Trang 1 HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES --- GRADUATION PAPER FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS A STUDY ON THE FACTORS AFFECTING ENGLISH LISTENING
HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - GRADUATION PAPER FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS A STUDY ON THE FACTORS AFFECTING ENGLISH LISTENING SKILL OF THE FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION (NHỮNG YẾU TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG TỚI KỸ NĂNG NGHE ĐỐI VỚI SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT CHUYÊN NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH- TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM KỸ THUẬT HƯNG YÊN) Supervisor: Nguyen Thi Bich Hanh, M.A Student: Nguyen Thi Quynh Mai Student number: 11317036 Hung Yen - 2021 HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - GRADUATION PAPER FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS A STUDY ON THE FACTORS AFFECTING ENGLISH LISTENING SKILL OF THE FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION (NHỮNG YẾU TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG TỚI KỸ NĂNG NGHE ĐỐI VỚI SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT CHUYÊN NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH- TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM KỸ THUẬT HƯNG YÊN) Supervisor: Nguyen Thi Bich Hanh, M.A Student: Hoang Thi Quynh Mai Student number: 11317036 Hung Yen - 2021 i i DECLARATION I confirm the thesis entitled “A study on the factors affecting English listening skill of the firstyear English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education” is the result of my own research and the substance of this thesis had not been submitted for a degree to any university or institution Signature Hoang Thi Quynh Mai ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I have a deepest respect and gratitude to the teacher who spend much enthusiasm, time, and efforts so as to help me to finish the study At the outset, I am a great honor for me to give the best thanks to my supervisor, Mrs.Nguyen Thi Bich Hanh, M.A, for her precious advice, enthusiastic assistance, and encouragement in the accomplishment of this study What is more, my sincere thank is also to all my teachers at Faculty of Foreign Language at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education participating in the study survey and provided me with valuable suggestion and criticism, especially students of classes 113202.1 and 113202.2 for their openness and assistance during the process of data collection As a final point, I really express my thankfulness to all classmates, my family who supported me both mental and physical inspiration during of completing this study process iii ABSTRACT This study deeply finds out the factual situation of teaching and learning listening skill as well as the factors which effect on the student’s learning listening of the Freshman English major at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education and then propose techniques and solutions to improve listening skill This study was conducted in the light of qualitative and quantitative methods, including the survey questionnaires, informal interviews Among those survey questionnaires serves as the major method for data collection while interview is applied with an aim to get more information for any confirmation of the findings After conducting the survey and informal interview for both students and teachers, the data of the study is analyzed carefully It was found out that listening skill was considered as the biggest difficulty for most of the Freshman English major and there were some common problems for them Through analyzed data, the study presented that most of students have been coping with two mains factors-outside factors (objective factors) and inside factors (subjective factors) in learning listening skill such as: being distracted by background noise, lacking equipment in the Labs, having poor background knowledge,trying to understand every word, having problems with different accents, getting tired, lacking of stamina, having poor vocabularies, having mistakes with weak forms, long or short vowels, linking words This affects students’ interest and results during learning To deal with these issues, the teachers have used some techniques and methods to inspire student to learn better With the desire of improving the present situation, the researcher recommends some techniques for both teachers and students to be better in teaching and learning this skill more effectively iv TABLES OF CONTENT ❖ DECLARATION………………………………………………………………… i ❖ ACKNOWLEDGEMENT…………………………………………………….…… ii ❖ ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………… iii ❖ TABLES OF CONTENT …………………………………………….……… iv ❖ LIST OF ABBREVITION…………………………………………………… …… v ❖ LIST OF TABLES AND CHART………………………………………… .vi CHAPTER1: INTRODUCTION……………………………………………… 1.1 Rationale of the study ………………………………………………………………… 1.2 Purposes of the study ………………………………………………………………… 1.3 Methodology of the study …………………………………………………………… 1.4 Scope of the study and Limitation…………………………………………………… 1.5 Structure of the Thesis ………………………………………………………………….4 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ………………………………………………… Background theorems of listening ……………………………………………………… 2.1 Definition of listening skill ………………………………… 2.2 The significance of listening skill ………………………………………………………… 2.3 Nature of listening comprehension ……………………………………………………… 2.4 Types of listening skill …………………………………………………………………… 2.5 The Listening skill process ……………………………………………………………… 2.6 Teacher’s roles in teaching listening …………………………………………………… 2.7 Factors affecting listening skill …………………………………………………………… 2.8 Summary ……………………………………………………………………………… CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY Participants of the study …………………………………………………………………… 3.1 The teachers ……………………………………………………………………………… 3.2 The students ……………………………………………………………………………… 3.3 Survey questionnaire …………………………………………………………………… 3.4 Interview ………………………………………………………………………………… v 3.5 Procedures of data collection …………………………………………………………… 3.6 Data analysis …………………………………………………………………………… 3.6.1 The distribution of participants ………………………………………………………… 3.6.2 Number of year’s students has been learning ………………………………………… 3.6.3 Teachers’ and students’ real situations of teaching and learning listening skill ……… 3.6.3.1 Students’ real situations of learning listening skill ………………………………… 3.6.3.2 Student’s opinions on facilities and classroom conditions ………………………… 3.6.3.2 Teachers’ real situations of learning listening ……………………………………… 3.6.3.4 Teachers’ opinion on facilities and classroom conditions …………………………… 3.7 Students’ difficulties in listening skill…………………………………………………… 3.8 Cause affecting English listening skill ………………………………………………… 3.9.1 Student’s recommendation to improve listening skill ………………………………… 3.9.2 Teachers’ techniques which they often us to improve students’ listening skill …… 3.10 Data from students’ interview ………………………………………………………… 3.11 Finding of study ………………………………………………………………………… 3.12 Discussion of the findings ……………………………………………………………… 3.13 Recommendation ……………………………………………………………………… 3.14.1 Recommendations for teachers 3.14.2 Recommendation for students 3.15 Summary CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION 4.1 Conclusion of the study 4.2 Limitations of the study 4.3 Suggestions for further study REFERENCE APPENDIX 1: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS APPENDIX 2: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS vi APPENDIX 3: INTERVIEW FOR STUDENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS M.A: Master of art UTEHY: Hung Yen University of Technology and Education FFL: Faculty of Foreign Language vii LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Tables Table 1: Numbers of year’s students have been learning English……………………… ….23 Table 2: Students’ opinion and attitude of listening skill …………………………………….25 Table 3: Students’ habit of practicing listening…………………………………… ……….27 Table 4: Lower schools’ teaching curriculum and Students’ ability of listening skill …… 28 Table 5: Students’ opinion on facilities and classroom conditions ……………………… 30 Table 6: Teachers’ opinion on facilities and classroom conditions …………………… … 31 Table 7: Teachers’ opinion and Students’ view on factors as well as difficulties that students meet in listening skill ………………………………………………………… .34 Table 8: Students’ techniques to improve their listening skill………………………….…….38 Table 9: Teachers’ techniques which they often use to improve students’ listening skill……40 Charts Chart 1: Students’ attitude and opinion on listening skill in learning English………….……24 Chart 2: Teachers’ opinion how your students feel about listening skill …………………….26 Chart 3: Teacher’s opinion about the traditional teaching English from the Primary school to High school which are affecting on your students’ listening skill at present ……………… 29 Chart 4: Teachers and Students’ view toward the different accent affecting result …………32 Chart 5: The factors as well as difficulties that students often have when learningEnglish 34 Chart 6: The subjective factors affecting the students’ learning listening skill …….…… 37 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the Study A great number of non-English speakers as well as native English speakers use English as an important medium of international communication in every part of the world English is no longer the language used solely in English speaking countries; rather it is internationally used As the English language has become an essential factor in strengthening trade and travel in many countries, the necessity of knowing and using this communication medium is increasing Besides, English is widely used in communication through modern technology and media communication devices such as mobile telephones, electronic mail, and the Internet Undoubtedly, people around the world need English as the main medium of their communication via such devices As a consequence of its importance as an international language as mentioned above, it is necessary for Vietnamese students to be able to use English effectively there will definitely be much more opportunity than now to use English in order to communicate with people all over the world Without a doubt, the ability to communicate in English in real life situations will remain essential, and students are expected to be able to communicate in the English language The purpose of learning English is, thus, to communicate in English efficiently in the real world To interact with each other, the learners need to master of four skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing Nevertheless, listening skill is believed to be the most challenging due to the complex and subtle nature of listening comprehension in a second or foreign language As a researcher, I would like to offer the thesis title “A study on the factors affecting English listening skill of the first-year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education” for several reasons For the first reason, listening is an important skill for the person who is learning English because in verbal communication we can not communicate with each other without listening to speakers’ utterances and understanding them 38 CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION 4.1 Conclusion of the study A great number of non-English speakers as well as native English speakers use English as an important medium of international communication in every part of the world English is no longer the language used solely in English speaking countries; rather it is internationally used As the English language has become an essential factor in strengthening trade and travel in many countries, the necessity of knowing and using this communication medium is increasing Besides, English is widely used in communication through modern technology and media communication devices such as mobile telephones, electronic mail, and the Internet Undoubtedly, people around the world need English as the main medium of their communication via such devices Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing are main skills that learner must use proficiently to master this language However, listening skill is considered as the biggest difficulties for most of the Freshman English major and there are some common problems for them Because of traditional method which concentrates on many grammars, structures, … They always meet difficulties during listening process, like long and short vowels, idioms, speed of the speaker especially a lot of new words Although meeting so many difficulties is unavoidable thing with learners, it is an important step to help students to be proficient in this task In fact, teachers used some techniques for three stages: pre-listening, while-listening, and post-listening stage to help them to learn listening more effectively At the end of the study, some recommends, and suggestions are given by the researcher to hope that it can help students to push their ability of listening Through data analysis and discussion, including both teachers and students 4.2 Limitation of the study During doing the research, despite of much effort, the researcher can not avoid some limitations First, due to limited time and perceptions may not always be accurate and reliable since the researcher in this current study used two methods: survey questionnaire and interview Secondly, the researcher could not overcome all the aspects of the study Last, because the researcher’s knowledge of listening skill is limited so there are unavoidable mistakes In additions, it is only research conducted by real personal observation and 39 experience 4.3 Suggestion for further study To be honest, this study is a small aspect of English listening because limited time and scope of the thesis This study only focuses on factors which affect on the first-year English major students’ listening learning and give several techniques to improve listening skill It is suggested that further research concentrate on motivation for students in learning listening skill I REFERENCE Anderson, A and Lynch, P, (1988) Listening, London: Oxford University Press Bulletin C (1952) The Teaching of Listening, In Arif Sar- icoban Hacettepe University the Internet TESL Journal, 5(12) Doff, A (1988) Teaching English –A Training Course for Teacher Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 4.Howatt, A and J Dakin (1974) Language Laboratory Material, ed J.B.P Allen S.P.B Allen and S.P Corder Michael Rost (2016) Teaching and Researching Listening (3rd ed.), Routledge O’Malley and Chamot (1989) Listening Comprehension Strategies in Second Language Acquisition (pp.418-437) Oxford (1993) Theory and Practice in Modern Foreign Language Competence, (pp 206) Purdy, William C (1991) A Logic for Natural Language Notre Dame J Formal Logic 32 River (1981) The Importance of Teaching Listening, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press 10 Rixon, S (1986) Developing Listening Skills, Macmillan Education 11 Ronald & Roskelly (1985) Practical English Language Teaching Oxford University 12 Rost, M (2002) Teaching and Researching Listening London, UK: Longman 13 Underwood, M (1989, p30) Teaching Listening New York: Longman 14.Wang Shouyuan, (2003), The Theory and Methods on English Listening Teaching http://www.ew.com.cn/yynl/tlnl/ca7440.htm 15 Wilga M Rivers, Mary S Temperley (1978) Language Arts &Disciplines Oxford University Press, (pp 63) 16 Wilt (1950) Teaching Listening – An Overview MELTA International Conference 17 Wolvin, A and Coakley, C (1991) A Survey of the Statue of Listening Training in Some Fortune 500 Corporations Communication Education, USA 2002) Teaching and Researching Listening 14 Rost, M (London, UK: Longman II APPENDICIES APPENDIX 1: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS This survey questionnaire is designed for “A study of the factors affecting English listening skill of the first-year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education” Your assistance in completing the following questions is greatly appreciated In complete the questions, please choose the answer by circling the letter next to your choice, ticking off (✓) the items in a checklist or expressing idea in the blanks You can be confident you will not be identified in discussions and data analysis Thank you very much for your cooperation! I Personal information Gender: A Male B Female Age: …… How long have you been learning English? years II Students’ opinion on listening skill How you think about listening skill in English studying at school as well as in actual environment? A Very important C Important B Rather important D Not important at all How much you like learning listening skill? A Very much C Quite much B Much D Not at all What is your purpose of learning listening skill? ( You can tick more than one) A To complete the lesson C To improve listening skill B To pass the exam D To complicate in conversation E To understand what the foreigners say F To work F To work How often you practice listening skill by yourself at home? A less 30 minutes a day C hours a day B hours a day D more than hoursa day III 5.How you find listening skill ? A.Very Difficult C Quite difficult B Difficult D Difficult but interesting F Not interesting at all 6.How you find listening skill of four skills ? A.More Interesting than others C.More difficult than others B Easier than others D.Not as interesting as others III The factors in learning listening skill A The factors which comes from outside 1.When you were in Primary –Secondary - High school ,how did you find the school’s teaching curriculum concentrate on listening skill than other skills of English ? A.Very much C Less B Much D Least When you were in primary school to high school, did you find that English grammars and structures were usually attached importance to our study more than Listening skill? A Strongly Agree C Not sure B Agree D Disagree 3.Do you feel that the traditional teaching English from the Primary school to High school which are affecting on your listening skill at present? A Much affecting B A little bit affecting C No affecting at all 4.When you were in primary school, secondary school, and high school, how were you able to listen English skill? A Excellent C Medium B Quite good D Poor 5.How does the different accent affect on your ability of listening? A Dramatically affect B Moderately affect C Slightly affect D Do not affect In your opinion, is your class suitable for listening lesson? (Put ✓ in column) IV Strongly Agree Not sure Disagree Agree The class is well-equipped with modern technology of facilities The class size is too large, the students cannot listen well The class is large enough, students can listen well from every place Lacking in equipment B The factors which comes from inside each student 7.What you think about the background knowledge? Does your background knowledge have influence on listening skill? A Have a much influence B Have a little influence C Have no influence at all Which problems you encounter when you learn English listening skill? A Having poor vocabulary B Lacking certain background knowledge of the topic C Not catching up with the speech of the speaker D Not focusing on lesson when listening What are factors that affecting your learning listening? Strongly Disagree V Always Often Sometimes Never Health issues Elisions Linking words Unfamiliar topics Long and short vowel Weak forms The poor quality of equipment (CD, Radio, Speaker…) Idioms Wrong methods of self-studying 10 How often you practice listening at home? A everyday C twice a week B Sometimes D Seldom 11 In your opinion, what are the factors that cause students’difficulties in listening skill? A Try to focus on listening every word so can not catch up with the speed B Only listen to stressed words C Need to listen more than three times to understand D Feel tired and not concentrated when listening more than three times IV Solutions 12 Which techniques you often use to learn listening skill? Techniques Skip new words and continue to the tapes Try to identify each word and translate into Vietnamese Try to concentrate on listening Always Often Sometimes Never VI Determine the concept and the central idea of the text 13 What you often to improve your listening skill? (Put a tick in the column) Always Often Sometimes Never Listen again lessons in the class Listen to English songs Practice listening at home every day Listen to the audio files on the internet Watch English subtitle films 14 What you before listening? (You can circle more than one) A Read the task instruction B Explore new words C Guess the content of the listening D Go through the question and guess what the topic is about E Do nothing be just ready to listen 15 How often did you apply the following methods in the process of improving listening skill? (Please write the tick in the blanks) Statements Watch videos or listen to English audio with subtitles Listen to favorite topics Learn English pronunciation rules Communicate English with native speakers Always Often Sometimes Rarely Never VII Record the sound of sentences you don't understand and then try to understand them yourself Listen anytime, anywhere 16 In your opinion, how are the methods in question 15? (Please write the tick (√) in the blanks) Statements Very useful Useful Normal Inefficient Watch videos or listen to English audio with subtitles listen to favorite topics Learn English pronunciation rules Communicate English with native speakers Record the sound of sentences you don't understand and then try to understand them yourself Listen anytime, anywhere 16 Do you have any suggestions for learning listening skill more effectively? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… VIII APPENDICIES APPENDIX 2: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS This survey questionnaire is designed for “A study of the factors affecting English listening skill of the second-year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education” Your assistance in completing the following questions is greatly appreciated In completing the questions, please choose the answer by circling the letter next to your choice, ticking off (✓) in a checklist or expressing your idea in the blanks Your responds will be my important and useful evidence for my study Thank you very much for your cooperation! PART I: Your personal information Your Age: …………………………………………… Gender: A Female B Male How long have you been teaching English? ……… Years PART II: Teachers’ opinion on listening skill 1.How you find listening skill ? A.Very Difficult C Quite difficult B Difficult D Difficult but interesting F Not interesting at all 2.How you find listening skill of four skills ? A.More Interesting than others C.More difficult than others B Easier than others D.Not as interesting as others How you find your students in listening lesson? A They are interested in the lesson C They don’t focus on the lesson B They focus on the lesson but quiet D They are bored and sleepy during the lesson What is your students’ purpose of learning listening skill? ( You can tick more than one) A To complete the lesson C To improve listening skill B To pass the exam D To complicate in conversation E To understand what the foreigners say F To work IX Part III The factors affecting listening skill A The factors which comes from outside Do you think that English grammars and structures were usually attached importance to the students’ study more than Listening skill? A.Strongly Agree C Not sure B Agree D.Disagree 2.Do you feel that the traditional teaching English from the Primary school to High school which are affecting on your students’ listening skill at present? A Much affecting C A little bit affecting B Moderate affecting D Not sure 3.How are the English teacher’s accent and pronunciation similar to the standard native speaker’s accent and pronunciation? A Very similar C Rather Similar B.Similar D Not Similar In your opinion, is your class suitable for listening lesson? (Put ✓ in the appropriate column) Strongly Agree Agree Not Disagree sure The Lab is well-equipped with modern technology of facilities The class size is too large, the students cannot listen well The class is large enough, students can listen well from every place Lacking in equipment in the Lab 5.How does the different accent affect on your students’ ability of listening? A Dramatically affect C Slightly affect Strongly Disagree X B Moderately affect D Do not affect B The factors which comes from inside each student How much you think the students’ background knowledge influence on their listening skill? A Have a much influence B Have a little influence C Have no influence at all Which problems your students encounter when they learn English listening skill? A Having poor vocabulary B Lacking certain background knowledge of the topic C Not catching up with the speech of the speaker D Not focusing on lesson when listening What are factors that affecting your students’ learning listening? Always Often Health issues Weak forms Linking words Unfamiliar topics Long and short vowel Elisions The poor quality of equipment (CD, Radio, Speaker…) Idioms Wrong methods of self-studying 8.How types of topic affect on your students’ listening result? A Much affecting B A little bit affecting C No affecting at all Sometimes Never XI In your opinion, what are the factors that cause students’ difficulties in listening skill? A Try to focus on listening every word so can not catch up with the speed B Only listen to stressed words C Need to listen more than three times to understand D Feel tired and not concentrated when listening more than three times Part IV The solutions 10 Which techniques you often use to improve listening skill for your students? (Put a tick in the appropriate column) Techniques Never Sometimes often Usually, Discuss the topic during pre-listening Give several new words and structures related to listening Listen for entertainment Ask students to take note while- listening Give the tape scripts and translate into Vietnamese Play games which are related to topic in post- listening Try to hear all the words in the tapes Concentrate to stress, pronunciation, and intonation while-listening Talk about some stories related to lesson pre- listening Organize some activities or games to make student feel comfortable before listening 11 Which of the following teaching methods have you ever used to motivate your students while listening? XII A Give some clues which are related to the topic on B Explain and guide the students in order to guess the ideas C Stop each sentence and ask your students to answer D Ask students to work in pairs or groups 12.What methods you often use for students in listening skill? A Through English songs C Through VOA English reports B Through English films D Through English stories 13.How often did you apply the following methods in the process of improving listening skill for students? (Please write the tick (x) in the blanks) Statements Alway Often Sometimes Rarely Never s Watch videos or listen to English audio with subtitles listen to favorite topics Learn English pronunciation rules Communicate English with native speakers Record the sound of sentences you don't understand and then try to understand them yourself Listen anytime, anywhere 14 In your opinion, how are the methods in question 13? (Please write the tick (√) in the blanks) Statements Watch videos or listen to English audio with subtitles Listen anytime, anywhere Very useful Useful Normal Inefficient XIII listen to favorite topics Learn English pronunciation rules Communicate English with native speakers Record the sound of sentences you don't understand and then try to understand them yourself 15 What can be other solutions to the problems mentioned above? …………………………………………………………………………………………………… Thank you for your cooperation! APPENDIX INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS Question 1: What you think about listening skill of english skills? Question 2: What difficulties you have in listening lessons? Question 3: What factors affect to your listening skill now? Question 4: What techniques in listening skill you find interested in? Why? INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS Question 1: What you think about English listening skill in teaching? Question 2: What difficulties students have in listening skill? Question 3: What factors affect to your students’ listening skill? Question 4: What methods you consider as solutions for students in learning listening skill?