First year english major students perception on the use of extensive listening to enhance vocabulary acquisition

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF THE USE OF EXTENSIVE LISTENING TO ENHANCE VOCABULARY ACQUISITION A thesis submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master's degree in TESOL By HUYNH THE CONG Supervised by CAO THI PHUONG DUNG, Ph.D HO CHI MINH CITY, SEPTEMBER 2023 STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY This is to certify that the thesis entitled: “FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF THE USE OF EXTENSIVE LISTENING TO ENHANCE VOCABULARY ACQUISITION” submitted by Huỳnh Thế Công is an account of his own work conducted under the guidance of Dr Cao Thị Phương Dung and the supervision of the Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature, Ho Chi Minh University of Social Sciences and Humanities I guarantee that the content of the thesis was not previously published by any others And this thesis has not been previously submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other institution Ho Chi Minh City, September, 2023 HUỲNH THẾ CÔNG i RETENTION OF USE I hereby state that I, Huỳnh Thế Công, being the candidate for the degree of Master in TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master's Theses deposited in the Library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for the purpose of study and research in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan and reproduction of theses Ho Chi Minh City, September, 2023 HUỲNH THẾ CÔNG ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would love to express my deepest gratitude and appreciation to those who have helped me with great affection at various stages of this thesis The completion of this thesis would not have been feasible without their considerable support First and foremost, I would like to express my gratefulness to my lecturer and supervisor, Dr Cao Thị Phương Dung, for her unending patience, encouragement, and meticulous direction in guiding me with my thesis Indeed, I could not have imagined having a greater mentor for this thesis process Without all of which, this thesis would not have been completed Her precious sympathy, belief and immense knowledge will be with me and support me in my research path as well as in life and in my career as a teacher I owe an enormous debt to the Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature for their support and facilitation throughout this thesis and MA journey In particular, I am grateful to Dr Nguyễn Đăng Nguyên for granting me permission and providing me with a supportive environment in which to complete my MA thesis, as well as Ms Nguyễn Thị Hằng for her kindness and assistance with all paper-related procedures My sincere gratitude extends to all of the honorable lecturers of the Master’s program in TESOL at USSH who have given me engaging and insightful lectures, priceless instruction, and experiences that have fueled my enthusiasm to carry out further research in the teaching field I also gratefully acknowledge the help of the first-year English major students of K21, K22 programs at the EF of USSH Their willing engagement and collaboration gave me the necessary data for the analysis and findings I am most appreciative of Ms Trương Cao Hoàng My for being my longtime colleague and close friend, and for her ongoing care, support, and willingness to help and share experiences on both professional and personal levels iii My profound thanks also go to Mr Đỗ Thành Tiến, Ms Nguyễn Thị Kim Phượng, and Ms Nguyễn Thị Nhã An for being my best friends and staunchest supporters from the very first days I would like to thank Mr Nguyễn Khánh Lĩnh, Ms Đinh Thuý Ly, Ms Đinh Thị Phương Chi, Ms Nguyễn Thị Thu An, Ms Ngô Thị Thảo My, and other TESOL2020A classmates for their support and constructive cooperation I am greatly indebted to Mr Nguyễn Văn Tuấn Anh and TAEC for giving me invaluable encouragement and opportunities to teach and advance my teaching knowledge and experience to gain more confidence and robustness My heartfelt thanks also go to all of my beloved members of EFF's volleyball team, who have been a constant source of encouragement, joy, and motivation for me throughout the tough times of my thesis I also owe sincere appreciation to many other teachers, friends, and colleagues for their helpful suggestions, kind words, and moral support Last but not least, I must express my passionate love and heartfelt gratitude to my parents and older brother for their unconditional love, continuous encouragement, and unwavering support both emotionally and financially Without them, this accomplishment would not have been possible iv TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY i RETENTION OF USE ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .ix LIST OF TABLES x LIST OF FIGURES .xi ABSTRACT xii CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study 1.2 Statement of the problem 1.3 Aims of the study 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Significance of the study 1.6 Scope of the study 1.7 Outline of the thesis CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Extensive Listening 2.1.1 Definition of extensive listening 2.1.2 Principles of extensive listening 2.1.3 Benefits of extensive listening 12 2.2 Vocabulary and its theoretical issues 15 2.2.1 Definition of vocabulary 15 2.2.2 Aspects of vocabulary 17 2.2.3 Vocabulary acquisition 18 2.2.4 Procedure of vocabulary learning 19 2.3 The relationship between types of extensive listening resources and vocabulary acquisition 20 2.3.1 Songs 20 2.3.2 Podcasts 21 2.3.3 Audiobooks 21 2.3.4 Stories 22 v 2.3.5 Talks 23 2.3.6 Movies or films 24 2.3.7 Vlogs 24 2.3.8 Captioned videos 25 2.4 The effectiveness of extensive listening to the enhancement of vocabulary acquisition in terms of vocabulary size, meaning, and pronunciation 25 2.4.1 Effectiveness of extensive listening to the enhancement of vocabulary size 26 2.4.2 Effectiveness of extensive listening to the enhancement of vocabulary meaning 27 2.4.3 Effectiveness of extensive listening to the enhancement of vocabulary pronunciation 28 2.5 Students’ perception of the use of extensive listening to enhance vocabulary acquisition in terms of vocabulary size, meaning, and pronunciation 28 2.6 Challenges on the use of extensive listening to the enhancement of vocabulary acquisition 30 2.6.1 Types of materials 31 2.6.2 Levels of materials 31 2.6.3 Length of the texts 33 2.6.4 Speech rate 32 2.6.5 Unfamiliar or new vocabulary 33 2.6.6 Accent 34 2.6.7 Sentence complexity 34 2.6.8 Lack of subtitles 35 2.6.9 Lack of background knowledge 36 2.6.10 Background distraction 36 2.7 Conceptual framework 37 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 39 3.1 Research design 39 3.2 Context of the study 41 3.3 Sampling procedure 42 3.4 Participants 43 3.5 Research instruments 44 3.5.1 Questionnaires 44 3.5.2 Interviews 46 vi 3.6 Pilot study 48 3.6.1 Participants of the pilot study 48 3.6.2 Data collection procedure of the pilot study 49 3.6.3 Modifications towards the main study 49 3.7 Reliability and Validity 52 3.7.1 Reliability 52 3.7.2 Validity 53 3.8 Data collection procedure 53 3.9 Data analysis procedure 54 3.10 Summary 56 CHAPTER RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 57 4.1 Effectiveness of the use of extensive listening to the enhancement of vocabulary acquisition 57 4.1.1 Students’ evaluation of the effectiveness of extensive listening to the enhancement of vocabulary size 61 4.1.2 Students’ evaluation of the effectiveness of extensive listening to the enhancement of vocabulary meaning 64 4.1.3 Students’ evaluation of the effectiveness of extensive listening to the enhancement of vocabulary pronunciation 66 4.2 Challenges on the use of extensive listening to the enhancement of vocabulary acquisition 71 4.3 Discussion of the results 79 4.3.1 Effectiveness of extensive listening to the enhancement of vocabulary acquisition 79 4.3.2 Challenges on the use of extensive listening to the enhancement of vocabulary acquisition 83 4.4 Summary 84 CHAPTER CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 86 5.1 Overview of the study 86 5.2 Implications of the study 87 5.2.1 Pedagogical implications for students 87 5.2.2 Pedagogical implications for teachers 88 5.2.3 Pedagogical implications for other stakeholders 91 5.3 Limitations of the study 91 5.4 Recommendations for future research 92 vii REFERENCES 93 APPENDICES 108 APPENDIX 1: RESEARCH QUESTIONNAIRE (PILOT STUDY) 108 APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (PILOT STUDY) 112 APPENDIX 3: RESEARCH QUESTIONNAIRE (MAIN STUDY) 113 APPENDIX 4: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (MAIN STUDY) 117 APPENDIX 5: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS IN VIETNAMESE (MAIN STUDY) 118 APPENDIX 6: SPSS OUTPUT OF RELIABILITY OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE 119 APPENDIX 7: EXAMPLE OF A TRANSCRIPTION OF STUDENTS’ INTERVIEW RESPONSES 120 viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EL Extensive listening IL Intensive listening ER Extensive reading L2 Second language EFL English as a Foreign Language EF Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature USSH University of Social Sciences and Humanities HCMC Ho Chi Minh City SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences ix APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: RESEARCH QUESTIONNAIRE (PILOT STUDY) Dear participants, This questionnaire is used to collect data for the research I have been conducting titled “FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF THE USE OF EXTENSIVE LISTENING TO ENHANCE VOCABULARY ACQUISITION” Thus, your answers are of great importance to the success of the study The data you provide is only used in the context of scientific research, not utilized for commercial or business purposes I am dedicated to maintaining the confidentiality and non-commercialization of the information obtained in this questionnaire Instructions: For questions or options, please stick √ to the one that corresponds to your most appropriate answer For questions or entries of information, please write down your answers in the corresponding line A Demographic Information Male o Gender: Female o Age: English proficiency level: o A1 (Beginner) o A2 (Pre-Intermediate) o B1 (Intermediate) o B2 (Upper-Intermediate) o C1 (Advanced) o C2 (Proficiency) B Extensive Listening Habit and Types of Extensive Listening Do you listen to/watch any materials in English out of the classroom? (or also known as extensive listening)? Yes o No o (Please go to section C) How much time on average you spend on extensive listening in a day? o Never o ≤1 hour o >1 hour to =3 hours o >3 hours What are the English resources that you often listen to/watch outside of the classroom? o Songs o Podcasts o Audiobooks o Talks (TED Talks) o Films or Movies o Vlogs 108 o Stories o Captioned videos o Others: (please specify) C Evaluation on the effectiveness of extensive listening to enhance vocabulary acquisition Extensive listening has beneficial effects on enhancing vocabulary acquisition o o o o Strongly Disagree Disagree Agree Strongly Agree How you perceive the effectiveness of extensive listening to enhance vocabulary acquisition in terms of vocabulary size, meaning, and pronunciation? Strongly Effectiveness Disagree I can incidentally learn more new words through the repetition of words in the listening materials Extensive listening brings good opportunities for me to remember the words that I previously learned, but have not used Thanks to the repeated use of extensive listening through different materials, I can acquire different types of vocabulary, such as slang, academic or specialized words, in a variety of subject areas Because new words are repeatedly utilized in various contexts, I get a much better 109 Disagree Agree Strongly Agree understanding of their meanings in different situations Extensive listening through self-selected resources aids in the recognition and retention of words in real-life contexts for later use Extensive authentic listening materials vocabulary via promotes acquisition, particularly in deducing intended messages and learning word meanings in isolation Through extensive listening activities, my pronunciation improves as I can mimic the speakers’ voices I am able to rectify my pronunciation mistakes by being exposed to a range of authentic listening sources When extensive listening is used more frequently, my vocabulary acquisition is also enhanced o o o o Strongly Disagree Disagree Agree Strongly Agree 10 During the implementation of extensive listening, students can encounter various challenges that cause difficulties in their enhancement of vocabulary acquisition o o o o Strongly Disagree Disagree Agree Strongly Agree 110 11 In your opinion, which challenges of extensive listening may make students difficult to enhance vocabulary acquisition? Strongly Challenges Disagree Disagree Agree Strongly Agree Types of EL materials Levels of EL materials Speech rate Length of the texts Unfamiliar or new vocabulary Accent Sentence complexity Lack of background knowledge Background distraction Your other opinions: (please specify) *Full name: _ Email: (Fill in this section if you would like to get involved in in-depth interviews on this issue of the research) ***** Thank you so much for your valuable contribution! 111 APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (PILOT STUDY) Do you listen to/watch any materials in English out of the classroom? What are your purposes? How much time on average you spend on extensive listening in a day? What English resources you often listen to/watch outside of the classroom? Why you choose to listen to/watch these English resources over others? What you think about the effectiveness of extensive listening to enhance vocabulary acquisition? Do you think extensive listening can help enhance your vocabulary size, meaning, and pronunciation? Why? Do you think that when extensive listening is used more frequently, the vocabulary acquisition is also enhanced? Why? Are there any challenges on the use of extensive listening to enhance vocabulary acquisition? If yes, what are they? 112 APPENDIX 3: RESEARCH QUESTIONNAIRE (MAIN STUDY) Dear participants, This questionnaire is used to collect data for the research I have been conducting titled “FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF THE USE OF EXTENSIVE LISTENING TO ENHANCE VOCABULARY ACQUISITION” Thus, your answers are of great importance to the success of the study The data you provide is only used in the context of scientific research, not utilized for commercial or business purposes I am dedicated to maintaining the confidentiality and non-commercialization of the information obtained in this questionnaire Instructions: For questions or options, please stick √ to the one that corresponds to your most appropriate answer For questions or entries of information, please write down your answers in the corresponding line A Demographic Information Male o Gender: Female o Age: English proficiency level: o A1 (Beginner) o A2 (Pre-Intermediate) o B1 (Intermediate) o B2 (Upper-Intermediate) o C1 (Advanced) o C2 (Proficiency) B Extensive Listening Habit and Types of Extensive Listening Do you listen to/watch any materials in English out of the classroom? (or also known as extensive listening)? Yes o No o (Please skip questions 5&6) How much time on average you spend on extensive listening in a day? o Never o ≤1 hour o >1 hour to =3 hours o >3 hours What are the English resources that you often listen to/watch outside of the classroom? o Songs o Podcasts o Audiobooks o Talks (TED Talks) o Films or Movies o Vlogs o Stories o Captioned videos o Others: (please specify) 113 C Evaluation on the effectiveness of extensive listening to enhance vocabulary acquisition Extensive listening has beneficial effects on enhancing vocabulary acquisition o o o o Strongly Disagree Disagree Agree Strongly Agree How you perceive the effectiveness of extensive listening to enhance vocabulary acquisition in terms of vocabulary size, meaning, and pronunciation? Strongly Effectiveness Disagree I can incidentally learn more new words through the repetition of words in the listening materials Extensive listening brings good opportunities for me to remember the words that I previously learned, but have not used Thanks to the repeated use of extensive listening through different materials, I can acquire different types of vocabulary, such as slang, academic or specialized words, in a variety of subject areas Because new words are repeatedly utilized in various contexts, I get a much better understanding of their meanings in different situations 114 Disagree Agree Strongly Agree Extensive listening through self-selected resources aids in the recognition and retention of words in real-life contexts for later use Extensive authentic listening materials vocabulary via promotes acquisition, particularly in deducing intended messages and learning word meanings in isolation By listening extensively to authentic listening materials, I get accustomed speakers’ to native pronunciation and accents so that I can recognize and distinguish various English sounds Through extensive listening activities, my pronunciation improves as I can mimic the speakers’ voices I am able to rectify my pronunciation mistakes by being exposed to a range of authentic listening sources When extensive listening is used more frequently, my vocabulary acquisition is also enhanced o o o o Strongly Disagree Disagree Agree Strongly Agree 115 10 During the implementation of extensive listening, students can encounter various challenges that cause difficulties in their enhancement of vocabulary acquisition o o o o Strongly Disagree Disagree Agree Strongly Agree 11 In your opinion, which challenges of extensive listening may make students difficult to enhance vocabulary acquisition? Strongly Challenges Disagree Disagree Agree Strongly Agree Types of EL materials Levels of EL materials Speech rate Length of the texts Unfamiliar or new vocabulary Accent Sentence complexity Lack of subtitles Lack of background knowledge 10 Background distraction Your other opinions: (please specify) *Full name: _ Email: Phone number: (Fill in this section if you would like to get involved in in-depth interviews on this issue of the research) ***** Thank you so much for your valuable contribution! 116 APPENDIX 4: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (MAIN STUDY) Do you listen to/watch any materials in English out of the classroom? What are your purposes? How much time on average you spend on extensive listening in a day? What English resources you often listen to/watch outside of the classroom? Why you choose to listen to/watch these English resources over others? What you think about the effectiveness of extensive listening to enhance vocabulary acquisition? Do you think extensive listening can help enhance your vocabulary size, meaning, and pronunciation? How does extensive listening help you improve your store of vocabulary in these aspects? Can you give some examples? Do you think that when extensive listening is used more frequently, the vocabulary acquisition is also enhanced? If yes, why? Are there any challenges on the use of extensive listening to enhance vocabulary acquisition? If yes, what are they? 117 APPENDIX 5: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS IN VIETNAMESE (MAIN STUDY) Bạn có nghe xem nội dung tiếng Anh bên ngồi học lớp hay khơng? Mục đích việc nghe xem bạn gì? Trung bình ngày bạn thường dành thời gian cho việc nghe mở rộng? Các nguồn tiếng Anh mà bạn thường nghe xem bên ngồi học lớp gì? Tại bạn lại chọn nghe nguồn thay nguồn khác? Bạn nghĩ tính hiệu phương pháp nghe mở rộng việc nâng cao tiếp thu từ vựng? Bạn có nghĩ phương pháp nghe mở rộng giúp bạn nâng cao lượng từ vựng, biết ý nghĩa cách phát âm từ hay không? Việc nghe mở rộng giúp bạn cải thiện khía cạnh nào? Bạn cho vài ví dụ khơng? Bạn có nghĩ việc nghe mở rộng nhiều khả tiếp thu từ vựng nâng cao hay khơng? Nếu có, sao? Bạn có gặp thách thức q trình sử dụng phương pháp nghe mở rộng để nâng cao khả tiếp thu từ vựng hay không? Nếu có, thách thức nào? 118 APPENDIX 6: SPSS OUTPUT OF RELIABILITY OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE All scales (Pilot) (Main) Effectiveness of EL in enhancing vocabulary acquisition (Pilot) (Main) Challenges on the use of EL to enhance vocabulary acquisition (Pilot) (Main) 119 APPENDIX 7: EXAMPLE OF A TRANSCRIPTION OF STUDENTS’ INTERVIEW RESPONSES (S14) Do you listen to/watch any materials in English out of the classroom? What are your purposes? (S14): Outside of class hours, I spend a lot of time watching and listening to English, mostly through social media platforms and movies I believe that browsing social media platforms and watching movies has helped me become more accustomed to the language (English) When I listen extensively, I feel that I have more information than I take in class and I can get used to the language, such as how it is spoken, and how it is pronounced As a result, I not find the language awkward when studying How much time on average you spend on extensive listening in a day? (S14): Almost more than three hours every day because most of my social media sites are English-based What English resources you often listen to/watch outside of the classroom? Why you choose to listen to/watch these English resources over others? (S14): In addition to movies and social media sites, I also watch TED Talks or foreign social science websites such as Discovery The reason is that when I watch something interesting, it increases my motivation to learn English, and the information in these resources is easier to access than in other ones What you think about the effectiveness of extensive listening to enhance vocabulary acquisition? (S14): Personally, I believe its effectiveness is around 80 percent in comparison with other methods because I am the person who learn better by listening than writing Therefore, when I conduct extensive listening approach, I will take in more information And I think this approach is 120 suitable for freshmen like me owing to the fact that we are so familiar with using social networking platforms, which contain more useful and favorite information than when we read the documents Do you think extensive listening can help enhance your vocabulary size, meaning, and pronunciation? How does extensive listening help you improve your store of vocabulary in these aspects? Can you give some examples? (S14): I feel that extensive listening can increase my store of vocabulary, improve my pronunciation, and learn meanings of words For example, English has many slangs that only natives use, and these slangs are rarely mentioned in the book So only when listening extensively to these slangs can I really know what they are In reality, I frequently come across slang words in films, which helps me better grasp how it is contextualized, why people use that slang, what it means, and in what social context that slang is utilized This helps expand my vocabulary size and meaning in various aspects In terms of pronunciation, I have to listen selectively because watching educational videos or listening to TED Talks have helped me pronounce words more correctly Moreover, social networking platforms also enable me to pronounce words more like native speakers, as well as more comfortable and less stereotypical For instance, I learned how to pronounce like a native or how to pronounce everyday American or British through watching TED Talks or Discovery Do you think that when extensive listening is used more frequently, the vocabulary acquisition is also enhanced? If yes, why? (S14): I believe this is true in this case because conducting extensive listening frequently will help me understand words and process information more quickly, which will help me significantly enhance my communication and listening skills Thus, I will be able to accumulate more knowledge and vocabulary each day Are there any challenges on the use of extensive listening to enhance 121 vocabulary acquisition? If yes, what are they? (S14): Yes, because British and American accents have many differences in pronunciation, so there are some words that I get confused about Besides, the British accent will sometimes be more difficult in some words, so it will be a bit difficult to listen when we hear a strange accent instead of the one that we have learned Additionally, I think when the speaker talks too fast or their speech has too many specialized words, it will be difficult for me to listen to It is due to my limited background knowledge; so even when can identify that word, it is hard for me to infer what the word means About the levels of the materials, I assume that we need to have sufficient knowledge so that we can understand the dialogue or the context of the speaker I always think that when listening, I have to be selective about the listening resources because there are resources that I not necessarily study - resources that are not helpful for me or my studies, or even bad to follow Therefore, I am careful with choosing the materials that fits my level and interests 122