Improving listening skill for grade 9 at the asian high school, cao thang campus

DECLARATION I am Nguyen Hoang Lam declare that the work presented in this Graduation Thesis is uniquely prepared by me This is my research about “Improving Listening skill for grade at the Asian High School (AHS) I declare that my research not copy from other All the information used in my research are cited from books and website with specific sourses Name: Nguyen Hoang Lam Student ID: 97011501027 Course: – Class: 15DTA Major: English Language The Saigon International University Date submitted: …………………………… Signed: …………………………………… ABTRACT I wrote the research of “Improving Listening skill for grade at The Asian High School, Cao Thang Campus” To support my graduation from The Saigon International School and Mr Nguyen Thanh Tuan – my instructor My study did not only my support my graduation but also help other people have a look English language Everyone can read my research, especially new teachers and students who have difficulties in teaching English for students grade at The Asian High School and studying English ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I have received many helps before I completed my thesis proposal First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to Mr Nguyen Thanh Tuan who helped and encouraged, guided and willing motivated me from the beginning to the end of this work Secondly, I would like to appreciation The Saigon International University for providing me a professional environment and facilities of studying, and all teachers in the English Language major for giving enthusiasm and sympathies that help me finish this research In addition, because of my limited nuts and bolts, and mistakes which hardly avoided, so I believe to receive advices from teachers to make my study more perfect I really thank to all people helping me to finish this graduating thesis Best regard, Nguyen Hoang Lam INSTRUCTOR’S COMMENT ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………… Mark: …………………………… Signed: ………………………… Contents CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1 Statement of the problem Purpose of the study Significance of the research .1 Research questions .1 Limitation Scope CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW Definitions of key terms .3 1.1 What is the Listening skill: 1.2 Difficulties: 1.3 Problems: .3 1.4 Solutions: .4 Keep an open mind Reviews previous works 15 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY .18 3.1 Research Design .18 3.2 Procedures 18 3.3 Participants .19 3.4 Sample Selection 19 3.5 Material Techniques .19 3.6 Data Collection: .19 3.7 Reliability and Validity 20 CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION .21 Translating Creates a Barrier Between Yourself and the Person Who Is Speaking 25 Most People Repeat Themselves 25 Use Key Words .26 Listen for Context 26 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION .28 REFERENCES .29 APPENDIX .31 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION Statement of the problem 1.1 Nowadays, English becomes the main language in around the world when you communicate Listening is one of the most important skills that people can use for communiate each other and listen something they want However, some Vietnamese students in secondary school still get some difficulties in listening when they participate in the exam,test in class and listening homeworks 1.2 Since this problem happens to most Vietnamese students I decided to choose this topic:”Improving the Listening skill for the grade at Asian High School (AHS)” Purpose of the study This research is aimed to find out the mistakes students at Asian High School (AHS) usually have while they have a Listening test Since their faults happen quite a lot when they build an academic essay, this research also gives students best methods to improve their listening skills Because of serious misunderstanding between vocabularies, grammars and styles of person speaking and the accent, this research points out types of person speaking, accent, and style which are demonstrated in this study as well Significance of the research This research bases on my recent survey It illustrates how an academic essay is Listen Common mistake of Listening in English will be shown in this research It is very important for first year students who are non – English majored to work on their writing mistakes Research questions What problems Asian High School grade students get with Listening skill? Why they get into problems with Listening? How they improve their Listening skills? Limitation Limitation of the study This study is applied to the secondary students who are not good at Listening in The Asian High School (AHS) Scope Scope of the study The object of this research is the secondary students about Listening skills Summary I have to teach and enjoy time at The Asian High School This is my research about “How to improving the listening skill for grade students at The Asian High School” CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW Definitions of key terms 1.1 What is the Listening skill: Listening is the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the communication process Listening is key to all effective communication Without the ability to listen effectively, messages are easily misunderstood As a result, communication breaks down and the sender of the message can easily become frustrated or irritated If there is one communication skill you should aim to master, then listening is it (Remen,2018) 1.2 Difficulties: Secondary students have some problems when they join in the exam with some reasons they cannot hear the speaking-file clearly and they misunderstanding 1.3 Problems: The evidence that shows why listening is difficult comes mainly from four sources: the message to be listened to, the speaker, the listener, and the physical setting (Yagang,n.d) Listening is the weakest skill for many leaners To improve your listening, you first need to know what your learning problem are (Ruth,2018) 1.3.1 - There are too many new words : This is what I was referring to above The real problem is not necessarily your listening ability Either you need to increase your vocabulary or choose easier listening materials 1.3.2 - People speak too fast: Here I'm getting at the changes that happen in fast, natural speech In English, we use a lot of connected speech and miss out a lot of sounds 1.3.3 - They cannot hear what people say: This is one of two things - the extreme version is where it's just a stream of sounds and you can barely pick anything out Another problem might be that you're unable to hear familiar words This could again be because of changes we make words when we say them in fast, natural speech 1.3.4 - They can hear but they not understand: This is where you can hear a lot words but you're not getting the overall message, or you're missing key words and so not understanding It might also be because you're focusing too much on trying to hear and understand every words, instead or using listening strategies to compensate when you not hear anything (just like we in our native language) (Ruth,2018) 1.4 Solutions: In today's high-tech, high-speed, high-stress world, communication is more important then ever, yet we seem to devote less and less time to really listening to one another Genuine listening has become a rare gift—the gift of time It helps build relationships, solve problems, ensure understanding, resolve conflicts, and improve accuracy At work, effective listening means fewer errors and less wasted time At home, it helps develop resourceful, self-reliant kids who can solve their own problems Listening builds friendships and careers It saves money and marriages (Schilling,2012) They have ten steps solutions for this problem (Schilling,2012) Face the speaker and maintain eye contact Talking to someone you need to look at them when you talk, it is call “eyes contact” How much of the person’s divided attention you are actually getting? If the person who were your child or your friends you might demand “Look at me when I’m talking to you”, But that is not the sort of thing we say to a lover or colleague (Schilling,2012) Be attentive, but relaxed Now that you have made eye contact, you need to relax when you were talking with them You not have to look at their face during your story or your conversation You can look at around and keep talk like a normal person But the most important thing is to be attentive during talking  Be present  Give attention  Apply or direct yourself  Remain ready to serve Enough the background and sounds around you In addition, try not to focus on the speaker’s accent or speech because this was the reason why you lost attention Finally, not be distracted by your thought, feelings or biases (Schilling,2012) Keep an open mind “Listen without judging the other person or mentally criticizing the things she tells you” When everything, which she talked to you, made you feel uncomfortable or made you CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION This is my survey information I had done with my students at The Asian High School The charts will show the data I collected when I teach at school 4.1 Amount of time to study English This pie chart shows the percentage how long students have study English Almost students at The Asian High School study in English more than years They have enough knowledge and vocabulary to understand my questions and answered it carefully 4.2 Difficult skill to learn 15 This bar chart shows the number of students feel the skill was difficult Listening had the highest percentage, 11 students and 50% The next was Writing which was difficult for students to learn, students and 25% 4.3 Time spending to practice Listening at school This pie chart shows the percentage of time they spend to practicing Listening at school Fifty-percent chose they have enough time to practice Listening at school That time for them go to school and enjoy their listening lesson 4.4 Practice Listening skill at home 16 This pie chart shows more than seventy-percent students say No in this question They did not have homework about Listening when they finished at school On the other hand, twenty-five-percent students thought they have several times a week they did the Listening homework 4.5 Problems when they have listened the record Vocabulary was the biggest problem when they listened the record that was the reason why fifty-percent students they voted it In some case, they cannot hear the record clearly, the record runs so fast 4.6 Part they want to improve 17 Vocabulary was one of the most important part in the Listening skill When they participated in the semester exam or test in class If they understood words in the record they easy to did the test This was the big thing for them to improve and learn more Solution to improve listening skill In two months I observed and teach students at The Saigon International School (AHS) Then, I gave them my survey the number and the charts would shows their problems and part they want to improve more First of all, they need to prepared to listen For example: when they receive the test paper, they need to underline the keywords and focus on wh-questions or yes/no questions to answer the question In the test they always have twice to listen the record and when they communicate to each other if they not catch everything the first time, they can ask them to repeat Secondly, they must to listen for specific information, when teacher play the record they need to focus on the main idea and keywords they have to underline it already in the question sentences Thirdly, they have to listen for pleasure For instance, my students can listening to US/UK music to improve their listen skill or watching TV show in English without subtitle and then watch it again and check how many percent they can understand Finally, carefully observe the people you listen to, watching people can also help you listen When you have talk with your friend or another people try to look and hear their tone of voice, hand gestures or how they stand Body languages is one of the most things when people talk they always use it Once you have begun to listen on a regular basis, you might still be frustrated by your limited understanding Here are a few courses of action you can take: 18  Accept the fact that you are not going to understand everything  Stay relaxed when you not understand even if you continue to have trouble understanding for a while  Do not translate into your native language  Listen for the gist (or general idea) of the conversation Don't concentrate on detail until you have understood the main idea(s) First, translating creates a barrier between the listener and the speaker Second, most people repeat themselves constantly By remaining calm, you can usually understand what the speaker had said (Beare,2019) Translating Creates a Barrier Between Yourself and the Person Who Is Speaking  While you are listening to another person speaking a foreign language (English in this case), the temptation is to immediately translate into your native language This temptation becomes much stronger when you hear a word you don't understand This is only natural as we want to understand everything that is said However, when you translate into your native language, you are taking the focus of your attention away from the speaker and concentrating on the translation process taking place in your brain This would be fine if you could put the speaker on hold In real life, however, the person continues talking while you translate This situation obviously leads to less not more -understanding Translation leads to a mental block in your brain, which sometimes doesn't allow you to understand anything at all (Beare,2019) Most People Repeat Themselves  Think for a moment about your friends, family, and colleagues When they speak in your native tongue, they repeat themselves? If they are like most people, they probably 19 That means that whenever you listen to someone speaking, it is very likely that they will repeat the information, giving you a second, third or even fourth chance to understand what has been said By remaining calm, allowing yourself to not understand, and not translating while listening, your brain is free to concentrate on the most important thing: understanding English in English Probably the greatest advantage of using the Internet to improve your listening skills is that you can choose what you would like to listen to and how many and times you would like to listen to it By listening to something you enjoy, you are also likely to know a lot more of the vocabulary required.(Beare,2019) Use Key Words  Use keywords or key phrases to help you understand the general ideas If you understand "New York", "business trip", "last year" you can assume that the person is speaking about a business trip to New York last year This may seem obvious to you, but remember that understanding the main idea will help you to understand the detail as the person continues to speak (Beare,2019) Listen for Context  Let's imagine that your English speaking friend says, "I bought this great tuner at JR's It was really cheap and now I can finally listen to National Public Radio broadcasts." You don't understand what a tuner is, and if you focus on the word tuner you might become frustrated 20 If you think in context, you probably will begin to understand For example; bought is the past of buy, listen is no problem and radio is obvious Now you understand: He bought something the tuner  to listen to the radio A tuner must be a kind of radio This is a simple example but it demonstrates what you need to focus on: Not the word that you don't understand, but the words you do understand Listening often is the most important way to improve your listening skills Enjoy the listening possibilities offered by the Internet and remember to relax (Beare,2019) 21 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION Nowadays, English is still popular in around the world It is used for communicate, listening, showing your thinking by writing, and obtaining information by reading All skills of English are very important for the leaners Specially for students in my research they are all grade at The Asian High School, I focused on the listening skill because most of students think that skill is difficult with them Since the limit of time, I only conducted my research on grand students in class 9/24 at The Asian High School In my research, I also looked up other people’s research for understanding more problems that my students have when they cannot hear the record, vocabulary problem, record runs so fast or not understand the record In order make my research stronger, I applied quantitative method to conduct my research, I chose the grand students at The Asian High School as place for my study In addition, I created a question table by Google Form where students answer by multiple choices After I collected paper from them, I started to analysis and evaluation by charts According to my survey, most students felt hard to learn listening The big problem with them was the vocabulary, because the test in class or semester exam which were the general topic, they did not have enough vocabulary to understand and make them confused about the answer keys However, I provided solutions for these issues in chapter four, which can work well them and other students at The Asian High School 22 REFERENCES Website: - Skillsyouneed.(n.d).What is the Listening skill.Retrieved from (https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/listening-skills.html) - Ruth,E.(January 1st, 2018).Problems.Retrieved from http://morevietnamese.com/listening-problems/ - Yagang,F.(n.d).Listening: Problems and Solutions https://valrc.org/courses/esolbasics/lesson5/docs/Listening_a.pdf - Schilling,D.(November 2nd, 2012).10 Steps To Effective Listening Forbes.Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/womensmedia/2012/11/09/10-steps-to-effectivelistening/#4a10b56e3891 - Deutschendorf,H.(September 23rd, 2014).5 ways to improve your listening skills.Fastcompany.Retrieved from https://www.fastcompany.com/3036026/5ways-to-improve-your-listening-skills - Artofmanliness.(May 8th, 2012).Listen Up! Part II: 15 Techniques to Improve Our Listening https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/listen-up-part-ii-15techniques-to-improve-our-listening/ - [Adapted from Minchiello et al (1990, p.5)] https://www.simplypsychology.org/qualitative-quantitative.html - Beare,K.(May 23rd, 2019) Strategies to Improve English Listening Skills.ThoughtCo.Retrieved fom https://www.thoughtco.com/improving-listeningskills-1210394 Consult: 23 - GoNaturalEnglish.(n.d) Secrets to Improve Your English Listening Skills.Retrieved from https://www.gonaturalenglish.com/5-secrets-improveenglish-listening-skills/ - Lampariello,L.(n.d).7 Tips to Improve Your Listening Comprehension (That Never Fail).Retrieved from https://www.lucalampariello.com/improve-listeningcomprehension/ - Active Learning Solution.(n.d).Improving Listening Skills in Language Learning.Retrieved from https://active-consultants.com/improving-listeningskills-in-language-learning/ - Artofmanliness(May 8th, 2012).Listen Up! Part II: 15 Techniques to Improve Our Listening.Retrieved from https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/listen-up-partii-15-techniques-to-improve-our-listening/ - Skillsyouneed.(n.d).Listening skills.Retrieved from https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/listening-skills.html - British Council.(July 2nd, 2017).How to improve your listening skills.LearnEnglish.Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgpFgtXCF4 24 APPENDIX Listening English Survey 1/ How long you study English?  year  years  years  More than 10 years 2/ Which skills you find the most difficult to learn?  Listening  Reading  Writing  Speaking 3/ Do you think that you spend much time practicing Listening at school?  Little  Very little  Enough  Much  Very much 4/ Does your teacher give you homework of listening?  Everyday  Several times a week  Weekly 25  Other _ 5/ What problems when you listen the record?  Cannot hear the record  Vocabulary problem  Record runs so fast  Do not understand the record  Other _ 6/ What parts you want to improve? 26 27 28 29