MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE SOFTWARE IN TEACHING LISTENING SKILLS AT SCHOOL
OF EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE: AN GIANG UNIVERSITY
Í inương BẠI HỘ( MỦ TP.HCW
| THƯ VIỆN
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL)
Submitted by PHAN THI THUY DUNG
Supervisor: Dr LE XUAN TRUONG
HO CHI MINH City, December 2010
Trang 2ABSTRACT
This thesis was designed to investigate the effectiveness of the software in teaching listening skills, to save time on class, to evoking students’ positive attitudes and motivation toward learning listening skills, and to increase students’ basic knowledge at School of Educational Practice — An Giang University Website: http://staff.agu.edu.vn/pttdung
The research was conducted in the tenth grade at School of Educational Practice- An Giang University Both quality and quantity were used in this survey to explore the advantages of the software system to learners and teachers at SEP SEP has four tenth grade classes and the data was collected from these classes Data was collected in the course of the class sessions before, and after the application of the software Questionnaires and the pre-test and post-test were given to the students to analyzed to progress in the students’ performance and listening skills as they continued using the software system
The result demonstrated that having an improvement in the experimental The software assisted to change students’ attitudes and motivation positively, to facilitate the teaching of listening skill, to the progress among the students at SEP From this possible effectiveness of the software through the evidence that was showed by classes using the software, this research suggests that the software system is not only useful for teaching listening skills at the tenth grade but also the other grades
Trang 3TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY sssse v90 0060060666666 88
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Trang 43.2.4.2 Quesfionnaires - -
3.2.4.2.1 Questionnaire for students
3.2.4.2.2 Questionnaire for teachers
3.3 Data collection Procedures « +
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4.2.2 Studenfs f€SfS c-c-cccccccreeesree aes 4.2.3 Teacher’s response -«-<-e+eees 4.3 COnclUSION ccccccceseeseeceseeeeeeeeeseeseseeseseeenseeeees Ween e ere ccnccce rece caccaccccs ƠƠƠƠỊƠƠƠƠƠỊƠ eee cere cree ese rnessececccces ĐC PP P0606 090099 00900 9006060 ƠƠƠƠƠƠƠỊƠ Chapter 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICA TIONS
5.1 ConcÏuSiOT - << «+ ssss+stseeeieeHeersee 5.2 ImplicafIO'NS . cccstrnrrirrerriire 5.3 Suggestions on using the software -
5.3.1 Equipmenfs - c5 «+ 5<<s+sssssrrss 5.3.2 RequirermenfS -. «series BIBLIOGRAPPHY - - << - -<- APPENDICES . - Ăn ‡ĂẰẰ se s*« "`
ƠƠƠƠỊƠơƠị Ơ ` 1 CĐ HĐhh th 0080909090900 009060008 TƠ ƠỊƠỊƠ APPENDIX I Statistics Description of students Questionnaire
APPENDIX II The reliability analysis of Student’s Questionnaire
APPENDIX III Statistics Description of Dip and Sep teachers
APPENDIX IV Pre-Test -
APPENDIX V Post- Test
APPENDIX VI Questionnaire for studenfs -
APPENDIX VII Questionnarre for Teachers .- -
APPENDIX VIII How many times students online
APPENDIX IX The software Šysfem .-. -< << << APPENDIX X The way created and uploaded a lesson wee mee erence rere eeverer
Trang 5LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 3.l The software SŠySf€m . - sgk nh Figure 3.2 The baSIC SfOTY LG SH HT ng TH HH ngư Figure 3.3 Learn new Word F€afUTC€ - - «Ăn nh cư Figure 3.4 Spell A Word FF€atUre - - - << +3 11H ngư Figure 3.5 Task EF€AfUTC - +5 <5 ng Figure 3.6 Homework FF€atUF€ - «G5 S1 9S 901 99 1 001190 g2 e2 Figure 4.1 teaching aid of SEP teacher and DIP teacher - - -«- Figure 4.2 the useful of software system in teaching listening skills Figure 4.3 the effectiveness of saving time in ẽaSĐ - - ô5 ô+s<ôs+<<2 Figure 4.4 the aid of the software in evoking listening studying Figure 4.5 the convenience of the software in teaching listening skills Figure 4.6 Audio playback feature 00 eeeeceesecseeseeeseeeeeeseeeestseseeeseeeneenees Figure 4.7 Learn new word feature .cccccccesssccsssseessseccesssscessnseessssseeesees Figure 4.8 spell a mew word feature cccccssseceseeceseeeseeeeeseceseeeesseesserensees Figure 4.9 the usefulness of Task feature cccccccccssssccesseeceesseeeesseeeesneees Figure 4.10 the usefulness of homework Í€afuTe « «<< ss+sesserses
Trang 6LIST OF TABLES
Page
Table 4.1 Descriptive Statistics of SEP students cceceseseeeeeeeeneeneeseees 42 Table 4.2 Pre-test of the control group ec ccccesseesssssesseeseseseesseenseseteeesaeens 45 Table 4.3 post-test of control QrOUP cccceceeeeeeseeteetsseesseeeteneesenneneeeeeeteetees 46 Table 4.4 Pre-test of experimentaÏ group - - 5 site 46 Table 4.5 Different mean of two ørOUDS .- 5 ĂẶcesnheeehHexeg 47 Table 4.6 Correlations Of twO ðTOUDS - 5n gu 48 Table 4.7: Paired Samples Test cceccesseesesseessessceseesessscsssenecneesseenessneenseaes 49 Table 4.8: Descriptive Questions of SEP teachers . sxcccccreee 51 Table 4.9: Descriptive Questions of DỊP teachers C1101 10 1103 19v nen 52
Trang 7CAST EFL ELLS FLLD IMI SEP TLS CPRE CPOS EPRE EPOS ABBRIVIATIONS
: Center for Applied Special Technology : English as a Foreign Language
: English Language Learners
: Foreign Language Learning Disability : Interactive Multimedia Instruction : School of Educational Practice : Text to Listening
: Universal Design for Learning : pre test of control group : post test of control group : pre test of experimental group : post test of experimental group
Trang 8CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Listening basically is a learning activity that may take different forms for diverse people The way a person listens is always different from the way another person listens; this therefore implies that the behaviors and tools that a person employs in a listening situation are always different from the ones used by another listener in the same listening situation When teaching listening skills, it is therefore important to keep this in mind Although there are a variety of listening skills that learners may be taught, each has his own way of understanding and different people listen differently in attempt to accomplish the same goal (Downs, 2008)
In the High School context, listening skills is an important learning concept because a student can not read and write without listening first Listening therefore is the first basic learning skill that a student should effectively learn and make good use during a learning environment It is therefore the responsibility of the learning skills tutor to establish new learning skills strategies that are tailored to meet the students listening requirements This is not an easy task and requires an in depth understanding of the factors that come to play during the listening process (Graeme & Jean, 2003)
Trang 9characterized by factors such as: the number of students in a classroom, the teaching skills applied by the tutor, the perception of the student towards the tutor, the tutor’s language dialect, the listening techniques applied, psychological factors and many more Those external factors can be dealt with and modified in order to enhance the listening skills of the students (Battell, 2006)
Although learning institutions offer instructions that are directed towards enhancing the listening skills of their students, the need for extra training can not be achieved by traditional methods only (Kevin & Pauley, 2002) Most High schools offer only one or two listening skills teaching courses per year, therefore resulting in insufficiency of providing enough listening skills to the students English educators are therefore calling for the dire need to establish new technologies that can facilitate teaching, learning, communication and most importantly, the listening skills (Nichols, 2009) One such technique is the use of Interactive Multimedia Instruction (IMI), which is the use of interactive video disc It has been reported that IMI is an effective communication approach to teaching students listening skills, IMI has also been reported to be effective than the conventional linear video tape or an instruction series that is not interactive A key advantage of the IMI is that there is less instructional time by the listening skills tutor One major challenge associated with IMI that there is no affordable IMI software in the discipline of oral communication In addition, if it was
available, a number of educators are not sure in terms of its effectiveness as a
technique of teaching oral communication skills such as listening (Rainbow Bridge Publishing, 2002)
Trang 10are no bound rules like in mastering grammar Contrary to speaking and writing skills, listening skills does not have specific rules which therefore means that progress of a student can not be easily quantified One of the largest inhibitors in listening is the mental block of the student (Nichols, 2009)
One of the largest factors that inhibit listening among high school students is the mental block During the listening process, a high school student can suddenly switch his mind and decide that he / she can not understand what is being taught or said Psychologists argue that at this point, the students just get caught in an internal conversation while trying to translate some words that might have been heard (Downs, 2008) The students mind is very complex and so is his /her listening abilities, some students can decide to convince themselves that they can not understand English that is spoken naturally by the tutor, possibly due to a number of facts such as the dialect of the tutor, whether English is their first language or not or they may completely have problems with listening to English as a whole (Nichols, 2009)
The significant approach to improving the listening skills of high school students is to make them accept the fact that their understanding abilities are OK This serves more of a change in attitude and its effectiveness is relative depending on the mind of the student and his perceptions In scenarios whereby the English is the first language for the students, the tutors therefore have to make sure that their students listen to English as often as possible but only regulated short durations (Carte etal,
2000)
Problem discussion
Trang 11the use of the website to facilitate the teaching of listening skills among its students Presently, SEP teachers in SEP use the following teaching aids: textbooks, cassette, and a compact disc that accompanies the text books The time allocation for the listening skills is not enough to meet the needs of each and every student in the class so as to grasp the basic content that has been taught for a listening period The class setting consists of average and bad students, with the average pupils having a little bit of understanding compared to the bad pupils It has been reported that almost all students are bored with the listening technique that is being used by the listening skills tutor (Kratz, 2005)
Most of the teaching techniques that are currently being employed in learning institutions can not meet the learning needs of the students In most cases, there is lack of individual student being addressed in terms of listening skills Another challenge that faces the teaching of listening skills in the high school context is the perception of the students towards English language as whole English can be frustrating especially to students that it is not a first language In such situations, the listening skills tutor has the challenge of ensuring that he /she use a different teaching approach that is guaranteed not to distract the students and that the students have the right attitude towards the listening skills lessons (Graeme & Jean, 2003)
Trang 12Previous research on the effectiveness of teaching listening skills has reported different results with regard to the context of study In SEP school, they have recently introduced the Website in order to aid the teaching of listening skills This research attempts to evaluate its effectiveness on the aid teaching listening skills at the High School
1.2 Statement of purpose
The main aim of the research study is to examine the use of the website in the teaching of listening skills at SEP The research will examine to what extent the Website facilitates the teaching of listening Skills at SEP On a broader perspective, the research study will attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of the website in facilitating listening skills On a narrower perspective, the research will attempt to evaluate the overall improvement in the teaching of listening skills on a one student
Trang 131.3 Research Questions
The research will attempt to answer the following research questions
1, Does the software facilitate the teaching of listening skill at School of
Educational Practice?
11 In what ways does the software aid the teaching of listening skills at
School of Educational Practice?
iii Does the software report any progress among the students at School of
Educational Practice?
1.4 Significance of the study
The research will reveal the importance of using the software with two particular suggestions “learn new word feature” and “spell a word feature” in the teaching of the listening skills at School of Educational Practice The results of this study will also be beneficial to other learning institutions when teaching the learning skills The results of the study will also be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the web system in teaching listening skills It will also recommend the necessary adjustments in the use of the Web system while teaching listening skills
Trang 14} 1.5 Delimitations
This research will not only cover the whole of the High Schools in Long Xuyen City, but will be limited only to School of Educational Practice The research will only involve the evaluation of the software system on the effectiveness of software system during the teaching skills lessons at School of Educational Practice The research will be further narrowed down to one particular class Each student’s progress who uses the software system in listening skills class will be evaluated on a weekly basis, according to a given number of parameters that will be set to quantify the listening skills progress of the students
1.6 Overview of thesis chapters
Trang 15CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Theoretical background to listening skills
Trang 16ln bits Supposing you want to keep fit and be in shape, you have to jog and on the first day of jogging, you do up to seven miles Chances are that you might not go out
Pe
; Jogging again because you over did it on the first day Therefore, it is important for you : to start doing small and little steps and over time, you will be able to jog more miles | Just like the person who wants to keep fit; high school students should also use and apply the same approach to their listening skills (Groeber, 2008) It is therefore advisable for students to listen for at least five to ten minutes even if they don’t understand, it would be a starting point For this mechanism to work effectively, students must not expect an improvement in understanding too quickly It is therefore very important for students to have and practice patience and wait for the results (Rainbow Bridge Publishing, 2002)
Good listening skills among high school students is very important and a basic necessity for them Good listening skills will help students to be come more productive and hardworking hence improving their grades and overall performance of the school A student has good listening skills is able to understand assignments and what is expected of him at the end of the day It also helps a student develop and build good rapport with fellow students, teachers and sub ordinate staff thus building and improving his listening skills (Nichols, 2009) A student is therefore able to learn better in a team based environment besides being able to resolve problems with his colleagues In addition, a student is able to ask and answer questions in class or outside the class room Last but not least, a student is able to find meaning to what others are
saying (Kratz, 2005)
In order to listen well, there are some basic rules that can be followed to help
Trang 17
that is being said In addition, it provides a valuable reference point to a student when it : comes to completing of assignments and revising for the exams (Nichols, 2009) : Secondly, you have to maintain eye contact; this increases your level of concentration A student who listens with the mind rather than the ears is less likely to think about themselves and most likely to pay attention to what the teacher is saying This is very important not only for classroom use but also for the future use i.e nurturing relationships among friends and family Secondly, ensure that you don’t interfere with
the teacher as he is teaching (Kratz, 2005) This ensures maximum concentration in
class Furthermore, it gives the teacher a chance to explain himself adequately and fluently It is also important to ensure that you sit still as you are learning In addition, lean towards the teacher and nod your head at intervals to affirm that you are listening This tells the teacher that you are together i.e that you are listening and understanding Once the teacher is done with teaching, it is now your time to ask questions (Rainbow Bridge Publishing, 2002) A good student listener is one who is attentive to what the teacher doesn’t say and knows that it is important just like what he is saying To overcome the barriers to listening, students must be aware of the following things that may be barriers to effective listening Avoid being biased and prejudiced, this helps you to be open minded therefore you are able to listen to anything without filtering Language barrier is another thing that comes into play A good student will try to over come this by taking his time to listen and understand what is being said In addition, he will take a step of learning the language if he does not understand it Listening in a noisy environment will hinder your listening process, this is because there are lots of interferences from the outside hence you will not listen effectively (Kratz, 2005) While listening, avoid being worried, angered or fearful Possessing these traits inhibits you from listening effectively Lastly a lack of attention hinders ones listening process, therefore it is important for a student to be as attentive as ever in class so that he might understand what is being taught
Trang 18
The process of listening starts as early as one is a child It is important to help Fk ildren develop their listening skills as this will help them in future when they have F grown This is done by ensuring that the child repeats what you said to him As a parent ensure you teach them how to maintain contact when talking or listening to ‘ somebody as this helps increase their attention span You have to read out loud to your children and engage the child in your conversations This is important as it helps them develop the confidence to ask, react and assign meaning to what is being said or read (Battell, 2006) The process of listening is real and has three basic processes that are very vital The first one is hearing which simply means listening enough to capture what the speaker is saying The second one is understanding, which means that you try and assign meaning to what has been said in your own way The third and the last are judging This is trying to figure out if what has been said really makes sense or has
meaning
After teaching ensure that you summarize whatever you have said in a few words This is important for clarification purposes A good teacher will always ask questions at the end of lesson to find out whether the students have been listening or not Therefore, as a teacher, always ensure that you ask a question (Nichols, 2009)
Boote and Beile (2005) contend that researchers require a clear understanding of the existing literature in a specific field before they can perform significant research in that field This literature review provided that prerequisite knowledge, established the context for the investigation, and justified the need for educators to seek language support mechanisms for second-language learners
Trang 192.2 Synthesis of Technology Literature
Advances in technology challenge current second-language acquisition theory and outpace advances in language learning practices (Chapelle, 2009) The bulk of existing research on the efficacy of web system is focused on young learners with learning or physical disabilities Alper and Raharinirina (2006) conducted a meta- analysis of 60 articles published in English-language refereed journals between 1998 and 2003 on the topic of web system and skill acquisition of persons with disabilities The majority of studies (53%) involved persons with learning disabilities; only 25% of the selected articles pertained to persons over 22 years of age, the age range of the population identified for this investigation
Jeffs and Morrison (2005) conducted a similar analysis of over 400 scholarly web system articles published between 2000 and 2004 They found only five percent of the current research on web based technologies focused on the diversity dimensions of
culture, race, or gender The above findings are consistent with earlier literature
research investigations Edyburn (2004a) conducted a comprehensive one-year meta- analysis of the 2003 special education technology literature and noted that the majority of publications focused on Pre-K to Grade 8 classroom applications Edyburn also reported that the top two disabilities studied were communication disorders and learning disabilities
MacArthur, Ferretti, Okolo, and Cavalier (2001) synthesized 15 years of
research on the use of web system to support literacy among students with mild disabilities and concluded that more research is needed on the integration of web based technologies with literacy instruction in classroom environments Previous research on the efficacy of web based technologies provided a range of findings Although the majority of studies support the efficacy of web based technologies in listening skills, not all investigations found positive results
Trang 20Twyman and Tindal (2006) reported similar findings of no statistical difference in the comprehension rates of students using a computer-adapted history text, as | compared to those using a traditional textbook Brown and Augustine (2001) found no significant difference between test scores for those with listening-related disabilities on tests administered orally versus a paper-based test; however, a confounding variable was postulated: Students with poor listening skill may have retained less content because the material for the test was presented in traditional manner using textbook and
cassette
Dawson, Venn, and Gunter (2000) compared the effects of teacher read versus computer assisted reading models Although they found the teacher model to be the most effective, the computer model was deemed more effective than the use of no model Tumlin and Heller (2004) reported mixed results with the use of word prediction software for increasing typing fluency They found the effectiveness of the web system varied depending on pre-intervention typing speed or the severity of physical disability Although some investigations found no significant difference in either comprehension or reading rates between students who used computer assisted reading versus independent silent reading, (Sorrell, Bell, & McCallum, 2007)
Others reported performance increases with web based intervention Lange, McPhillips, Mulhern, and Wylie (2006) demonstrated the positive effects of web- based tools (speech synthesis, spellchecker, homophone tool, and electronic dictionary) across several domains of literacy They found the use of web based technologies increased listening skills, reading comprehension, decreased spelling errors, and improved homophone error detection
Lee and Vail (2005) reported positive effects of computer-based reading instruction on children with listening disabilities Weikle and Hadadian (2003) discussed the effectiveness of a broad range of technologies that enhance emergent
Trang 21
: listening skills in children with disabilities Silver-Pacuilla (2006) explored the efficacy L of web based technologies for adult students with learning disabilities in improving literacy skills and noted the gap in research involving secondary and postsecondary populations Beck (2002) demonstrated how both low-tech and high-tech web based technologies can support literacy development in pre-school children previously diagnosed with speech and language developmental delays
Venkatagiri (2002) described the benefits of speech recognition technology for
learners with communication disorders Hecker, Burns, Elkind, Elkind, and Katz
(2002) reported the positive effect of assistive reading software on post-secondary students diagnosed with attention disorder Situated Cognition Cook and Polgar (2008) define cognition as the process of understanding and knowing The cognitive process encompasses a series of skills and related tasks including listening, attention, memory, problem solving, learning, and language Schunk (2004) discusses the role cognition plays in the overall learning process According to Schunk, the cognitive processes of conditional knowledge, metacognition, understanding, concept learning, problem- solving, transfer, and self-regulation are all components of the cognitive learning
model
A number of cognitive theories have been developed to explore the learning process as it applies to educational settings Situated cognition (Driscoll, 2005), for example, explains cognition in terms of the relationship between learners and their learning environment Proponents of this model see learners as social beings and participants in communities of practice Learning is influenced by ability to make knowledge meaningful through interactions with the world Advocates of situated cognition seek to understand learning as it relates to the situation at hand Learning does not reside solely in a person's mind, but rather in the relationship between the
person and the situation (Schunk, 2004)
Trang 222.3 Listening and Cognition
Listening is a complex process that requires a combination of motor, sensory, and cognitive skills Motor skills allow us to physically acquire and manipulate reading materials Sensory skills allow us to view text through the visual senses, or alternatively in auditory (speech) or tactile (braille) format (Cook & Polgar, 2008) The cognitive component of listening and reading includes the various processes that allow a person to derive meaning from the set of language symbols found in text (Johnston, Beard, & Carpenter, 2007) This view is shared by Lipka, Siegel, and Vukovic (2005), who argued that deficits in these three cognitive processes can be used to diagnose a listening disability in either first or second-language students
Listening skills is the most prevalent form of academic disability, but the challenge in diagnosing listening disabilities in ELLs is to differentiate cases where a limited language proficiency level is interfering with the learning process from cases were the language deficiency is actually masking an undiagnosed Listening disability
(Wagner, Francis, & Morris, 2005) Winzer and Mazurek (1998, as cited in Winzer,
2005) report that limited English proficiency levels are often incorrectly diagnosed as learning disabilities because the characteristics displayed by ELLs are similar to behaviors associated with learning disabilities and communication disorders The disproportionate rate of non-whites in special education programs is often attributed to poor English language proficiency levels (Artiles, Trent, & Palmer, 2004)
Meskill and Hilliker (2005) argued that uninformed teachers often mistakenly label a child as having a disability because of the student's limited ability to communicate in English These children require support in developing their academic language literacy, rather than being labeled as disabled It has been reported that the language barriers facing undergraduate ELLs have parallels with mild learning disabilities (Burgstahler, 2002) Some even argue that a separate learning disability
Trang 23(Foreign Language Learning Disability or FLLD) can be diagnosed for students struggling to learn a second language (Reed & Stansfield, 2004)
Although there is limited support for FLLD (Sparks, 2006), research suggests that students whose first language is not English may have barriers to learning that could be overcome by web system resources traditionally provided to individuals with learning disabilities Learners from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds are likely to be disadvantaged with the introduction of educational technology (Brown, 2005) Even though cultural groups tend to have learning style elements that differentiate them from other cultural groups, there is limited research in the area of
culture and its influence on web system decision-making (Parette, Huer, & VanBiervilet, 2005)
Unfortunately, there is limited research on the assessment and identification of listening learning disabilities for ELLs (Bernhard et al., 2006) There are challenges in diagnosing learning disabilities in second-language students, but current research in the area of neuroimaging shows promise for more reliable diagnosis of language related disabilities in both bilingual and multilingual learners (Simos, Billingsley-Marshall,
Sarkari, Pataraia, & Papanicolaou, 2005)
Recent research with the use of non-invasive functional brain imaging demonstrates that skilled listening and reading behavior is supported by left- hemisphere brain networks across multiple languages (Pugh, Sandak, Frost, Moore, & Mencl, 2005) Pugh et al also report the presence of a neurobiological signature for reading disabilities for monolingual readers across several languages As compared to non-impaired readers, learners with reading disabilities under utilize their left hemisphere posterior dorsal and ventral systems Future research in the area of neuroimaging will hopefully allow educators to isolate student cognitive deficits from language deficiencies, but in the meantime it is important to recognize that ELLs with
Trang 24limited English language proficiency levels have challenges that may be addressed with the aid of web system
2.4 English Language Learners, Academic Performance, and Software Technologies
Students whose first language is not English, along with students of color, students with disabilities, and those living in poverty are considered a subset of the underperforming student group (Edyburn, 2006b) It has been demonstrated that English language proficiency levels can act as a significant predicator of academic achievement for international students (Ying, 2003) Second-language learning can affect academic performance, and web system can ‘play a role in the academic performance of ELLs
Sung, Padilla, and Silva (2006) studied the effects of foreign language program offerings in 220 public high schools in California and reported that foreign language learning not only fosters critical thinking and cognitive development, but also improves native language reading and writing The effective use of technology can play a role in learning a second language through developing first the listening skills Wang and Sutton (2002) demonstrated an improvement in English vocabulary for ELL students using Web-based resources
Williams, Empey, and Mendiola (2003) report on the effectiveness of computers in helping non-English speakers to improve language abilities Preliminary research also indicates that listening software can build conversation skills in ELL learners
(Hallahan, Lloyd, Kauffman, Weiss, & Martinez, 2005) Decoding places a heavy load
on working memory for new readers (Lipka, Siegel, & Vukovic, 2005) Readers who tax their mental resources with decoding no longer have sufficient mental resources to
comprehend what they have listened (Schunk, 2004) Winzer (2005) draws an
17
Trang 25
“association between the learner characteristics of ELLs and those with listening disabilities If the Web based system has been shown to be effective when applied to learners with learning disabilities, and if there are similarities between learner characteristics of ELLs and students with listening disabilities, then Web System may also be effective when applied to ELLs
2.5 Universal Design for Learning Listening Skills
Although the emphasis of this investigation is on the efficacy of the software as aid in teaching listening skills, the research has implications for the potential use of the software to support literacy development for all learners When electronic resources are designed to assure accessibility to users with a wide range of abilities and disabilities, then the process is referred to as universal design (Burgstahler, 2002)
This concept is embodied in the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) approach championed by theCenter for Applied Special Technology (CAST) CAST (http://ww.cast.org/), founded in 1984, is an innovator of technology-based educational resources and strategies based on the principles of UDL The cost effectiveness of using the universal design approach can be seen in the example of television captioning Captioning was initially designed for the hearing impaired and initially required expensive decoders Today, captioning is built into all televisions, costs only a few cents, and is used not only by the hearing impaired, but in such diverse settings as noisy restaurants, health clubs and by people working on their language skills (Hitchcock et al., 2002)
Parette and Peterson-Karlan (2007) distinguished between software system and UDL UDL anticipates the need of all users; software system is designed to support individual learners with specific needs The UDL is introduced when a student with a disability cannot access universally designed curriculum or when a compensatory tool
Trang 26' is required If the UDL is removed, then the student cannot perform the academic Ị function The software system, in contrast, supports learning but is not essential to the i learning If the software system is removed, then the student can learn other ways to
perform the function
Although the authors draw a distinction between software system and UDL, they also admit to a "blurring" (p 389) of the various types of technologies found in current classrooms Existing research supports the premise that the software system would support all learners if the UDL model were applied to the design, selection, and implementation The concept of UDL is one of the newest terms being incorporated into the field of learner accommodations (Tindal & Crawford, 2005)
According to Tindal and Crawford, children with disabilities are no longer seen as qualitatively distinct from non-disabled students, but rather as falling on a continuum with all other students They also argue that all children, not just those with disabilities, require accommodations Although software System and UDL may be
dissimilar, they are complementary (Rose, Hasselbring, Stahl, & Zabala, 2005) The software system is to the individual what UDL is to the classroom, and both are seen as
representing two sides of the same coin, both rely on modern technology and advances in one generally result in advances in the other
2.6 Text-to-Listening Technology
Although there are discrepancies in current research, each critical listening skill has one or more matching technologies with demonstrated potential to prevent or remediate learning failure (Strangman & Dalton, 2005) According to Strangman and Dalton, text-to- listening (TLS) applications are at the forefront of the current technologies used to support struggling readers TLS applications convert computer text into recognizable speech that is then played back through a computer speaker
Trang 27system, speech synthesizer, or converted to a digital speech file for later playback
(Cavanaugh, 2003) Speech synthesis refers to the "generation of human-sounding
speech using electronic circuits and computer software" (Cook & Hussey, 2002) Speech synthesizers generate spoken words through a series of code sequences that can generate the correct word if they receive the correct codes in the proper sequence
The TLS software analyzes the text to be processed and converts the text into the required codes necessary for speech synthesis The most common application of TLS applications are combined screen-reader and screen synthesizer programs Screen-
listeners convert computer-based text (e-text and accessible Web pages) to synthesized
speech by contextually analyzing text and converting.the text to a phonetic system Users generally have the option of selecting 35 words, passages, or entire documents There are three key approaches to listening synthesis: whole-word look-up, letter-to- sound conversion, and morphonemic text-to-speech conversion The whole-word look- up approach stores all of the words that a user is likely to require along with each word's speech codes The codes are simply looked-up on a word by- word basis as they are typed or processed The major disadvantage of this approach is that the process can only retrieve codes for words stored in the system This is a major limitation when there are potentially hundreds of thousands of words associated with a specific
language, and in most cases it is impractical to store all of them (Cooks & Hussey,
2002) Letter-to-sound conversion breaks words into syntactically significant groups or morphs Only the codes associated with the morphs are stored It is estimated that roughly 8000 morphs can represent 95% of the English language This process offers a significant savings in terms of memory and disk requirement, but it also requires a systematic set of rules to translate the selected text into the required series of morphs
With this approach, the text is matched to sounds on a letter-by-letter process according to the predefined set of rules Letter-to-sound conversion provides for an
Trang 28unlimited vocabulary with a low memory requirement, but the overall quality of the output is limited by the sophistication of the defined rules (Cooks & Hussey, 2002) Morphonemic text-to-speech conversion combines letter-to-sound rules with stored morphs This approach maximizes the use of pre-stored pronunciation rules, but relies on the letter-to-sound approach for uncommon or user-specific vocabulary Similar to letter-to-sound conversion, morphonemic text-to-speech conversion provides for an unlimited vocabulary with low memory requirements, but it is a more intelligible system This process comes at a higher dollar cost than any of the other methods
discussed (Cooks & Hussey, 2002)
TLS systems have many applications that can range from providing access to
resources not normally accessible to individuals with disabilities to providing alternate delivery methods for traditional text-based resources Screen-readers and other TLS systems can provide support to individuals with reading disabilities Engstrom (2005), for example, concluded that synthesized speech and computer-assisted instruction can assist remedial reading instruction and enhance comprehension by compensating for reading difficulties
TLS applications can improve comprehension by allowing students to focus on the text being presented (Parette, Wojcik, Peterson-Karlan, & Hourcade, 2005) Forgrave (2002) reported the remedial benefits TLS can have on reading skills through stronger word recognition and increased comprehension Balajthy (2005) discussed the benefits of TLS software for struggling readers, and Forgrave (2002) reported the use of TLS in empowering students with learning disabilities TLS can be especially beneficial in content areas that require a significant amount of reading or in content areas containing specialized vocabulary (Pisha & Coyne, 2001)
Trang 292.7 Relationship of the Literature to the Study
There is a need to address the limited availability of the software system in teaching listening skill in high school education Though there is a plethora of research on the efficacy of a broad range of web based technologies to aid in teaching listening skills among college learners, research on the use of web based technologies to support literacy among high school second language learners is scarce (Michaels, Prezant, Morabito, & Jackson, 2002)
In fact, Fox (2005) argued that the lack of language support resources for ELLs has reached a crisis point This project focused on the application of the Web System for ELLs, addressed the stated shortfall of existing research in that area, added to the existing knowledge-base on the efficacy of reading software for instructional support, and may serve as the basis of additional research that more closely examines the role that Web System can play as an aid in teaching listening skill for high school second- language learners
Strangman and Dalton (2005) stated the need for additional research involving flexible approaches to reading and learning using the principles of UDL This research applied Web based resources traditionally designed to support students with listening disabilities to second-language high school students Whether the use of Web based tools to enhance listening skills of ELLs is best viewed as a remediation or a compensation tool is unclear, but there is a continued need to explore the application of new web based technologies for enhancing listening skills (Edyburn, 2007)
This researcher applied Edyburn's question to the listening skills of the English- language learner population and asked how much failure data is required before it is decided that ELLs deserve support mechanisms such as the aid of the Web System
Trang 30CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY
This chapter will map out the methods that I have used to conduct this research
and will therefore explore when the study was carried out, where it was carried out, what materials and techniques were used, what procedures were used and how the
study was carried The chapter will therefore encompass the conceptual framework, the theoretical framework and the practical elements of the research The methodology chapter will look at the research questions further and also establish the methods used and why those methods were used with respect of objectivity The sample size and the sampling process will then be analyzed In addition to this, data collection methods that were used in conducting the research will be established and the reasons why the above named methods were used discussed After this, the chapter will discuss how the data collection was done step by step and the subsequent data analysis Details of the procedures used will conclude the chapter
The research methodology was carried out as following:
1 Creating a teaching aid through the assistance of web system
2 Two groups took pretest before class (control group and experimental group) 2 Two groups took posttest after class
3 Questionnaires were delivered to both teachers and two groups after finishing the web class
4 Comparing pretest and posttest of two groups to find the result 5 Collecting and analyzing data
Trang 31| 3.1 Research Questions
The aims of this study are to identify the aid of the website in teaching listening skills at School of Educational Practice The effectiveness that it brings to the learners Therefore, the research questions formulated are the following:
i Does the software facilitate the teaching of listening skill at School of
Educational Practice?
ii In what ways does the software aid the teaching of listening skills at School
of Educational Practice?
iii Does the software report any progress among the students at School of
Educational Practice?
3.2 Research Design
In this research qualitative data was collected as well as quantitative data which is measured and represented in numerical terms Qualitative research enables the research questions to be answered from the perspective of the respondents It is used to describe, understand and explain a situation in its context The data collected will thus be able to establish the role of the website in high schools and more so in the SEP It is worth noting that quantitative data is critiqued for its suppression of people’s perspectives under figures (Silverman, 2006) This is in opposition to the educational basis of drawing attention to teaching perspectives from teachers and
students themselves
There are varying definitions of coding but one particular researcher regards coding as the core of qualitative research as it directly influences the interpretation and analysis of the data (Glaser & Strauss, 1998) A theoretical coding procedure was introduced by a number of researchers and has been further developed by them
Trang 32individually throughout the 1980s and 1990s Whilst Glaser & Strauss’ grounded theory approach was not applied here (e.g the interpretation of the data to feed back into collection of more data), an understanding of coding was important in order to
enable a full analysis of the data (Glaser & Strauss, 1998) Thus Flick’s notion of ‘open
coding was applied whereby concepts and categories are coded at varying levels: word, sentence and paragraph With these codes as basic units, it is possible to then take each category and look at the relationships between the codes, thus facilitating the formulation of theories (Flick, 2010)
3.2.1 Time and Setting
The experimental was conducted at four classes of SEP during the first semester of the school year 2010-2011 (from August 2010 to fifth December 2010) Each group studied eight lessons (40 periods) Each lesson is 5 periods The time for each period is 45 minutes There are two Tests: Pretest at the beginning of the semester, and posttest
at the end of the semester The time for each test was 30 minutes
3.2.2 Sample Description
As will be seen from the sample description the data was obtained from three distinct sources The first source of the data was students of the four tenth grade classes at SEP The students provided feedback on the effectiveness of the system both on a continuous assessment basis and from the questionnaires they filled at the end of the semester The performance of the students in the tests given before, and at the end of the semester also gave a good picture on the effectiveness of the software as a teaching
aid in listening skills The second most important source of data was the participating teachers who rated the website in the questionnaire in comparison to other traditional teaching aids The last source of data was teachers from other campus They were ‘studying English at the masters’ level
Trang 33The study was basically conducted at School of Educational Practice with the target population being students of the tenth grade The tenth grade has four classes with a total of one hundred and forty eight students All the 146 students were divided into two groups: experimental group and control group The experimental group was applied the website All students took the two tests, and were given questionnaires at the end of the semester All that was required of this set of students was to fill in the questionnaires
Eight teachers from School of Educational Practice and fifty-three teachers pursuing their masters in English also participated in the study
The experimental group consisted of 73 students (40 females and 33 males) This group was applied the website
The control group consisted of 73 students (37 females and 36 males) This group was not applied the website
3.2.3 The Software Application
The experiment was conducted in the classroom The teachers taught the listening with the assist of a laptop, a projector, a rolling screen, or LCD, and a megaphone/ loudspeaker
Materials for the experiment based on the English 10 textbook and CDs attacked, Longman dictionary, Colins CoBuiLD 2006 dictionary, English conversations of elementary levels loaded from the Internet were used as sources of
materials for the content of the website
The study English 10 program is an online English program offered by An Giang University The program has the following lessons;
Trang 34Unit 1: A day in the life of Unit 2: school talks
Unit 3: people’s background Unit 4: special education Unit 5: technology and you Unit 6: an excursion
Unit 7: the mass media
GOES
ee
a
Se
a
Unit 8: the story of my village
The software system consisted of five features This tool is very convenient for
‘learners and teachers because learners can learn anywhere, and anytime, and teachers
“can control learners’ learning
STUDY ENGLISH 10
Figure 3.1 the software System 1 The Basic story feature:
Trang 35This feature helped learners to check the typescript when they hear something unclearly
STUDY ENGLISH 10
Unit 1 - A DAY IN THE LIFE OF
Hello everyone, my name is Lam I'm a cyclo driver in Ho Chỉ
Minh City | usually have a busy working day | get up at five ape
thirty in the morning | start work at six My first passenger is usually an old man | take him from District 1 to District 5 After |
drop him at a café near Ho Chi Minh City College of Education, |
padal to Thai Binh Maket My next passenger is a lady who does shopping there every two day | help her put all her purchases in to the cyclo and then take her to her shop in Tran Hung Dao
street At about ten thirty | ride off toward Nguyen Thi Minh Khai School There | park my cyclo, chat with some of my fellows and wait for my third passengers They are two school pupils, a
girl and a boy | take them home At twelve | have lunch ata
food stall near Ben Thanh Maket After lunch, | park my cyclo under a tree, take a short rest and then continue my afternoon's work
Figure 3.2 the basic story feature 2 The learn new word feature
Trang 36It aided learners to pronounce exactly thanks to native speaker’s voice I and transcribing phonetically feature Also, learners could train and imitate a new word many times This was the difference between the software system and
traditional methods In traditional methods, Vietnamese teachers read a new
word in class, so learners couldn’t listen these new words again
GLISH 10
Danh sách bài học
Unit 1 - Learn new word
district
'f(ishilu'
Figure 3.3 learn new word feature 3 The Spell a word feature
Trang 37In this feature, learners listened to a new word first, and next they wrote the word they hear in the blank After that, the feature checked the spelling right or wrong, and showing the meaning of the word This feature was very beneficial for learners to train their writing and listening skills because it checked learners’ listening abilities through the way the learners listened a new word and wrote down These were the differences in comparing to the others old
methods
STUDY ENGLISH 10
LESSON FOR STUDY ENGLISH 10 ONLINE
Danh sách bai học
ROUTINE Tham khảo đáp an:
* routine
* routine: Lé thdi hẳng ngày; thĩi thường, cơng việc thưởng lam hang ngày,
lệ thường, thú tục
Figure 3.4 spell a word
4 Task feature
Trang 38In task feature, there were 02 tasks: task 1 was multiple choice or True, “alse forms, and task 2 was filling in the blank It helped learners to get the main idea and knowledge in textbook, and checked their listening ability
Unit 1 - Task 1
Figure 3.5 task
Trang 395 Homework feature
It assisted learners more chances to listen and practice thanks to additional stories It also had 02 parts: part 1 was True, False or Multiple
choices, and part 2 was filling in the blank
—
_ Unit1- Homework 2 Eyeglasses for You
"Hello end thank youfor {1) Amnarican Vision, Ses area's (2) store in
eyeglasses for you and you femily.Ow (3) ore are | tm Friday, 600)
Ald te 5:30 PM We're open Sakecieys wil six Closed on Senden
Please visit our store on Satudayforan (4) _ 20% off on oưr already loW prices
onall _ _ (6) of eyewear And remember eye exams are free."
Blank (1) |calind
Figure 3.6 Homework feature
The website was coded in PHP & MySQL languages PHP was a _ program language to create the website MySQL contained database The website runs on Web server Apache
The design of the website was based on the help of lectures in Information Technology of An Giang University
|
Ỉ
Trang 40; 3.2.4 Instrument
3.2.4.1 The Test
| The most basically instrument was the two tests: pretest (Appendix IV) and posttest (Appendix V) at the beginning and at the end of the experimental The test measured the result and can judge the effectiveness of the treatment on students’ | listening acquisition The content and format of tests were designed on the base of the
current textbook and CD at SEP
3.2.4.1.1 The Format of Tests
The pretest and posttest have the same format The test has two parts Part one
was the multiple choice Students chose a, b, or c that is the main idea of the
conversation Part II was filling the blank Students listened and filled in the blank with the appropriate word The test has 10 questions
3.2.4.1.2 Scoring
The listening tests have a score scale from 0 to 100 The results of the tests at the five different points were further divided into (0 to 49) below average level; (50 to 65) average; (66 to 79) faire; (80 to 89) good; (91 to 100) excellent
3.2.4.2 Questionnaires
Two separate questionnaires were designed for the purpose of gathering data on the aid of the website (see Appendix VI and VII) One was for teachers and one was for students Student questionnaire was written in both English and Vietnamese language administered to students in the classroom to ensure the subjects’ complete understanding of the questionnaire Go together with the questionnaires to students, the