A survey on difficulties in listening skill of english majored freshmen at tay do university

TAY DO UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE A RESEARCH PROPOSAL ON A SURVEY ON DIFFICULTIES IN LISTENING SKILL OF ENGLISH MAJORED FRESHMEN AT TAY DO UNIVERSITY Supervisor: Dang Thi Hanh, MA Student’s name: Vo Thi Xuan Thao Student’s code: 13D220201080 Class: Bachelor of English 8B April 2017 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT My research proposal cannot accomplish without the help of so many people Therefore, I would like to express my deep gratitude to the many people who helped and supported me in the research process First of all, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my instructor, Mrs Dang Thi Hanh for her enthusiastic guidance and important comments during the course of the study This article cannot be completed without critical comment and value contribution Secondly, I would like to send my gratitude to Tay Do University, especially to Faculty of Literature and Linguistics because I have had the opportunity to this research proposal Finally, I am grateful to send my deepest thanks to my families to support me in the best condition and encourage me in the process of learning This is the motivation for me to complete this study i COMMENTS ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i COMMENTS ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii ABSTRACT iv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 The significance of study 1.3 The organization of study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 The definitions of the listening 2.2 The importance of listening 2.3 Difficulties in English listening 2.3.1 Difficulties related to linguistics 2.3.1.1 Pronunciation, intonation and accent difficulties 2.3.1.2 Vocabulary difficulties 2.3.1.3 Grammar difficulties 11 2.3.2 Difficulties related to background knowledge 12 2.3.3 Difficulties related to psychological obstacles 13 2.4 Previous studies 14 iii 2.4.1 English Listening Comprehension Problems of Students from China Learning English in Malaysia 14 2.4.2 A Study of Difficulties in Learning English Listening Skill for beginners in the Asemlink of International Languages Center and Some Suggested Solutions 15 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH AIMS-RESEARCH QUESTIONS-HYPOTHESIS 3.1 Research aims 16 3.2 Research questions 16 3.3 Hypothesis 16 CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHOLOGY 17 4.1 Design 17 4.2 Participants 17 4.3 Instruments 17 4.3.1 Questionnaire 18 4.3.2 Interview 18 4.4 Procedure of the research 18 CHAPTER 5: EXPECTED OUTCOMES 20 REFERENCES 21 APPENDIX A 26 APPENDIX B 32 iv ABSTRACT This research proposal presents the process of the study about “A survey on difficulties in listening skill of English majored freshmen at Tay Do University” This research was conducted to figure out common difficulties in English listening of students majoring in English The two main instruments of the research are a questionnaire and interview The suggestions of the research would point out the students’ difficulties in linguistics (pronunciation, intonation, accent; vocabulary; grammar); background knowledge; psychological obstacles; previous studies, etc Therefore, this research proposal could help students recognize and improve their problems in listening ability and it helps teachers identify the problems to have suitable teaching methods v CHAPTER INTRODUCTION In chapter 1, the researcher would like to present rationale, significance and organization of the research 1.1 Rationale English has become an international language In learning English, students usually focus on four basic skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing Among the skills mentioned above, listening is an important skill in communication It is widely used in many fields such as business, technology, education, tourism, communication In fact, English listening skills is one of the essential requirements for people looking for a good job To study English effectively, students must improve four basic skills including reading, writing, speaking and listening Nevertheless, listening skill is not easy for students who learn a new language as English Hence, students have faced difficulties in learning listening to English because they are accustomed to traditional methods which focus on theory than practice The problems expected to speaking were linguistics (pronunciation, accent, intonation, vocabulary, grammar); background knowledge; psychological obstacles; previous studies If listening and reading are the language input, then writing and speaking are said to be the language output Among these skills, listening is a prominent skill which is hard to master and plays a significant role in communication According to Epictetus, "nature has given men one tongue but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak" Listening directly affects daily conversation because “the most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen Just listen Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention” (Rachel Naomi Remen, 1994) In fact, if there is no listening, people find it hard to share their thoughts, feelings or ideas with others Listening plays a vital role in daily lives People listen for different purposes such as entertainment, academic purposes or obtaining necessary information As for foreign language learning, listening is of paramount importance since it provides the language input (Rost 1994, p.141-142) Without understanding input appropriately, learning simply cannot get any improvement In addition, without listening skill, no communication can be achieved (Cross, 1998) As for that, language learners, especially those who learn English as a foreign language in a non-native setting, find it difficult to acquire good listening skill This research proposal an attempt to identify problems are faced by first year-English major students at Tay Do University I hope that my research would bring students advantages and development to their listening skill For those reasons, the research “Difficulties in listening skill of English majored freshmen at Tay Do University” is conducted to find out problems that students have faced when practicing listening skill Therefore, students can choose the appropriate methods to improve their listening skill and they should try to study and practice regularly 1.2 The significance of study This proposal was expected to help students realize their difficulties in learning English listening subject, particularly the English majored freshmen at Tay Do University In addition, basing on the problems mentioned in this research, it could help them find out an appropriate way to improve their listening skill 1.3 The organization of study The research consists of five chapters Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Literature review Chapter 3: Research aims - Research questions - Hypothesis Chapter 4: Research methodology Chapter 5: Expected outcomes CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW Chapter presents the definitions of listening, its importance and problems in English linguistics background knowledge; psychological obstacles; listening comprehension) 2.1 The definitions of the listening In daily conversations, there are interactions between the speakers and the listeners In communication, listening is one of the indispensable skills Today when English is considered the language used in many countries including Vietnam, listening skill is one of important skills in learning English Listening is a broad term used to refer to complex affective, cognitive, and behavioral processes; cognitive processes include attending to, understanding, receiving, and interpreting content and relational messages; and behavioral processes include responding with verbal and nonverbal feedback The term of listening can be defined by several ways Listening is receiving language through the ears Listening involves identifying the sounds of speech and processing them into words and sentences When people listen, they use our ears to receive individual sounds (letters, stress, rhythm and pauses) and they use their brain to convert these into messages that mean something to us According to the ILA (International Listening Association, 1996), “listening is the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the communication process and the process of receiving, constructing meaning from, and responding to spoken and/ or nonverbal message” Besides, Howatt and Dakin (1984) also show “listening is the ability to identify and understand what other person are saying This involves understanding a speaker's accent or pronunciation, his grammar and his vocabulary, and grasping his meaning A capable listener is ability to these four things simultaneously Willis (1981, p 134) lists a series of micro-skills of listening, which she calls enabling skills In addition, “Listening is the active process of receiving and responding to spoken (and sometimes unspoken) messages” Listening is one of the subjects studied in the field of language arts and in the discipline of conversation analysis “Listening is the conscious processing of the auditory stimuli that have been perceived through hearing” (West, Richard; Turner, Lynn, 2010) Listening is not an easy process of communication because “listening in any language requires focus and attention It is a skill that some people need to work at harder than others” Listening is the absorption of the meanings of words and sentences by the brain Listening leads to the understanding of facts and ideas but it is to pay attention to, or sticking to the task at hand in spite of distractions It requires concentration of your thoughts upon one particular problem A person who incorporates listening with concentration is active listening Active listening is a method of responding to another that encourages communication Listening is a fundamental part of the process of communication Adults spend about 42 percent of their time in listening activities, and children spend about 58 percent of the time in the same activity (Lederman, 1977) Listening is a complex facet of the communication process, and it is considered by some communication researchers to be a more difficult activity than speaking Wipf, J (1984, p 48) also states that “Listening is an invisible mental process, making it difficult to describe Listeners must discriminate between sounds, understand vocabulary and grammatical structures, interpret stress and attention, retain and interpret this within the immediate as well as the larger socio-cultural context of the utterance” Although listening plays an important role in learning English as well as in daily life, people cannot distinguish listening from hearing They sometimes think that listening is hearing Roland Barthes (1985) claims that “hearing is a physiological phenomenon; listening is a psychological act” In his opinion, “hearing is always occurring, most of the time subconsciously Listening can be understood on three levels: alerting, deciphering, and an understanding of how the sound is produced and how the sound affects the listener (Barthes, Roland (1985) - In the - Delivering the questionnaires to students and interview to teachers and students - Collecting the data from questionnaire and interview Step3: From the 8th week to 12th week - Analyzing the collected data from questionnaire and interview - Completing the paper 19 CHAPTER EXPECTED OUTCOMES Listening plays a crucial role in learning a language However, students majoring in English usually face many problems when practicing listening English The major purpose of this proposal research is to help them recognize their problems in English listening skill Therefore, students can find out the appropriate methods to improve their listening skill Through questionnaires and interviews with learners on problems when learning listening, this research will indicate the difficulties or problems in listening skills that freshmen have faced such as vocabulary, pronunciation, and background knowledge These difficulties will help them choose better learning methods For teachers, they will understand more about the problems which their students often face while learning listening skill At the same time, there will be appropriate methods to improve or advance their skills through changing teaching methods until they are on a level with the students to acquire easily In addition, the school will create conditions to help students learn this skill well, such as having suitable teaching and learning materials to enhance their development and create passion as well as the sustainable learning for their students Strategic direction is for learning good English skills in general, and listening and speaking skills in particular 20 REFERENCES Anderson, A., & Lynch, T (2000) Listening Oxford: Oxford University Press Barker, L.L (1971) Listening behavior Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Barker, L & Watson, K (2000) Listen Up (New York: St Martin’s Griffin) International Listening Association Birdwhistell, R L (1970) Kinesics and context Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press Retrieved (February 15th, 2017) from: http://d1025403.site.myhosting.com/files.listen.org/Facts.htm#Time Boyle, Joseph (1984) Factors affecting listening comprehension ELF Journal Vol 38/1 P 37 Brand, L M (2010) The effect of technology an attention and concentration within the classroom context January University of South Africa P 11 Brinton & Goodwin (1996) Unmasking Factors affecting Learning Pronunciation: Critical Period or Sensitive Period? P 130 Brownell, Judi (2006) Listening: Attitudes, principles and skills 3rd Ed Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon Retrieved (March 13th, 2017) from: http://www.academia.edu/5612011/Listening_The_lost_comunication_skill Chen (1983) A Study of Pronunciation Problems of English Learners in China By Fachun Zhang Vol N.6 Cook, V (1966) Second Language Learning and Language Teaching London: Arnold Cross, (1998) Cultural Assessment of Psychological Trauma and PTSD P 84 English grammar – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Retrieved (February 15th, 21 2017) from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_grammar Feyten, C.M (1991) The Power of Listening Ability: An Overlooked Dimension in Language Acquisition The Modern Language Journal 75: p 173-p 80 Gilakjani, A.P (2012) The significance of pronunciation in English language teaching English Teaching Journal, 5(4), 96-107 Gilbert, J (1984) Clear Speech: Pronunciation and Listening Comprehention in American English Teacher’s manual and answer key Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Howatt, A & J Dakin (1984) Language laboratory materials, ed, J P B Allen, S P B Allen, and S P Corder Lederman, (1977) International Communication Listening Retrieved ( March 14th, 2017) from: http://www.encyclopedia.com/media/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/ interpersonal-communication-listening-and Lightbown, P.M & Spada N (2001) Factoers affecting second language learning In: Candlin, C N & Mercer, N (Eds.) English language teaching in its social context London: Routledge Lock, G (1996) Functional English Grammar New York, NY: Cambridge University Press Lucas (2007): Personality and the Puruit of Happiness Lucas, S.E (2007) The Art of Public Speaking (9th ed) New York: McGraw Hill Pearson, J., Nelson, P., Titsworth, S., & Harter, L (2008) Human Communication (3rd ed) Madrid & McLaren (2006) “The importance of teaching listening and speaking skill- Universidad Complutense de Madrid” Retrieved (February 20th, 2017) from 22 https://www.ucm.es/data/cont/docs/ Michael Shelby: Difficulties in Vocabulary Learning Retrieved (February 24th, 2017) from: http://www.english-for-students.com/Difficultiesin-vocabulary-Learning.html Michael Rost (1994) The Cambride Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Language Micheal P and Debrah B (1997) Listening in language learning London: Longman Nagy & Anderson (1984), Big ideas in beginning reading; center on teaching and learning Retrieved (March 3rd, 2017) from: http://reading.uoregon.edu/big_ideas/voc/voc_what.php Nguyen Thi Phuong (2013), The Difficulties in English Listening of English Majored-Freshmen at Tay Do University P.11 Phan Huong Giang (2011) A Study of Difficulties in Learning English Listening Skill for beginners in the Asemlink of Intrernational Languages Center and Some Suggested Solutions Rachel Naomi Remen (1994) Listening skills Retrieved (March 12th, 2017) from: www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/listening-skills.html Richard, J C., Platt, J & Platt, H (1992) Dictionary of language teaching & Applied Linguistics (2nd edition) Longman Richard, J C., & Renandya, W A (2002), eds Methodology in language teaching: an anthology of current practice (pp 254-266) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Print Roland Barthes (1985) In the Responsibility of Forms New York Hill and Wang Retrieved ( March 7th, 2017) from: http://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Listening 23 Rost, M (1994) Introducing listening London: Penguin Retrieved (March 12th, 2017) from: http://jalt-publication.org/old_tlt/files/97/sep/nunan.html P 141–p.142 Rost, M (2002), Teaching and Researching Listening London, UK: Longman Retrieved ( March 10th, 2017) from: https://www.llas.ac.uk/resources/gpg/67 Samuels, S (1984) Factors Influencing Listening: Inside and Outside the Head 23(3), p 183-p 189 Source: Boundless “The Importance of Listening.” Boundless Communications Boundless, 08 Aug 2016 Retrieved 24 Feb 2017 from: https://www.boundless.com/communications/textbooks/boundless-communicationstextbook/learning-to-listen-and-helping-others-do-the-same-5/understanding-listeni ng-29/the-importance-of-listening-132-8285/ Stahl, S., and M Fairbanks (1986) The Effects of Vocabulary Instruction: A Model-Based Meta-Analysis Retrieved (March 13th, 2017) from: http://www.academia.edu/387250/Putting_the_Pieces_of_the_Puzzle_Together_Ho w_Systematic_Vocabulary_Instruction_and_Expanded_Learning_Time_Can_Addre ss_the_Literacy_Gap The American linguist Edward Sapir (1921) Language: An Introduction to the study of speech, p 60 – p 90 The International Listening Association (1966), (www.listen.org), cited in Public Speaking, The Aca Open Knowledge Online Guide Retrieved (March 12th, 2017) from: http://textcommons1.org/node/112 Underwood, M (1989) Teaching Listening [M] Longman group Limited, p17 Ur P (1984) Teaching of English as a Second or Foreign Language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Verderber, R.F., Verderber, K.S & Sellnow, D D (2009) COMM Mason, Study 24 Strategies for Successful Learning OH: Cengage Learning West, Richard; Turner, Lynn (2010), Understanding Interpersonal Communication P 186 ISBN 9780495908753 Retrieved (March 10th, 2017) from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Listening Wilkins (1972) Vocabulary Input in English Language Teaching: Assessing The Vocabulary Load in Spine Five P Willis, J (1981) Teaching English through English London: Longman P 134 Wolvin.A.D & Coakly, C (1985) Listening Dubuque: William C Brown Wipf, J (1984) Strategies for Teaching Second Language Listening Comprehension Foreign Language Annals 17:345-48 Wu Xiao Juan, Mohamad Jafre Zainol Abidin (2013) English Listening Comprehension Problems of Students from China Learning English in Malaysia Yagang, F (1994) Listening: Problems and solutions In T Kral (ed.) Teacher Development: Making the Right Moves Washington, DC: English Language Programs Divisions, US 25 APPENDIX A QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS Dear friends, My name is Vo Thi Xuan Thao from AV8B and I am currently a high school student in English I would like to give my thanks to you for spending your precious time helping me with this questionnaire This questionnaire is one of the instruments for my research about “A survey on difficulties in listening skill of English majored freshman at Tay Do University” This is the questionnaire used to collect the necessary information from you, so please take your time to finish these below questions carefully because your answers are very important and helpful to my research Once again, thank you so much! Students’full name: Age: Class: Male □ Gender: Female □ Please read the following questions and circle the appropriate answer for each question Give specific answers if needed How long have you been studying English? …………… Years Where you come from? a Urban area/city b Rural area/ countryside 26 Which subject did you learn when you were in high school? a Listening b Speaking c Reading d Writing How many period a week did you practice listening English?………… period(s) a week Which subject you like best? a Listening b Speaking c Reading d Writing What you think about listening skill? a Very important b Important c Normal d Not important 27 What you think about your listening skill? a Very good b Quite good c Average d Bad e Very bad Agree Strong agree No Disagree Strongly Disagree ideas Statement (1) (2) English listening is one of important skills English listening skill is not easy for you 10 If you have a good listening skill, you can avoid misunderstanding in communication 11 Listening is an essential component in the process of second or foreign language 28 (3) (4) (5) acquisition 12 You often face many difficulties in learning listening because your pronunciation and intonation are not good 13 You not have enough vocabulary to express your ideas, thoughts and emotions 14 You also meet difficulties in choosing appropriate words on particular context 15 You cannot recognize familiar words when they are spoken since you have mispronunciation of those words 16 You forget some words you have learned because you not use old words regularly 17 Different intonations make the same sentence have various meanings 18 You have a trend of listening to word by word 29 19 The grammatical rules of English language are not the same as Vietnamese grammar 20 Sometimes, you cannot remember all of the grammatical rules 21 Usually, you cannot realize the words you learned before when facing listening texts 22 You are not able to understand new structures in the process of listening 23 You have a habit of translating all the information you hear into Vietnamese 24 Background knowledge is a vital factor in listening process 25 You should have good knowledge on many fields to apply their knowledge in listening 26 Psychological obstacles restrict your ability of receiving 30 information 27 Sometimes, you feel so bored and discouraged because of not good English listening 28 Listening and speaking have a close relationship 29 Listening comprehension is one of a necessary factor to contribute the speakers who can improve listening skill well 30 You have a habit of listening to word by word and tend to find out the meaning rather than infer it from the context 31 You often get anxiety when listening 32 You not understand the message conveyed in unfamiliar topics because there are many strange words, terms and terminology The end THANKS FOR YOUR HELP! 31 APPENDIX B STUDENTS’ INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Dear friends, My name is Vo Thi Xuan Thao from AV8B and I am currently a high school student in English I would like to give my thanks to you for spending your precious time helping me with this interview questions This interview is one of the instruments for my research about “A survey on difficulties in listening skill of English majors freshman at Tay Do University” Please take your time to fulfill these below questions carefully because its result is important to my research Once again, thank you so much! Students’full name: Age: Class: Gender: Male □ Female □ What you think about the role of English Listening skill in real life? Why you choose English as your major? 32 Do you think English listening is easy or difficult? Why or why not? In your opinion, what is the biggest problem when listening to English? Why? The end THANKS FOR YOUR HELP! 33