--- Page 1 --- MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VAN HIEN UNIVERSITY -------------- FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES FINAL TEST SUBJECT: APPLIED LINGUISTICS ------***----- DIFFICULTIES IN DEVELOPING LISTENING SKILLS BY USING THE CLT APPROACH FOR EFL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS Class: 233ENG49103 & 233ENG49104 Group 4: 1. PHAN KIM TIỀN – 221A140459 --- Page 2 --- 2. LÊ THỊ CẨM TÚ – 221A140435 3. NGUYỄN THỊ THANH HIỀN – 221A140041 4. NGUYỄN THỊ MINH HIỀN – 221A140077 5. TRẦN THỊ THANH THẢO – 221A140005 Lecturer: PhD(c). MA. Nguyễn Trường Giang HCMC, July 2024 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VAN HIEN UNIVERSITY -------------- FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES FINAL TEST SUBJECT: APPLIED LINGUISTICS ------***----- --- Page 3 --- DIFFICULTIES IN DEVELOPING LISTENING SKILLS BY USING THE CLT APPROACH FOR EFL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS Class: 233ENG49103 & 233ENG49104 Group 4: 1. PHAN KIM TIỀN – 221A140459 2. LÊ THỊ CẨM TÚ – 221A140435 3. NGUYỄN THỊ THANH HIỀN – 221A140041 4. NGUYỄN THỊ MINH HIỀN – 221A140077 5. TRẦN THỊ THANH THẢO – 221A140005 Lecturer: PhD(c). MA. Nguyễn Trường Giang ĐIỂM KẾT THÚC HỌC PHẦN (Học kỳ 3 – Năm học 2023-2024) Môn học: Ngôn ngữ học ứng dụng (Applied linguistics) Mã học phần: 233ENG49103 & 233ENG49104 Họ tên & MSSV: 1. PHAN KIM TIỀN – 221A140459 2. LÊ THỊ CẨM TÚ – 221A140435 --- Page 4 --- 3. NGUYỄN THỊ THANH HIỀN – 221A140041 4. NGUYỄN THỊ THANH HIỀN – 221A140077 5. TRẦN THỊ THANH THẢO – 221A140005 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Initially, we would like to express our gratitude to some people because, without them, we would not have been able to achieve this great work. In the first utterance, we would like to thank PGS. TS Nguyen Minh Duc, who is the principal of Van Hien University, for creating conditions and an environment for us that have been studied and researched. We wish to extend my heartfelt gratitude to my lecturer, Mr. Nguyen Truong Giang, who is also our supervisor. We have received patient guidance and support, which could make adjustments, correct mistakes, and expand our knowledge. Without Mr. Nguyen Truong Giang, we could not accomplish the research. We are also feeling thankful for our fellow workers, who are members of our group and always stand side by side. They are an important factor and make this research complete. Also, we would like to mention the supporters who kindly took the time and effort to help us do actual surveys to get data. Finally, our family always supports us mentally. We want to send our deep thanks to them. --- Page 5 --- ABBREVIATIONS --- Page 6 --- LIST OF FIGURES Table 4.1. The difficulties of using the CLT method in practicing listening skills................19 Table 4.2. Benefits of using the right CLT method to practice listening skills......................20 --- Page 7 --- CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION With the development of the current world, the tendency of globalization and integration requires citizens around the world to have a common language to communicate together. According to Ethnologue, English is considered the most common language, with nearly 1.5 billion speakers around the world communicating together. According to David Crystal (2003), English is now the language most widely taught as a foreign language - in over 100 countries, such as China, Russia, Germany, Spain, Egypt, and Brazil - and in most of these countries, it is emerging as the chief foreign language to be encountered in schools, often displacing another language in the process. In 1996, for example, English replaced French as the chief foreign language in schools in Algeria (a former French colony). The importance of approaching English as a foreign language has initiated the revolution of English teaching methods, so it is necessary for English teachers to revolutionize the traditional pedagogy. Instead of conventional teaching methods such as the Grammar-Translation approach and Teacher-centered classroom, teachers need to make a transition to the teaching method by maximizing students’ opportunities and allowing students to develop communicative competence. According to Richard (2007), learners now had to participate in classroom activities that were based on a cooperative rather than individualistic approach to learning. Students had to become comfortable with listening to their peers in group work or pair work tasks, rather than relying on the teacher for a model. They were expected to take on a greater degree of responsibility for their learning. And teachers now had to assume the role of facilitator and monitor. Therefore, teachers play an important role as a catalyst to help students develop cognition and develop communicative competence. Listening skill is considered as an input to develop students’ linguistic development and comprehension skills. Accordingly, passive listening might be a barrier to prevent students from maximizing linguistic performance, in which the information cannot be put into long-term memory. Teaching listening is a complicated process that requires students to pay attention to comprehend the information, these pieces of information are usually transcribed into dialogues and monologues. Additionally, an ESL teacher is the key factor in this learning process. As the instructor comprehends students’ obstacles, teachers should research suitable methods and cultivate effective listening strategies to assist learners. Consequently, students will have a foundation and direction to improve their listening skills and solve problematic distractions. Thus, according to the Method, language communication is not only a means of expressing thoughts but also a means of communication. However, this method has not been popularized in the university environment to create a communication environment that fully develops language skills for students, helping students to remove language barriers and be more proactive and more active in communicating in another language. By synthesizing studies on CLT, we wanted to find answers to the following questions: What are the difficulties facing EFL learners when listening? EFL students often lack confidence and motivation in listening practice. What can instructors do to help students overcome these difficulties? CHAPTER 2. THE REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 2.1 English Learning of Current Students English is one of the top priority foreign languages in Vietnamese education. In recent years, communication-oriented foreign language teaching at universities and colleges has gradually been widely applied, since then language learning has become more active, no longer passive. Among the four language skills, listening comprehension is considered one of the most difficult skills for students. Many language researchers have also pointed out that listening skills are considered the most important skills that help support the development of remaining skills such as speaking, reading, and writing because when you cannot hear, it will affect your performance. The communication process may be corrupted or fail.
INTRODUCTION
Globalization necessitates a universal language for global communication, with English emerging as the most widely spoken and taught English teachers need to embrace innovative methods to foster communicative competence, moving away from traditional approaches like Grammar-Translation and Teacher-centered classrooms By embracing a cooperative and student-centered approach, encouraging group work and peer interaction, teachers can facilitate students' cognitive development and listening skills Effective listening strategies are crucial for comprehension and language acquisition, and ESL teachers play a vital role in identifying student challenges and implementing tailored methods to overcome them, providing students with the foundation and guidance to enhance their listening abilities.
Thus, according to the Method, language communication is not only a means of expressing thoughts but also a means of communication However, this method has not been popularized in the university environment to create a communication environment that fully develops language skills for students, helping students to remove language barriers and be more proactive and more active in communicating in another language By synthesizing studies on CLT, we wanted to find answers to the following questions:
What are the difficulties facing EFL learners when listening?
EFL students often lack confidence and motivation in listening practice What can instructors do to help students overcome these difficulties?
THE REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
English Learning of Current Students
English is one of the top priority foreign languages in Vietnamese education In recent years, communication-oriented foreign language teaching at universities and colleges has gradually been widely applied, since then language learning has become more active, no longer passive Among the four language skills, listening comprehension is considered one of the most difficult skills for students Many language researchers have also pointed out that listening skills are considered the most important skills that help support the development of remaining skills such as speaking, reading, and writing because when you cannot hear, it will affect your performance The communication process may be corrupted or fail.
Based on the results of the student surveys, and also on the researcher's subjective assessment through actual classroom teaching sessions and discussions with students, it can be seen that the current status of students' listening learning and listening practice is as follows:
Although students have studied English for many years at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, most of them think that listening skills are challenging to acquire and are still quite new, moreover in chiefs in rural areas or small provinces often do not have enough facilities such as speakers and cassette players to serve listening comprehension, and communication skills are therefore not emphasized Very few students voluntarily practice listening at home because most of them are not motivated, do not have specific methods, and do not understand listening, leading to discouragement A bad habit of students is to read the transcript before practicing listening skills This habit does not help improve listening comprehension skills at all but is also a waste of time In addition, the number of students in university classes is very large, up to hundreds of people per class, but there are very few native speakers, leading to students having few opportunities to listen correctly to sounds,intonation, and syllables Level differences between students are inevitable It is a fact that every student's psychology when learning to listen is that they want to be able to listen and remember completely the content in their mother tongue without paying attention to the central and core content in the listening process That's why it has become a psychological obsession every time it's time to study listening.
CLT Approach
2.2.1 Principles and Techniques of CLT
In the moment's social environment, language learners need to perform certain functions such as making an appointment, inviting to a party, and declining assignments Scholars know the rules of language use but cannot use the language (Widdowson 1978) In short,being suitable to communicate requires further than verbal capability, it requires communication capability, knowing when and how to say what to whom Among the new teaching methods applied today, the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) method is considered a foreign language or language teaching method that emphasizes, focusing on developing effective communication abilities of learners in real situations This method emphasizes the use of language to convey information, perform tasks, and interact with others, instead of just focusing on learning grammar and vocabulary stereotypically and mechanically.
CLT emphasizes communication as its core principle, focusing on real-life situations and prioritizing functional vocabulary and expressions Learners engage in communicative games and activities, such as role-playing and group work, which foster social and communication skills The method is learner-centered, with activities tailored to individual needs and paces Mistakes are seen as natural, allowing for fluency development, and teachers provide support and guidance while students collaborate to solve problems and develop soft skills such as communication, critical thinking, and adaptability Authentic materials are used to expose learners to natural language, and activities are designed to replicate real-life communication situations.
Newspapers, songs, movies, and news are authentic documents that play a very important role as a means to help learners come into contact with the language in real use so that they can become familiar with the intonation, accent, pronunciation, speaking speed, and language usage of native speakers In addition, authentic materials often have rich and diverse content to help learners become more interested in listening practice For example, when listening to a song or watching a favorite cartoon, the tones and rhythms in the song will help us get used to listening, and repetition of the song, it will also help us understand sentence structure and remember words easily Similarly, when watching animation, viewers need to listen carefully and follow the situation so as not to miss the story of the movie Over a long period, watching movies helps us get used to the tone, speaking speed, and how to use language closer to reality.
The source of authentic documents is extremely diverse, vast, and rich Depending on each person's preferences, the choice of documents by topic will also be different The advantage of choosing a topic based on your interests will help learners be inspired to learn listening In addition, choosing topics according to interests also motivates listening learners to strive and gradually improve their listening skills Next, as learners approach new vocabulary in many different contexts found in authentic documents, they will gradually develop more skills not only in listening but also in memorizing keywords and then summarizing them Finally, the role of authentic materials is extremely important in listening activities This resource also helps learners become familiar with and develop more practical communication skills.
Disadvantages faced by educators and learners
2.3.1 Challenges for lecturers in conveying listening skills
In the interconnected global economy, English proficiency, particularly in communication, is paramount It unlocks career advancements, enhances earning potential, and prioritizes multilingual individuals in job markets For students, it expands scholarship and study abroad opportunities As communication proficiency becomes a primary objective in foreign language education, developing students' listening and speaking skills has become an urgent need in Vietnam's curriculum This gap necessitates the integration of effective strategies into foreign language training programs to foster the development of these crucial communication abilities.
Among the foreign language teaching methods applied in the world, the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) method is a method with outstanding advantages in teaching listening and speaking skills This method has shown outstanding advantages in curriculum compilation, classroom communication activities, etc However, accuracy and fluency in language reception and production are the goals of the CLT method (Larsen-Freeman, 2000), so the lecturer's role in transmission is very large Survey results show that EFL university students often have difficulty understanding listening materials accurately due to limited vocabulary and grammatical knowledge that require instructors to provide additional words.
Teaching English through the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) method presents various challenges for lecturers in Vietnam The large class sizes of 30-40 students demand patience and approachability to foster student engagement Designing effective listening activities requires professional knowledge and an understanding of authentic materials, which can be time-consuming to source due to differences in English usage between native and Vietnamese contexts To implement CLT effectively, instructors must create engaging activities such as role-playing, games, and discussions, which necessitates fluency and the ability to convey content clearly and concisely Despite these challenges, lecturers can overcome them through dedicated training programs and reliable material sourcing from reputable sources such as university libraries and official websites.
Because communication and interaction between learners are emphasized, classroom management poses some potential difficulties The characteristics of the CLT method are role-playing activities, games, discussions, and debates created by instructors to promote communication, so, inevitably, students often move to exchange and talk Together to find the answer, the class will become noisy and more difficult to manage than classes using other traditional methods In addition, lecturers must learn how to manage their time appropriately because the above activities often take a lot of time, it is necessary to adjust the activities so that they are synchronized, ensuring enough communication activities while still being effective Time for other activities such as learning vocabulary, reviewing lessons, and marking errors This job requires teachers to be careful, flexible, and adapt to the actual situation of each class because no class is the same In addition, if the class is effectively managed by highly qualified instructors, students will develop soft skills that will be helpful for future learning such as collaboration skills, respect skills, and listening skills These skills help students work cooperatively and effectively, increase productivity, listen to each other, absorb the instructor's opinions, and respect each other's opinions, thereby creating a positive learning environment Extreme, joyful, exciting In a large classroom, students will inevitably make mistakes, but the instructor cannot correct each person's mistakes one by one because that is both ineffective and time-consuming Instead, the instructor should provide feedback Specific and constructive can be applied to the whole class, both saving time and highly applicable to each individual in the classroom.
English has become a major subject required to be learned in many countries around the world Learning English is no longer simply learning to understand and communicate, but it is also considered a stepping stone and the key to a successful future and reaching out to the world In the current context of English education in Vietnam, the CLT method is still something new and has not been applied much because it still faces many limitations and difficulties in resources English in Vietnam is considered a foreign language rather than a second language Therefore, applying the CLT method in the EFL context is a big challenge for teachers and students First of all, due to the lack of human resources, CLT requires teachers to be proficient in English at a high level to be able to fully exploit the strengths of this method and apply it effectively in lessons Most teachers in Vietnam have not gone through formal training classes on the CLT method because it requires a lot of time, effort,and money Therefore, they do not receive much attention They often apply traditional methods of rote learning and memorization such as Grammar Translation Method, DirectMethod, etc to teach This is also considered the biggest challenge for applying this method.This method is taught in Vietnam The second problem is facilities With a large class size and a small classroom, moving around to play games, discuss questions, and communicate with students is not guaranteed The space is narrow, and tables and chairs are close together,making learners feel uninterested, uncomfortable, and unable to concentrate on the lesson.Students also face the difficult problem of not having the opportunity to apply what they have learned in class into practice, which has created the mindset of learning English just for the exam Equipment to serve the specifics of the CLT method such as speakers, projectors,headphones, TV, etc It is often absent or incomplete, affecting the quality of lessons and students' practice effectiveness In addition, traditional cultural factors also contribute to limiting the application of CLT methods in Vietnam Traditional learning culture in Vietnam often values test preparation, achievement, and scores more than understanding and communication, so both teachers and students have difficulty converting from traditional methods to new methods CLT CAO, X T A (2021) discovered that students in Vietnam are used to learning in unison and are afraid of speaking alone Being afraid to speak is the biggest factor that prevents communication Students often have low self-esteem, fear that what they say must be correct, and accurate, and fear of being wrong, so they often do not dare to express their own opinions Be cautious in asking and answering questions In short,factors including teachers, students, materials, facilities, and educational culture need to be focused on changing to suit today's times and develop in the future Although the CLT method still faces many shortcomings, it cannot be denied that this method meets all comprehensive requirements such as not only providing students with solid knowledge in terms of vocabulary and grammar, but more importantly, it helps them communicate in all situations
Due to its diverse and complex nature, the CLT method encounters some common challenges in objectively assessing student learning Shumin, K (2002) believes that communication skill is a complex skill, including many factors such as the ability to speak, listen, understand, intonation, and body language, so assessing these factors accurately is impossible In addition, traditional tests often cannot comprehensively assess each student's abilities Each individual's skills and communication levels are different, so teachers' assessments are often not effective Furthermore, with a student population of 30 to 40 people, teachers cannot allocate attention to everyone and cannot monitor each student's learning progress For example, some students participate fully in every class, but during discussion hours they are timid and do not express their opinions or communicate with the whole group On the contrary, some students may participate little, but in role-playing activities and games, they participate actively and confidently give their opinions Because the class operates based on a collective group model, which is difficult to manage, evaluation needs to consider both the quality and quantity of student participation Teachers must consider students' learning progress based on many factors such as listening, speaking, comprehension, grammar, and vocabulary, and must evaluate over a long period For each student, many factors must be considered, causing the teacher's workload to increase, not ensuring the amount of time spent teaching in class, making applying this method to lessons ineffective, and also causing loss of time Time To overcome this problem, Brookhart, S M. (2011) said that teachers need to develop assessment methods that are appropriate to the learning goals and levels of students Instead of using traditional assessment methods such as multiple-choice tests, it can be replaced by criteria-based assessment, groups evaluating each other or students themselves evaluating themselves to ensure fairness Equalize and reduce the workload for teachers, help teachers adjust appropriate teaching methods, and help students achieve the best learning results according to the criteria that the CLT method aims for.
2.3.2 Some problems about learners that arise in the CLT classroom
Pronunciation is a difficult problem for any language learner when they come into contact with the target language Derwing and Rossiter (2002) report that their study of pronunciation difficulties shows that most learners of a second language in English face the main obstacle of pronouncing the word In 2011, Gilakjani indicated that many crucial factors affect the pronunciation learning of college students These include a lack of passion, a lack of regular exposure to a foreign language rather than the learner's native language, and moreover, a lack of in-depth instruction and the use of the right support tools by the instructors in deepening the pronunciation instead of focusing only on introducing the alphabet and the sound system In order to make a strong impression of the importance of pronunciation, educators need to take advantage of approaches that are appropriate for their language classroom and utilize tools that help students practice their pronunciation better Also, Abker (2020) pointed out that exposure to pronunciation is an important component in improving EFL learners' language skills, as it plays an important role in the formation of listening skills.
Based on theory, motivation is considered as a term to describe the process of initiating, directing, and maintaining intentional behaviors that help us accomplish a set of goals Nevertheless, in an investigation into motivation in psychology, Eggen and Kauchak (1994) showed that “motivation is a force that energizes and directs behavior toward a goal could certainly be perceived as one of the most important psychological concepts in education” The above evidence shows that motivation is a crucial tool for all language learners, not only university students As noted byDornyei (2011) in the process of learning the target language, motivation plays an urgent role Yet, the motivation of college learners has recently shown a decreasing trend due to various factors impacting them This is not only the case for students with relative language learning ability, but individuals with outstanding abilities are not listening skills have little connection to their academic goals or chosen careers, and this leads to a loss of interest and motivation (Graham, 2017) In addition, according to Siegel (2020), an issue that hinders and makes learners insecure when they are in the listening environment is a lack of confidence This can create a huge barrier for them when coming into close contact with the language, leading to avoidance of practice opportunities Furthermore, while the educators lecture in the language classroom, learners are unable to maintain their concentration and interest for a long time because of the traditional teaching approaches and the lack of engagement of the educator, resulting in a more serious lack of motivation (Renandya & Farrell, 2018) With students learning at the university level, they have a heavy load of lessons and work that needs to be handled, which limits the development of listening skills more than in other subjects (Field, 2018)
2.3.2.3 Limitations of Exposure and Practice
In Jenskin’s (2015) view, countries worldwide have recognized the status of English based on non-native speakers who utilize it as a second language in order to communicate, rather than native speakers However, not all non-native speakers are fluent in English, especially listening skills Facing that dilemma are college students dealing with huge challenges in developing proficient listening skills due to limited exposure to authentic language and insufficient opportunities to practice To clarify that thesis, Abbas (2018) illustrated that “Students need to be exposed to the language if they want to learn it and one of the ways of doing this is through listening to it” Not only that, listening is a fundamental skill that has been formed since learners are born, and then other skills such as speaking, reading, and writing are developed Therefore, it is vital in common daily communication activities Drawing on an extensive range of sources, the authors have given different perspectives on limiting exposure as well as practicing the listening skills of students In contrast to the authors, Vandergrift(2011) holds the view that the school environment along with textbooks and classroom activities has provided learners with certain background knowledge, however, they are still limited in terms of a variety of accents, communication styles,and diverse listening contexts that they have to encounter in real life Similarly, Rost(2013) found that learners pay too much attention to other skills and neglect to develop their listening skills, thereby leading to ineffective listening strategies and reduced listening comprehension.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Sample and sampling procedures
According to Hien, L T (2021) Developing listening skills is a major challenge for EFL students studying English at the undergraduate level The Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) method has been applied in teaching English in many universities. However, this method has not yet been widely applied in Vietnam The purpose of this essay is to take a closer look at the difficulties that EFL undergraduate students face in the process of developing listening skills using the CLT method To this end, the essay will propose a suitable research methodology, including the procedures and reasons for sampling
This study's sample comprises EFL undergraduate students pursuing English language degrees at universities employing the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach Van Hien University students majoring in English from the first year with intermediate or higher proficiency (approximately 70 individuals) will participate in the survey.
Salkind, N J (2012) once said that regarding the sampling process for research, it is necessary to contact the university to be able to apply for permission to conduct research on university students and be provided with a list of classes or groups of potential students for sampling and research It is necessary to contact the lecturers or the management board for permission to collect residual data The methods of data collection can be through various popular methods such as questionnaire surveys, individual or group interviews, observation,and experimentation This is the first step of the sampling process After contacting the lecturers or the management, it is necessary to clearly explain the purpose of the research and that the participation of students to sample the research is voluntary The next step, after using the questionnaire survey form, summarize the results and conduct sample research It is important to ensure the confidentiality of participants' information The last thing is that the researcher needs to analyze scientifically and make appropriate conclusions Note that the participants must be EFL university students who are studying for a bachelor's program,and students who have never used or are using the CLT method to practice listening skills.According to Dửrnyei (2007), the selection of EFL undergraduate students as research subjects to ensure the comprehensiveness of the results, students are often more accessible and willing to participate in research than other target groups From there, research on university students can provide more useful and effective information for this research paper.
Research instruments
This essay uses questions with a Likert scale to clarify the information surveyed The Likert
5 scale was used for this research paper because it is popular for surveys, improves the response rate, and ensures the quality of the reliability of the survey data According to Jebb,
A T., Ng, V., & Tay, L (2021), the use of questions with a Likert scale has advantages such as saving costs and time, quickly synthesizing data accurately and easily processing, or using it to test assumptions The questionnaire will have 10 different question items about the importance, difficulty, and effective application of the CLT method to practice listening skills in language learning These question items are provided on a Likert scale with five possibilities ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree”
The researcher was able to better understand the views, opinions, and mindsets of the respondents by conducting a semi-structured interview The purpose of this interview is to help the respondents and respondents gain a better understanding of how CLT develops listening skills Besides, it helps to focus on 1 problem and produce quick results The interview of this study consisted of 3 questions aimed at collecting qualitative data These questions are designed to better understand the participants' perspectives, thoughts, and ability to be effective in the study.
Data collection procedures
To ensure validity, the questionnaire was evaluated by three English majors prior to distribution This process allowed for the refinement of the survey instrument based on diverse perspectives and identified areas for improvement Subsequently, the questionnaire and interviews were formally administered to gather data from participants.
At the beginning of the survey, the researcher who wants to collect data fully needs to create a link so that students can easily answer the question This essay uses a questionnaire with aLikert scale to survey learners When participating in answering questions, participants will click on the Google Chorme form link created by the researcher previously to better understand the content as well as know the field they are studying To make the survey objective, participants not only answered the questions raised by the researcher, but they could also answer their own opinions through other opinion sections After a period of time,the results will be collected and synthesized into qualitative numbers This process requires a thorough evaluation and assurance of data quality, so it needs to be checked regularly In order to collect data in a more accurate and informative way, a decision was made to select a group of 3 students participating in the interview to become the source of qualitative data.
Data analysis procedures
The author calculated, evaluated the data and collected the military rotation from the questionnaire provided to students using the SPSS program The results of the survey data are accurately aggregated using descriptive statistics As stated by George, D., & Mallery, P. (2018) descriptive statistics are short descriptive coefficients or summaries of given data set. Descriptive statistics are designed to give you information about the distributions of your variables The data collected in this study have been thoroughly analyzed, with a special focus on researching the problems of using the CLT method and how to effectively apply it to help students practice listening skills in learning a new language in general and English particularly.
RESULTS & DISCUSSION
Results
To understand more about how and how effective the CLT method is in the process of helping students practice their skills, quantitative data is collected using questionnaires for
Table 1: The difficulties of using the CLT method in practicing listening skills
1 I have difficulties when I don’t know how to effectively apply and use the CLT method well.
2 Insufficient focus on basic language skills: In the effort to create authentic communication scenarios, CLT may not devote enough time to reinforcing basic language skills such as pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar, which can impact the development of listening skills.
3 Lack of time CLT requires a lot of time to practice and develop communication skills, which can be challenging in a learning environment with limited time
4 Some students who are afraid to communicate (afraid of saying grammatical errors, incorrect pronunciation, etc) also make it difficult to apply the CLT method.
5 CLT encourages students to react quickly to real-life communication situations, which can be stressful and difficult for those who are just starting to learn English.
According to Table 1, the average score and standard deviation in each item show the difficulties that learners encounter when practicing listening skills without a specific method and the difficulties when using the CLT method in practicing listening skills shown in Table
1 On a 5-point scale, the average score ranges from 3.78 to 4.24, indicating an overall moderate level of agreement “ I have difficulties when I don’t know to effectively apply and use the CLT method well” (M=4.24, S.D.=.822) had the highest mean score This proves that there are many students who have difficulty using the CLT method as well as do not understand the CLT method to apply in practicing listening skills The item with the second highest GPA (M=3.94, S.D.=.793) describes how limited time affects the student's CLT training progress The practice requires a lot of time to practice, with the current environment students are quite busy with other tasks outside of class and other subjects on campus, making the application of this method limited The CLT section encourages students to react quickly to real-life communication situations, which can be stressful and difficult for beginners to learn English (M=3.84, S.D.=.934) with a 3rd grade average Here shows that CLT also exerts certain pressures on learners, especially for those who are just starting to learn and adopt this method Some other negative aspects of the CLT method such as lack of reinforcement of language, grammar and vocabulary skills, this is a factor that was discussed a lot by the participants.
Table 2: Benefits of using the right CLT method to practice listening skills
1 Rather than just learning about the language theoretically, CLT helps learners approach and use the language in a practical and effective manner
2 The main purpose of the CLT method is to help students become confident communicators in different real-world settings, through repetitive speech between students.
3 Some solutions (daily listening practice, vocabulary increase, use of diverse materials, development of correct guessing skills, etc) are one of the solutions to help practice listening according to the
4 Is the feedback and correction of listening errors done in the CLT method to help students improve their listening skills?
5 What are some strategies in the CLT method that help EFL students improve their ability to hear and understand different voices and pronunciations? (using a variety of listening sources, practicing active listening, practicing listening at different speeds, etc).
CLT, as demonstrated by the GPA range of 3.70 to 4.00 (avg 3.87 on a 5-point scale), significantly enhanced EFL students' listening comprehension Participants attributed this improvement to CLT strategies such as incorporating diverse listening sources, actively engaging with listening tasks, and practicing at varying speeds.
" (M=4.00, S.D.=.833) is the item with the highest score In this section, only CLT helps learners improve their hearing ability and understand many different ways of speaking, intonation, and pronunciation “The main purpose of the CLT method is to help students become confident communicators in different real-world settings, through repetitive speech between students” (M=3.94, S.D.=.890) has the 2nd highest score This is an item that shows that learners quite agree with the purpose that CLT brings as the confidence to communicate well with people because listening skills have been improved more through CLT Other benefits include helping to correct hearing errors " Is the feedback and correction of listening errors done in the CLT method to help students improve their listening skills?" (M=3.84, S.D.=.866) and directing learners to pragmatic language "Rather than just learning about the language theoretically, CLT helps learners approach and use the language in a practical and effective manner." (M=3.86, S.D.=.857) "Some solutions (daily listening practice, vocabulary increase, use of diverse materials, development of correct guessing skills, etc) are one of the solutions to help practice listening according to the CLT method?" (M=3.70, S.D.=.995) has a low average score compared to other items but is still objectively evaluated.
Three participants were randomly interviewed in semi-structured interviews to better understand their experiences using the CLT method to be able to provide information and analyze qualitative data to reinforce the research questions The qualitative findings are consistent with the quantitative results in the study Regarding the benefits and disadvantages of using CLT, some trainees shared their experiences as follows:
"CLT helps us listen to dialogues, lectures, or presentations, and then summarize, answer questions, or discuss the content I find this approach very useful because we have to focus on listening and understanding the main ideas, not just memorizing every detail. However, I still get confused sometimes when I hear vocabulary or complex sentence structures that I haven't learned yet." (Student 1)
"What I like about CLT is that it increases my learning motivation The real-life communication activities are very engaging and relevant to everyday life However, I also find it challenging to listen and comprehend new dialogues without any prior preparation." (Student 2)
"CLT exposes us to authentic dialogues and communication, which helps me get used to real language use However, I still struggle with longer passages or those with a lot of new information." (Student 3)
Discussion
The results of this study have shown the importance of applying a specific method to practice listening skills in learning a new language, specifically in this study using the CLT method Both quantitative and quantitative data prove that, although CLT brings many good benefits, there are also certain limitations if you don't know how to use it.
Students cited challenges in terms of interaction, time, and difficulties in applying CLT to listening skills when learning as well as in tests This shows the coincidence with previous studies proving that not knowing how to effectively apply the right method will affect the process of practicing listening skills such as incorrect listening, unable to hear (Gilakjani, A P., & Ahmadi, M R 2011) Obviously, there needs to be more examples and demonstrations on how to apply pp CLT to listening skills in a reasonable way to improve each person's hearing ability instead of just listening in a non-specific way.
Despite its limitations, the CLT method offers significant advantages for language learners It enhances communication skills by allowing students to engage in real-life conversations By fostering trust, it creates a supportive learning environment Moreover, the CLT method boosts motivation and aids in interview preparation Students recognize its effectiveness, acknowledging its benefits despite any drawbacks.
CONCLUSION
This research article is about using the communicative language teaching (CLT) method to reach students in the process of learning the target language, English Through CLT principles and techniques, we emphasize real-life interaction and communication However,the CLT method is not an easy problem, because it has many difficulties and challenges.Firstly, the difficulties that teachers and learners face; and the challenges and obstacles in teaching of teachers when using CLT Secondly, classroom management There are many main reasons for this problem, students lack resources and limited training, and assessing all students in the classroom makes it difficult for teachers to have enough time to observe At the same time, the CLT method has many challenges for students Students' anxiety when communicating, peer pressure, and fear of making mistakes lead to a lack of motivation and limited exposure and practice This is the reason why teachers have headaches and obstacles.However, if this method is implemented correctly and developed, it will greatly help students improve their communication skills and confidence.
Abbas, I (2018) Investigating the students’ attitudes towards using the best practices in English listening in the blended e-learning environment at Al-Quds Open University. Abdalla Ahmed Abker, I (2020) Difficulties in pronouncing English morphemes among Saudi EFL students at Albaha University A case study in Almandag Arab World
Brookhart, S M (2011) Educational assessment knowledge and skills for teachers.
Educational Measurement: issues and practice, 30(1), 3-12.
CAO, X T A (2021) 20th-Century Fantasy Literature in English Language Teaching A Focus on University Curricula in Vietnam.
Crystal, D (2003) English as a global language Cambridge University Press.
Derwing, T M., & Rossiter, M J (2002) ESL learners' perceptions of their pronunciation needs and strategies System, 30(2), 155-166.
Dửrnyei, Z (2007) Research methods in applied linguistics: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methodologies Oxford University Press.
Dửrnyei, Z., & Ushioda, E (2021) Teaching and researching motivation Routledge.
Eberhard, David M., Gary F Simons, and Charles D Fennig (eds.) 2024 Ethnologue:Languages of the World Twenty-seventh edition Dallas, Texas: SIL International.Online version: https://www.ethnologue.com/insights/ethnologue200/
York: Macmillan College Publishing Company
Field, J (2018) The Cognitive Validity of Tasks in Listening Tests Studies in Language Testing, 49, Cambridge University Press.
George, D., & Mallery, P (2018) Descriptive statistics In IBM SPSS Statistics 25 Step by
Gilakjani, A P., & Ahmadi, M R (2011) A study of factors affecting EFL learners' English listening comprehension and the strategies for improvement
Gilakjani, A P (2011) A study on the situation of pronunciation instruction in ESL/EFL classrooms Journal of studies in education, 1(1), 1-15.
Graham, S (2017) Research into practice: Listening strategies in an instructed classroom setting Language teaching, 50(1), 107-119.
Hien, L T (2021) Communicative language teaching in teaching esl for university students.
Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguist202, 3(6), 49-57.
Jebb, A T., Ng, V., & Tay, L (2021) A review of key Likert scale development advances: 1995–2019 Frontiers in psychology, 12, 637547
Jenkins, J (2015) Repositioning English and multilingualism in English as a Lingua Franca Englishes in Practice, 2(3), 49-85.
Renandya, W A., & Farrell, T S C (2018) Ten questions for language teachers: How to teach listening ELT Journal, 72(1), 1-7.
Richards, J C (2006) Communicative language teaching today New York: Cambridge University Press
Rost, M (2013) Teaching and researching: Listening Routledge.
Salkind, N J (2012) Exploring research (8th ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Shak, P., Lee, C S., & Stephen, J (2016) Pronunciation problems: A case study on English pronunciation errors of low proficient students International Journal of Language
Shumin, K (2002) Factors to consider: Developing adult EFL students' speaking abilities.
Methodology in language teaching: An anthology of current practice, 12(35), 204-211.
Siegel, D J (2020) The developing mind: How relationships and the brain interact to shape who we are Guilford Publications.
Vandergrift, L (2011) Second language listening: Presage, process, product, and pedagogy.
In Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning (pp 455-471). Routledge.
4 How long have you been learning English using The Communicative Language
5 How often do you participate in listening activities in CLT classes?
Survey criteria Level of agreement
A The difficulties of using the CLT method in practicing listening skills
1 The difficulties of using the CLT method in practicing listening skills.
2 Insufficient focus on basic language skills:
In the effort to create authentic communication scenarios, CLT may not devote enough time to reinforcing basic language skills such as pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar, which can impact the development of listening skills.
3 Lack of time CLT requires a lot of time to practice and develop communication skills, which can be challenging in a learning environment with limited time
4 Some students who are afraid to communicate (afraid of saying grammatical errors, incorrect pronunciation, etc) also make it difficult to apply the CLT method.
5 CLT encourages students to react quickly to real-life communication situations, which can be stressful and difficult for those who are just starting to learn English.
B Benefits of using the right CLT method to practice listening skills
1 Rather than just learning about the language theoretically, CLT helps learners approach and use the language in a practical and effective manner.
2 The main purpose of the CLT method is to help students become confident communicators in different real-world settings, through repetitive speech between students
To enhance listening skills effectively, the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) method emphasizes daily listening practice, systematic vocabulary expansion, incorporation of varied materials, and the development of accurate guessing abilities These strategies foster a comprehensive approach to listening comprehension by providing ample opportunities for exposure, language enrichment, and critical thinking.
4 Is the feedback and correction of listening errors done in the
CLT method to help students improve their listening skills?
5 What are some strategies in the CLT method that help EFL students improve their ability to hear and understand different voices and pronunciations?
(using a variety of listening sources, practicing active listening, practicing listening at different speeds, etc).