟ language development Krashen (1985) argues that people acquire language by understanding the linguistic information they hear Thus language acquisition is achieved mainly through receiving understandable input and listening ability is the critical component in achieving understandable language input Rost (1994) also pinpointed the importance of listening in the language classroom as the supplier of the input for students Without comprehension input at the right level, learning cannot work well In additions, students spend most of their time listening to the teacher‟s lecture
Nichols and Stevens (see Elkhafaifi, 2005: 505) reported that among four language skills in language learning: listening is the most frequently used skill: 45% is devoted to listening, 30% to speaking, only 16% to reading and a mere 9% to writing Therefore, listening is a fundamental and vital skill in the acquisition of languages (Nunan, 2002)
Thus, it is of vital importance that students should be taught to listen effectively and critically Given the importance of listening in language teaching and learning, it is essential for language teachers to help students become effective listeners
1.1.3 Some challenges of listening to the learners
Listening is usually a hard skill to master in one‟s own language as well as in second language acquisition.There have been different views about factors that affect listening comprehension:
According to Brown and Yule, there are four main groups of factors that cause difficulty in listening comprehension They are, in turns, the speaker, the listener, the content and support
“ there are four main groups of factors that cause difficulty in listening comprehension These are the speaker (that includes the numbers of speakers, the speaker’s speed, and the speaker’s accents); the listeners (this consists of the roles of the listeners, the level of response required and the listener’s interest in the subject): the content (vocabulary, grammar, information structure and background knowledge); and support (whether there are pictures, diagrams and visual aids )
Mary Underwood (1989: 16-19) draws out seven problems learner may encounter when learning to listen: fast speed; unrepeated thing; the listeners‟ limited vocabulary; failure to recognize the “signals”; interpretation; concentrate; and learning habit.In addition, unfamiliar topic can interfere with the learner‟s concentration which is a major problem in listening activity According to Underwood (1989: 19), “If students find the topic interesting, they will find concentration easier.” Interesting topic makes listening activities enjoyable; students become engaged in classroom activities; therefore, it is a good way to minimize the harmful effect
Restriction of vocabulary is also the common problem for the learners Some words in the listening text may be the new words for them, which may cause dificulty for the learners‟ comprehension of the text Just as Underwood (1989:17) said, “For people listening to a foreign language, 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”
The lack of background knowledge, which is also called prior knowledge or schemata, may impede student performance As suggested by Underwood (1989: 19), students who are unfamiliar with the context may have considerable difficulty in interpreting the words they hear even when they can understand their „surface‟ meaning
In short, the problems students may encounter in listening comprehension are many and various As a result, the teacher should take into considerations the challenges mentioned above in order to assist the students to overcome the difficulties in listening comprehension and gain success in their listening Powerpoint presentation can be applied as an effective tool here
Technology-assisted teaching
This section will focus on the technology- assisted teaching The section is devided into four parts: the definition of technology- assisted teaching, the role of technology in language teaching, the previous studies and the application of Powerpoint in designing the activities of a listening lesson
1.2.1 Definition of technology- assisted teaching
There are many ways to define the term Technology assisted-teaching Some teachers use this term to refer to any things that teachers can use in teaching, such as media images, audio or digital devices Some other educators use this term to “refer to the application of computer or electronic equipments in the teaching and learning”
(Muffoletto, 1994:99) For the purposes of this thesis, the definition of Technology assisted-teaching understood as educational technology which is the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning, and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate technological processes and resources.” (AECT, 2004)
In this study, the term “technology” is used in a very narrow sense In fact,
„technology‟ in this study refers to the use of the Powerpoint as a support to the teaching and learning of listening comprehension According Kisito, PowerPoint presentations consist of a number of individual pages or "slides" The "slide" analogy is a reference to the slide projector Slides may contain text, graphics, sound, movies, and other objects, which may be arranged freely PowerPoint, however, facilitates the use of a consistent style in a presentation using a template or "Slide Master" Kisito, F (2007:1-2)
1.2.2 Role of technology in language teaching
Information Technology in general and computers in particular, have had great effects on the general picture of English Language Teaching According to Hutchens (2004:1), the use of technology can help teachers develop innovative teaching stratergies that increase student learning and comprehension and it should be implemented in the classroom He also strongly believes that technology can be an effective tool for conveying information and creating a rich learning environment Hubbard and Siskin
(2004) argue convincingly for the significant promise of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) for developing learners‟ conscious knowledge of the language, for improving listening and reading comprehension, and for improving pronunciation
Numerous researchers have supported the use of multimedial technology for EFL instruction ( Jonassen 2000; Kitao 1995; Kang 1999; Pino-Silva 2002,2004; Stepp-Greany
2002) (cited in Carlos A Mayora) Their researches show that using multimedial technology in the classroom:
+ helps teachers to deal more effectively with a large group of students
+ makes the introducion and presentation of content more dynamic and attractive for students
+ increases student motivation due to the interactive nature of the activities
+ introduces a variety of print, audio, and visual materials that match different student learning styles and preferences
Using a computer, a teacher can also provide students with different kinds of learning Garrett‟s view is that the computer can provide textual support for listening (transcripts, glossary help, structural clues), which is particularly valuable at pre- intermediate lever of language study where literacy and knowledge for formal language play a much greater role in comprehension
In Vietnam, in applying IT, almost teachers and educators understand IT as the use of PowerPoint, which is an incredibly popular piece of software, coming with Microsoft packages Teachers can use Powerpoint to create presentations to help explain different topics and supply students with many kinds of tasks The main purpose of Power Point is to enable the user to create dynamic, informational slide shows through the use of text, graphics, and animation Slide shows created with the software are often displayed on projection screens for training, or educational presentations Additionally, the slides can be arranged and printed as handouts for reference.With PowerPoint, teachers can make charts, tables, and macros, and insert images, audio, video, and other multimedia files to support for their teaching activities Although PowerPoint has been around for years, it has just begun to spread to schools and English Language Teaching (ELT) classrooms as more and more classrooms and teachers have access to computers and the hardware to use PowerPoint Therefore, PowerPoint is becoming an increasingly popular medium in ELT in the classrooms (adappted from Nguyen‟s minor thesis -2010)
According to Hutchen (2004:3), the use of technology-assisted instruction is widely applied in education to improve student performance, learning and satisfaction
The results in his study indicated that technology-assisted instruction creates a rich, effective, and efficient learning environment which increases student performance and learning Many other researchers share these ideas Garrett, N (2009:717) says that technology does offer the potential for enormous enhancement of foreing language learning Liu, M (2001:23) points out that computer technology holds the promise and potential for offering ways in which teachers can help students improve their oral and listening skills Kern, R (2006:189) states that the benefits of CALL have been widely accepted and educators agree that it can be an effective instruction tool In addition, several educators have realized that effective use of technology can influence student learning Byk, J (2008:23) said: “ I find the use of technology in the classroom amazing It offers great visual aids as well as listening and reading inputs through power point presentations, for instance I believe technology offers tools to teachers if it’s well used and we must not forget that tools without great content and interaction do not offer good quality teaching” Scrivener, J (2005: 18) mentions “Computer presentation programs (Microsoft PowerPoint ) are a good way of storing and showing images and text in unusual ways, a sort of high-tech slide show”
The M.A thesis conducted by Huong, N.T (2010) mentioned the effectiveness of
IT in language classroom as follow:
“With the use of projectors in the language classrooms, language teachers can use slide presentation to make their performance more interesting Students have reported to be highly interested in the lesson and therefore they participated increasingly into the activities given by the language teachers It means that students are extremely motivated to interact during the class time, and as a result, the language teaching becomes more effective Motivated students are every teacher’s dream In this target, teachers use IT is one of the most effective ways”
Kisito, F (2007:1-2) says that many teachers in his school find Microsoft PowerPoint a more powerful visual tool for aiding instruction because the program allows the display not just of textual information but also graphic and pictorial information, both of which facilitate retention and learning He confirms that if you use PowerPoint smartly and wisely to assist your teaching, you will find that it adds more dynamism to your classroom activities, as well as tickle the interest of many students
From the points of the previous researchers and educators about the effectiveness of the technology applied in teaching, it is certain that application of Powerpoint presentations in language teaching, especially the teaching of listening skill is very necessary and useful
1.2.4 The application of Powerpoint in designing the activities of a listening lesson
As a high school teacher, the author always tries to use the Powerpoint presentations in teaching English, expecially in teaching listening skill Below are some activities used in three stages of a listening lesson: Pre-listening stage, while-listening stage and post- listening stage (Lesson plans: Unit11, Unit 12 and Unit 14 – Appendix 4)
The aim of this stage is to help students to get familliar with the topic of the spoken text, understand the background knowledge and stimulate students‟ interest by setting the scene Therefore, teachers can do this by pre-teaching some of the most difficult language (new words/difficult grammar points/ structures) They can also encourage students to make predictions about the content of the text by using games, crossword, or matching activity
Below are some activities used to pre-teach listening skill in unit 11 and unit 12 (English of 10 th form) with the aid of the Powerpoint presentations
In unit 11 (English 10 th form) with the listening lesson is about “ National parks”, Powerpoint sofware can be used to design some pre-listening activities in which students look at some photographs of Cuc Phuong National Park and listen to a part of the song (Cuc Phuong National Park) and guess the name of the place then speak about this place using their own knowledge of the place
Picture 1: Screen of pre-listening picture guessing designed with the use of Powerpoint – unit 11
Which place do you think of when you look at these images and listen to this part of the song
METHODS OF THE STUDY
Background of the study
This section is devoted to the discussion of NHHS, where the researcher works and does the research In fact, the researcher will refer to the factors that play a great part in her research such as the school with its teaching and learning conditions and the English syllabus which has been used for grade 10 at the school
2.1.1 Ngoc Hoi school and its teaching and learning conditions
Ngoc Hoi High School, which is located in Thanh Tri district, Hanoi, was founded in 1966 Since its foundation, it has always proved to be a school of high teaching and learning quality and has made contributions to the education and training course of the nation It has more than eighty teachers, eight of them are teachers of English Its 1584 students are divided into 36 classes NHHS students are not very interested in English because they are specialized in Maths, Physics and Chemistry, which they will do to take the entrance exams to universities Therefore, all teachers of English at NHHS are trying to improve their teaching to motivate their students In fact, they have been trying to apply
IT to their teaching to motivate their students to learn English
In recent years, computer has been used in NHHS A multi-functional room equipped with a computer and a projector was built in 2004 This has made the application of information technology into language teaching feasible Therefore, all the teachers in this school have been applying IT in their teaching to make their teaching lessons more effective In the year 2007, the school has invested much more in equipments for teaching and learning Actually, there are 5 classrooms which are equipped with the wifi network
Each has one computer accompanied with loudspeakers, headphones, microphones, an overhead projector and a PowerPoint screen, and a video player, which has changed the ways of English Language teaching and learning As a result, teachers can design electronic lesson plans with visual illustrations and audio aids to teach their students This makes the lessons more interesting and easier for students to understand Students also appear to be more enthusiastic with these kinds of electronic lessons Moreover in each listening lesson, students no longer have to listen to the teacher‟ voice They have chance to listen to tape recorder or CD This helps them to get familiar with the native accent
At NHHS, the new English textbooks have been in use for four years These new textbooks are underpinned by a theme-based approach to the introduction of language input Now they are compulsory and adapted in teaching English at all schools and all grades Each textbook contains sixteen units Each unit consists of five sections They are, in turns, reading, speaking, listening, writing and language focus In the English textbook
10, there are twenty listening periods with different topics They are arranged as follows:
Unit 1:A day in the life of ………( A cyclo‟s morning activities) Unit 2: School talks
Unit 3: People‟s background Test yourself A: Martin Luther King‟s background Unit 4: Special Education (Vang Trang Khuyet Club) Unit 5: Technology and you ( An old company director‟s experience of learning how to use a computer)
Unit 6: An excursion ( The weekend picnic) Test yourself B: Oxford City
Unit 7: The mass media ( Some radio news) Unit 8: The story of my village ( Popffero town) Test yourself C: Sheila Brooks‟s village
Unit 9: Undersea world Unit 10: Conservation ( Forest fire) Unit 11: National parks
Test yourself D: National park Unit 12: Music (Van Cao) Uni1 13: Films and cinema
Unit 14: The world cup ( Pele- a famous footbal player) Test yourself E: Advertisement
Unit 15: Cities ( The Statue of Liberty) Unit 16:Historical Places ( Hoi An – an ancient town) Test yourself F: Bangkok
This is the background where I has done my research The next section will deal with the methods of the study.
Methods of the study
This section will deal with quasi-experiment method which is used for this study, the researcher would like to provide its definition with an aim at more understanding this type of method
2.2.1.1 Definitionof the quasi-experimental method
Quasi-experimental method is a method designed basing on situations which already exist in the real world (Campell and Stanley 1963) These researchers labeled this research method “quasi-experimental” because they conducted under conditions in which it is difficult to control many of the variables and in which subjects cannot be assigned to special groups for the purposes of the research Quasi-experimental studies examine outcome; however they do not involve randomly assigning participants to treatment and control groups A quasi-experimental study might compare outcomes for individuals receiving program activities with outcomes for similar group of individuals not receiving program activities (Herbert W Seliger & Elana Shohamy 1989)
2.2.1.2 Rational of using a quasi-experimental method
There are some reasons why a quasi- experimental method is used
First, a quasi- experimental research is probably more representative of the conditions found in educational contexts, (Campell & Stanley 1963) where laboratory-like research conditions are impossible Yet, Seliger and Shohamy (1989) argues that “ This method is likely to have more external validity because it is conducted under conditions closer to those normally found in educational contexts For these reasons, research conducted under a quasi-experimental design format is often less likely to meet resistance from the „consumers‟ of research, such as language teachers Furthermore, it is easier to gain access to subject populations and thus easier to conduct such research For these reasons, quasi-experimental designs are also ideal for teacher-conducted research, in which the exploration of a research ideal is the primary goal.”(Seliger & Shohamy 1998:
Second, quasi-experimental method is carried out to test a hypothesis about a
“cause-and-effect relationship” Specifically, classroom researchers use control and experimental groups to test their hypotheses about the effects of implementing a particular methodological treatment in language teaching (Allwright, 1991:41)
This study was intended to test the causal relationship between the effect of technology- assisted teaching and students‟ listening competence A quasi-experimental design is therefore quite appropriate to the purpose of the study The next section provides information about the research subjects and data collecting instruments
The subjects are one hundred sixty grade 10 students at Ngoc Hoi High school
They come from class 10A3, 10A5, 10A8 and 10A10, in which the researcher taught English Their pre-supposed level in English is pre-intermediate; however, the majority of them can not reach this level In fact, they are not very good at English This can be proved by their results in this subject English results in the class and in examinations are usually the lowest in comparision with other main subjects‟ In short, it can be said that the majority of the subjects possess low English competence These one hundred sixty students were devided into two groups: the experimental group and the control one The experimental group received technology-assisted teaching in their listening lessons, while the control one followed non-technology-assisted teaching while they learn the listening skill
The study employed two instruments to obtain the data They are pre and post-tests and the questionnaire The combination of these instruments will increase the preciseness and reliability of the data collected because the data obtained from one method will help to inform and refine the other
Before the treatment, the researcher designed a pre-treatment test to find out the student‟s ability in listening comprehension Next, after the treatment, a post-treatment test was administered to measure the difference between experimental students‟ listening competence before and after the treatment as well as to measure the difference between the control group and the experimental group Post-test is also designed with the same format as pre-test Both tests were carefully designed in terms of the following quality:
*The tests were designed for students of pre-intermediate level
*The tasks in both pre and post test must be equal in terms of the difficulty
*The task types in the pre and post test are similar Each listening test has three tasks including gap-filling, true or false and question-answering
` The topic for each listening task in both pre and both test is similar Task 1 is about people background Task 2 is about people talking about their countries Task 3 is about National Parks
The two tests elaborated to trace learners‟ progress in their listening comprehension skills had the following characteristics:
A pre-test and a post-test were designed to check the learners‟ ability in listening comprehension Both pre-test and post-test consist three sections:
Part I: In this section, students had to listen to a talk about a personal background and fill in blanks with the information about him/her in 6 blanks
Part II: In this section, students had to listen to some talks about some countries in the world and decided whether the statements about these countries are true or false
Part III: In this section, students had to listen to some talks about some National Parks in the world and answered 4 questions (Appendix 1)
The researcher decided to design these tests basing above criteria to check the students' sub listening skill (listening for specific details, listening and interpretation, and listening for comprehension) which the students were taught and asked to do in the listening tasks in 8 listening lessons, in which the Powerpoint presentations were applied
Therefore, the researcher could analyse the results of the both tests to investigate the effects of the Powerpoint presentations on students‟ listening comprehension
Both tests were evaluated by the researcher using the following marks: 1:Correct and 0: Incorrect
These similarities between the two tests help ensure the reliability and validity of the research The test had been given to one hundred and sixty students in four different classes Then, the results obtained were analyzed by mean The mean scores from the pre test and post test was compared to see the changes in their ability in listening comprehension after being taught with the help of technology The detailed pre and post – treatment tests are described fully in Appendix 1
The questionnaire was used to get the experimental students' attitudes toward the technology-assisted teaching listening lessons According to Nunan, " the questionnaire is a relatively popular means of collecting data" ( Nunan 2000: 143) The questionnaire was designed with 8 questions which focused on the following main aspects that the researcher would like to investigate: (Appendix 2)
+ Question 1 worked out students‟ self –assessment on the importance of the application of the Powerpoint presentations in teaching and learning listening
+ Questions 2 and 3 were intended to discover students‟ assessment about the effectiveness of the application of the Powerpoint presentations in teaching and learning listening skill
+ Questions 4, 5, 6 and 7 were aimed at finding students‟ improvement resulting from the application of the Powerpoint presentations in teaching and learning listening skill
+ Question 8 was designed to investigate benefits of the application of the Powerpoint presentations in teaching and learning listening skill at NHHS
Questionnaire for students was in Vietnamese so that there was no misunderstanding of the questions, which helped ensure the reliability and validity of data collected
The study was conducted four months, beginning from 20 th January, 2011 and finishing by May 20th, 2011 at Ngoc Hoi high school.The procedures are as follows:
A pre-test was designed and given to both groups At this time, the students in both groups had just finished the first term with 60 periods of English They had gained some basic knowledge of English and partly been familiar to learning and practicing four skills of English In the first week of the second term, the teacher helped students revise generally what they had learned in the first term In the listening lesson, the students of both groups were asked to do some listening tasks in their class These listening tasks were served as documents for pre-test because after this test each group would be taught with different methods The pre-test were scored by the teacher- researcher based on the scoring criteria shown in Appendix 3
After comparing the result of the pretest scores of the four classes, the researcher started teaching listening for both control group and experiment group following the timetable of the school, but applying different methods The control group (10 A3 & 10 A5) was provided with non-technology-assisted teaching listening lessons in the classroom while the experimental group (10 A8 & 10 A10) was provided with technology-assisted teaching listening lessons as treatment During the teaching time, the researcher always paid attention to the students‟ participation, students‟ improvement as well as their interest in in-class activities
On week 15, one week before the term ended, all the students in both classes took a test called post- test with the same topic as the pre-test The results from the teacher‟s judgments for these tests were compared with the results of the pre- test to investigate the improvement the students made in their listening In addition, the questionnaire was delivered to 80 students who were in experimental group The researcher then collected the information from this questionnaire to find out the students‟ self –assessment on the importance, the effectiveness and the benefits of the application of the Powerpoint presentations in teaching and learning listening skill in computer-assisted classroom
DATA ANALYSIS AND DICSUSSION
The findings of the study
The results from the pre-tests of both groups were analyzed as follow:
P(T
