ABSTRACT Currently, with the development of international trade, the integration of foreign companies or multinational corporations is increasing The need for foreign languages, especially English, ha[.]
THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH DEPARTMENT - - GRADUATION PAPER Topic: A study on difficulties in listening skills faced by second year English major students at Thuongmai University and some suggested solutions Supervisor :Tran Thi Thu HienStudent :Tran Thi Ngoc AnhClass :K55N5Student code:19D170285 Hanoi, 2022 Hanoi, 2022 Hanoi, 2021 ABSTRACT Currently, with the development of international trade, the integration of foreign companies or multinational corporations is increasing The need for foreign languages, especially English, has also become more urgent than ever English is considered a compulsory and basic language for students to approach businesses and grasp job opportunities in reality We cannot deny the role of English for students in particular and working people in general However, learning English now requires not only basic communication with foreigners but also the ability to read, listen and understand well when approaching a professional working environment Listening skill is one of the most necessary skills to communicate in real life and it is also very important in learning a foreign language It is well known that hearing a message is more than just listening, so the listener must understand the message and respond properly Especially for students of the English Department, Thuongmai University, listening skill is a compulsory subject and plays a very important role in the curriculum as well as equipping students with skills In the program, students majoring in Business English will have to practice some other subjects such as Translating Practice and Advanced Interpreting that require students to have good listening skills However, in the learning process, students often achieve the desired results due to the lack of knowledge and skills, especially for those who are new to this subject Most of these students face some difficulty when they learn English listening skills The problems that students face can come from various causes such as poor vocabulary, knowledge, understanding, etc In order to identify certain difficulties when listening to English, the author conducted a study of the difficulties in English listening skills of second-year students of the English Department, Thuongmai University The purpose of the study is to find out the difficulties in students’ English listening skills and propose some solutions to improve students' listening skills I ACKNOWLEDGEMENT In the time of making my graduation paper, I have received a lot of support, assistance and encouragement from my family, teachers, friends who bring me a lot of motivation to complete my thesis successfully Thus, I would like to show acknowledgement to them First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor - MA Tran Thi Thu Hien for her guidance, comments and encouragement during my study With her dedicated guidance as well as her experience and knowledge, she has directly oriented, supported and helped me finish my study Secondly, I would like to show my special thanks to my teachers of the English Faculty at Thuongmai University for their teaching In my four-years of study at Thuongmai University, the college board, principal and teachers have given the best conditions and facilities to us to finish our college curriculum Besides, I would also like to thank the second - year students of the English Faculty at Thuongmai University for taking the time to answer my survey questions With their enthusiastic help, I was able to collect valuable data to complete my survey With their enthusiastic assistance, I have collected valuable data to complete my survey Additionally, I also give my appreciation to all the authors of the books, reliable data sources and other materials listed in the reference part which have given me helpful consultancy to develop my graduation paper Due to limited implementation time and knowledge, I look forward to receiving comments and suggestions in order to perfect the graduation paper Sincere thanks! Hanoi, November 15, 2022 Student Tran Thi Ngoc Anh II TABLE OF CONTENT ABSTRACT .I ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .II LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS V LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS .VI CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Previous studies 1.2.1 Studies abroad .2 1.2.2 Studies in Vietnam 1.3 Aims of the study 1.4 Research Subjects 1.5 Research question 1.6 Scope of the study .5 1.7 Research methodology 1.8 Organization of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Overview of English listening skills .7 2.1.1 Definitions of English listening skill 2.1.2 Types of listening skills 2.1.3 The importance of listening skills 10 2.2 Factors making listening difficult for English learners 11 2.2.1 Factors relating to listeners 12 2.2.2 Factors relating to the speakers 13 2.2.3 Factors relating to the listening text .15 2.2.4 Factors relating to physical setting 16 2.3 Ways to improve English listening skill .17 2.4 Summary .19 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS .20 3.1 The participants of the study 20 3.2 Data collection instruments 20 3.3 Data analysis 21 III 3.3.1 Students’ background information 22 3.3.2 The attitude of second year English major students toward learning English listening skill .24 3.3.3 Difficulties in English listening of second year English major students at Thuongmai University .26 3.3.4 Suggestions to improve English listening skill for second year English major students at Thuongmai University 32 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATION AND SUGGESTIONS 34 4.1 Recommendations for improve English listening skill .34 4.1.1 Recommendations for students 34 4.1.2 Recommendation for teachers .34 4.2 Limitation of the study 35 4.3 Suggestion for further study 36 CONCLUSION .37 REFERENCE 38 APPENDIX 40 APPENDIX 45 IV LIST umber OF ABBREVIATIONS N Abbr eviations English meaning ULIS VNU TMU Thuongmai University VOA Voice of America TV Television University of Languages and International Studies Vietnam National University, Hanoi V LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS LIST OF CHARTS Chart Students’ English learning experience 23 Chart The most difficult skill in learning English 24 Chart 3 The importance of lítening skill 25 Chart Student’s assessment of the skill needed improvement the most 25 Chart Assess how often students listen to English 26 Chart Difficulties in Listening skill 27 Chart The teacher’s activities to help students improve listening skill 33 LIST OF TABLES Table General Background of the Respondents 22 Table Factors relating to listeners 28 VI Table 3 Factors relating to the listening text 29 Table Factors relating to speakers 30 Table Factors relating to physical setting .31 Table Suggested activities to improve speaking skills 32 VII CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale In the context of current globalization, between countries all over the world, there is exchange, integration and strong development in all fields: economy, culture, politics, society, etc With the trend of international economic integration, English is known as the main global language to communicate in all jobs Many companies have expanded to cooperate with businesses abroad This opportunity lies inevitably in your hands at a higher rate when you have good communication skills in which listening and speaking are two main skills However; listening seems to be the most important skill since if we not understand what foreigners say, we might not be able to communicate with them Moreover, listening skill is a vital means of providing input information for learners as well as a vital component for the whole process of learning language And teaching listening skills in the classroom helps students make the transition from classroom English to real-life English more easily and effectively In addition, learning listening skills is the most difficult part of learning a foreign language Listening, like reading, is a receptive skill but it is often the most daunting for students When reading, a reader usually has more opportunities to refer back to the text to clarify understanding, which a listener cannot in most listening contexts such as TV programs, meetings, discussions, lectures or conversations Although listening skills are important and difficult in learning English, the status of teaching and learning listening skills has been ignored and received little attention It can be seen that the Vietnamese education system focuses more on coaching exams with much attention to grammar, reading and vocabulary Therefore, listening is included in course books in many educational levels; however, it somehow is neglected by the teachers during the lessons As a result, many Vietnamese students, even those who score well in grammatical tests, cannot communicate effectively with foreigners in daily conversations In addition, in Vietnam rural students are not exposed to the English language beyond what they learn in classes Students’ fundamental means of listening to English come from the teacher’s voice Moreover, the quality of the tapes and listening devices is not good But it is difficult for students to listen because of the low standard sound For those reasons, most of the students in rural and mountainous areas suffer a terrible shock when learning to listen in the university After studying in the English Faculty at Thuongmai University, for nearly four years, I realize that the second-year students of English major still have to cope with many difficulties in their listening skill When deciding the topic, namely “A study on difficulties in listening skills faced by second year English major students at Thuongmai University and some suggested solutions.” I hope it would bring a grain of aspiration and motivation for improving listening skills as well as supporting further studies 1.2 Previous studies Realizing the importance of English in everyday life, many students have invested their time and finances to learn English Learning another language is not easy so many students sometimes have difficulties and make mistakes in the listening process To find out and overcome the difficulties, there are many studies carried out Some studies are also conducted by experienced students with databases that clearly demonstrate through field surveys Regarding the topic of my graduation report, there are several previous studies that I have consulted for my thesis 1.2.1 Studies abroad The first study was conducted by Hamouda, Arafat (2012) with the topic “Listening Comprehension Problems - Voices from the Classroom” Its purpose is to investigate the intricacies of learning skills related to first-year English majors at Quassim University The study results were compiled by questionnaires and interviews, in which the main problems are bad pronunciation and speed, lack of new words, distinctive accents from speakers, as well as psychological feelings and bad listening materials After discovering the difficulties in learning listening, teachers have more in-depth strategies to improve and develop students’ skills Of ... is the attitude of second- year English majors towards learning English listening skills? What are the difficulties in English listening of second year English major students at Thuongmai University? ... understanding a speaker’s accent or pronunciation, the speaker’s grammar and vocabulary and comprehension of meaning Pearson (1983) stated ? ?Listening involves the simultaneous organization and combination... with the goal of analyzing or evaluating a message based on verbally presented information and information that can be inferred from the context The critical listener evaluated a message and decided