(Luận Văn Tmu) Difficulties In English Listening Skill Expperienced By First-Year English Major Students At Thuong Mai University And Suggested Solutions.docx

THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH DEPARTMENT GRADUATION PAPER DIFFICULTIES IN ENGLISH LISTENING SKILL EXPERIENCED BY FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT THUONG MAI UNIVERSITY AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS Supervisor: Student: Student Code: Class: Ms Do Thi Bich Bao, M.A Nguyen Thi Thu Thuong 15D170392 K51N6 HANOI, 2019 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS On completing this graduation paper, I would like to send my deepest and most sincere gratitude to many people for their invaluable help during the conduct of the research - 2015my heartfelt gratitude towards my First and foremost, I would HÀ likeNỘI to send supervisor Ms Do Thi Bich Dao for her constructive and timely feedbacks as well as her constant and unfailing support which were decisive factors to the completion of the study Furthermore, I would love to thank all the teachers who have taught me academic writing and research methodology I would also like to say the sincerest thanks to those first-year English major students who have enthusiastically participated in the study Their participation has been crucial to the completion of the research On a personal note, I express my truly gratitude to my family and friends who emotionally and spiritually comforted me through the challenging time of conducting the research The study could not have been completed without their continual encouragement ABSTRACT Today, the position of English in the areas of life is increasingly important and necessary In order to learn English well and fluently, learners must improve their language skills Listening which can be regarded is the most difficult skill in learning foreign languages in general and English in particular, is the skill that learners face many difficulties and challenges Students at Thuong Mai University also face many difficulties in English listening There are many domestic and foreign authors studying the areas of listening skill However, there has not been any specific study aimed at first-year English major students of TMU Therefore, the researcher conducts a study on difficulties in English listening skill experienced by first-year English major students This thesis focuses on three main issues: the attitudes of first-year English major students at TMU toward English listenning skill; difficulties in English listening skill experienced by first-year English major students at TMU and suggested solutions to help freshman at Thuongmai University improve their listening skill This study is conducted based on quantitative methods Survey questionnaires were used to distribute 100 students in classes (K54N1, K54N2, K54N3, K54N4) to collect data Raw data was converted to numbers and percentages From the results obtained, there were conclusions drawn about students' attitudes and their difficulties in English listening skill In general, freshmen were aware of the importance of listening skill and most of them valued this as the most difficult skill in English skills First-year students face many difficulties in listening (subjective difficulties and objective difficulties) From the research findings, the researcher offerred suggestions and recommendations to help students solve difficulties in listening to English The researcher hopes this study can help first-year students improve their listening skill and support the further studies avoid shortcomings and limitations TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES, AND ABBREVIATIONS vi CHAPTER I: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY .1 1.1 Rationale of the study .1 1.2 Previous studies 1.3 Aims of the study 1.4 Research subjects 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Research methodology 1.7 Organization of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 10 2.1 English listening skill .10 2.1.1 Definition of listening 10 2.1.2 The importance of listening skill in language learning 12 2.1.3 Listening process 13 2.2 Difficulties in English listening skill .15 2.2.1 Subjective difficulties 15 2.2.2 Objective difficulties 18 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS .20 3.1 Students’ participation .20 3.2 First-year English major students’ attitudes toward English listening skill 23 3.2.1 Students’ attitudes toward the level of importance of English listening skill23 3.2.2 Students’ attitudes toward the level of difficulty of English listening skill 24 3.2.3 Students’ attitudes toward listening self-study 24 3.2.4 The way students listen for the first time 26 3.3 First-year English major students’ difficulties in English listening learning 27 3.3.1 Subjecitve difficulties .27 3.3.2 Objective difficulties 28 CHAPTER IV: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 32 4.1 Recommendations 32 4.1.1 For students 32 4.1.2 For teachers 34 4.2 Suggestions for further studies .35 CONCLUSION REFERENCES APPENDIX LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES, AND ABBREVIATIONS TABLES Table 3.1: Number of students participated in the survey 20 Table 3.2: The day students spent on self-studying English listening in a week 25 Table 3.3: Students’ difficulties in self-study English listening .27 Table 3.4: Objective difficulties in English listening .28 Table 3.5: Some language barriers obstructing students' English listening skill .29 Table 3.6: Students’ solutions to improve English listening skill 30 FIGURES Figure 3.1: The distribution of participants by numbers of years they have been learning English .21 Figure 3.2: The distribution of participants by the level of the listening test scores 22 Figure 3.3: Students’ attitudes toward the level of impotance of English listening skill .23 Figure 3.4: Students’ attitudes toward the level of difficulty of English listening skill 24 Figure 3.5: The time students spend on self-studying English listening in a day 25 Figure 3.6: The disparities in how students listen for the first time 26 ABBREVIATIONS TMU: Thuong Mai University