In the contemporary globalized world, people realize the importance of English listening skill in communication in general and in work in particular. In order to communicate with others successfully, people should listen well to understand what their communicator is talking about. In addition, speaking skill, i.e. a productive skill, is normally the one which impresses others at the beginning of the conversation; however, it is the receptive skills like listening skill that acts as the basis for speaking skill to flourish. As a result, English listening skill has become a key factor for people who want to socialize with foreigners and then, one of the decisive requirements for having a wellpaid job. It is also the reason why there are more and more English listening courses which aim at helping learners improve their listening skill. Next, teaching listening in high schools is emphasized by Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training. According to The guidance for high school education in English in 2013 – 2014, listening must be assessed at least once in each semester besides being tested in the end term test which has not been implemented before. It can be inferred that teaching and learning listening in high schools has been increasingly concerned. Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training requires high school teachers and students to focus much more on listening skill. In addition, the Ministry encourages teachers to apply new methods in order to improve the quality of teaching and learning for high school students (The guidance for high school education in English in 2013 – 2014). In order to help students to improve their listening skill, there are several effective ways. Among them, using authentic listening materials is considered to be of great help. The topic about authenticity of teaching materials itself has had a long history beginning from 1890s. Until now, most of the researchers consider authentic materials as beneficial in teaching and learning English skill (Henry Sweet (1899), Little, Devitt, Singleton (1988), Lee (1995), Gebhard (1996), Peacock (1997), Shrum and Glisan (2000), Shei (2001), Lin (2004), Khaniya (2006) and Oguz and Bahar (2008)). Moreover, authentic materials are available in our life. According to Gebhard (1996), there are unlimited sources for teaching materials. For those who live in countries where English is a foreign language, it is simply a matter of searching creatively. Teachers in urban areas of these countries can access authentic materials from cable TV, English language newspapers and magazines, and even from popular music on the radio. In large cities, modern grocery and department stores carrying imported products and the tourist industry such as hotels can offer useful authentic resources. Or else, during travel to Englishspeaking countries, teachers could pick up useful materials that could be adapted for their English lessons. In fact, Viet Nam is not an English speaking country, however, in the technological era, mass media such as the Internet, cable television and radio which contain nothing but authentic materials are accessible for almost all high school students, especially those in big cities like Hanoi. Furthermore, in comparison with listening materials given in course books which are modified to be suitable for students’ level, authentic materials are close to life and challenging. Therefore, it might be possible to use authentic materials to motivate high school students to listen and facilitate their listening skill so as for them to listen better. For those main reasons, the researcher has decided to do research into “A case study on using authentic materials in teaching listening for high school students in Hanoi”. Hopefully, the research could contribute to the literature on using authentic materials to improve four language skills in an Englishasaforeignlanguage environment like Vietnam
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATION PAPER A case study on using authentic materials in teaching Listening for high school students in Ha Noi Supervisor: HOANG HONG TRANG, M.A Student: TRAN NHAT ANH Year of enrollment: QH2010 Hanoi – 2014 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHOÁ LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP NGHIÊN CỨU CÁ THỂ VỀ VIỆC SỬ DỤNG TÀI LIỆU THỰC TẾ TRONG GIẢNG DẠY KỸ NĂNG NGHE CHO HỌC SINH THPT TẠI HÀ NỘI Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Th.s Hoàng Hồng Trang Sinh viên: Trần Nhật Anh Khoá: QH2010 HÀ NỘI – NĂM 2014 ACCEPTANCE I hereby state that I: Tran Nhat Anh, class QH. 2010. F1. E9, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library. In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper. Signature Hanoi, May 5, 2014 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am absolutely conscious that I could not complete this thesis without the help of others. In this occasion, I would like to take a chance to express my deepest gratitude to them. First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to my supervisor, Ms Hoang Hong Trang for her acceptance to be my supervisor, and for providing me with insightful and valuable comments. From the point of a teacher, an advisor and an instructor, she suggested and encouraged me to do this research. Thanks to her instructions and encouragement, I could carry out this study successfully. I would like to thank my family for their constant and endless source of love, support and encouragement. They have been always by my side whenever I have had difficulties and tiredness. I would also want to extend a special shout-out to all the research participants. The project would not have been accomplished without their responsible and valuable ideas and opinions in the questionnaire. Finally, my special thanks go to my dear friends for their understanding and assistance during the process of doing this research. All these people play remarkable roles in this research. I once more time say my most sincere thanks to all of them. i ABSTRACT This study was conducted with the attempt to explore the reality of materials used in teaching and learning English listening skill in Nguyen Thi Minh Khai high school in Hanoi and the attitude of teachers and students to the use of authentic materials in teaching listening in this school. In order to do so, two English listening skill teachers and 42 tenth form students in Nguyen Thi Minh Khai high school were invited to take part in the survey questionnaires. After data were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively, it was found out that authentic materials were sometimes used besides the course books and both teachers and students have positive attitude towards the use of authentic materials in teaching and learning listening despite some possible difficulties caused by this type of materials. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Acknowledgements i Abstract ii Table of contents iii List of figures vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1. Rationale for the study 1 1.2. Objectives of the study 3 1.3. Research questions 3 1.4. Significance of the study 3 1.5. Scope of the study 4 1.6. Organization 4 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1. Listening as a skill 2.1.1. Definition of listening 5 2.1.2. Status of listening skill in an English language curriculum 6 2.1.3. Difficulties of learners with listening 8 iii 2.2. Authentic Materials 2.2.1. Definition of Authentic Materials 9 2.2.2. Classification of Authentic Materials 10 2.2.3. Advantages of Authentic Materials 11 2.2.4. Disadvantages of Authentic Materials 12 2.2.5. Criteria to choose Authentic Materials 13 2.3. Related studies on using Authentic Materials in teaching listening 16 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1. Case study method 3.1.1. Reasons for choosing case study method 19 3.1.2. An overview of Nguyen Thi Minh Khai high school 19 3.2. Selection of subjects 20 3.3. Data collection instrument 21 3.4. Procedures of data collection 3.4.1. Questionnaire for teachers 23 3.4.2. Questionnaire for students 24 3.5. Procedures of data analysis 24 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Results 4.1.1. Questionnaire for teachers iv 4.1.1.1. The current situation of teaching and learning listening in Nguyen Thi Minh Khai high school 26 4.1.1.2. The types of materials used for teaching listening for high school students in Ha Noi 27 4.1.1.3. The attitude of teachers in Nguyen Thi Minh Khai high school towards the use of authentic materials in teaching listening 27 4.1.2. Questionnaire for students 29 4.1.2.1. Students’ self refection on their listening skill 29 4.1.2.2. The reality of materials used in teaching and learning listening in Nguyen Thi Minh Khai high school 35 4.1.2.3. The attitude of students in Nguyen Thi Minh Khai high school towards the use of authentic materials in learning listening 35 4.2. Discussion 4.2.1. The reality of materials used in teaching and learning listening in Nguyen Thi Minh Khai high school 38 4.2.2. The attitude of teachers and students in Nguyen Thi Minh Khai high school towards the use of authentic materials in teaching listening 39 4.2.3. Overcoming the constraints 42 4.2.3.1. Vocabulary 42 4.2.3.2. Speed 45 v 4.2.3.3. Time consuming of choosing authentic materials 46 4.2.3.4. Unavailability of equipment 49 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 5.1. Summary of findings 50 5.2. Limitations 51 5.3. Suggestions for further research 51 REFERENCES 53 APPENDICES 58 Appendix A: Questionnaire for students Appendix B: Questionnaire for teachers vi LIST OF FIGURES PAGE 1. Figure 1: Difficulties in listening faced by tenth form students in Nguyen Thi Minh Khai high school 30 2. Figure 2: Purposes of learning listening of tenth form students in Nguyen Thi Minh Khai high school 31 3. Figure 3: Activities to practice listening of tenth form students in Nguyen Thi Minh Khai high school 32 4. Figure 4: Sources of authentic listening materials exposed by tenth form students in Nguyen Thi Minh Khai high school 33 5. Figure 5: Frequency of exposure of authentic listening materials by tenth form students in Nguyen Thi Minh Khai high school 34 6. Figure 6: Reasons students prefer authentic listening materials to materials in textbooks 36 7. Figure 7: Reasons students prefer materials in textbooks to authentic materials 37 vii [...]... example, all high schools either in Hanoi or in Vietnam so as to gather the information for the study Instead, one case, specifically, a tenth form class in Nguyen Thi Minh Khai high school in Hanoi might be more manageable for the researcher 3.1.2 An overview of Nguyen Thi Minh Khai high school Nguyen Thi Minh Khai high school in Tu Liem District, Hanoi was the school the researcher chose to conduct... chose to conduct the study The reason why this school was chosen as the subject of the study is that this was also the place where the researcher served in her practicum For the past 45 years, Nguyen Thi Minh Khai high school is one of the highly qualified high schools in Hanoi which have educated students for comprehensive development In the process, the school has been rewarded by Vietnam’s Ministry... are 91 teachers and staff and 1658 students who are working and studying in the school In the school year 2010 – 2011, 100% of teachers are recognized to meet the quality standard for a high school teacher suggested by Viet Nam’s Ministry of Education and Training In the same year, the school ranked 74 th among 200 high schools in the country in terms of the percentage of students who passed the entrance... Khai high school and to evaluate the attitude of teachers and students towards the use of authentic materials in teaching listening for high school students in this school, the researcher has collected both quantitative and qualitative data so that through the former, the researcher could measure what types of materials and how frequently teachers and students in Nguyen Thi Minh Khai high school teach... to choose authentic materials Authentic materials have some disadvantages as mentioned above, a careful selection of these materials for use in the classrooms, therefore, should be paid high attention to Oguz and Bahar (2008:331) do not encourage random selection of authentic materials To be used effectively they mention that when choosing materials there should always “be an aim in using them and chosen... according to Tungesh G.M (2012), it is the most important for teachers to choose authentic materials suitable for interest of students and the proficiency level of the class Of them, the latter is also mentioned by Fei and Yu-feng (2008) as a determining factor in choosing appropriate authentic materials In order to have the best choice, Tungesh G.M (2012) proposed some suggestions: (1) select shorter... learning listening in high schools in Hanoi from which the difficulties of both high school teachers and students with 17 listening skill could be found out and solutions would be suggested Therefore, the researcher hopes that this study could bridge the gap in literature and provide an insight into the reality of materials used in teaching and learning listening in a high school in Hanoi and the attitude... listening in a high school in Hanoi and the attitude of teachers and students in this school to the application of authentic listening materials so that the quality of teaching and learning listening in high schools in Hanoi could be improved CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 18 3.1 Case study method 3.1.1 Reasons for choosing case study method In the present study, case study method is adopted because... study is to identify the materials used in teaching listening in Nguyen Thi Minh Khai high school and analyze the attitude of teachers and students of this school towards using authentic materials in teaching listening, case study method could help the researcher investigate the reality in Nguyen Thi Minh Khai high school in greater detail and then accomplish the purposes of the study Moreover, case studies... teaching listening in high schools is emphasized by Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training According to The guidance for high school education in English in 2013 – 2014, listening must be assessed at least once in each semester besides being tested in the end term test which has not been implemented before It can be inferred that teaching and learning listening in high schools has been increasingly . Supervisor: HOANG HONG TRANG, M.A Student: TRAN NHAT ANH Year of enrollment: QH2010 Hanoi – 2014 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHOÁ LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP NGHIÊN. Sinh viên: Trần Nhật Anh Khoá: QH2010 HÀ NỘI – NĂM 2014 ACCEPTANCE I hereby state that I: Tran Nhat Anh, class QH. 2010. F1. E9, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept