kích hoạt kiến thức nền để nâng cao kĩ năng nghe cho học sinh trung học phổ thông activating prior knowledge in improving listening skills of high school students kích hoạt kiến thức nền để nâng cao kĩ năng nghe cho học sinh trung học phổ thông

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ LAN ACTIVATING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE IN IMPROVING LISTENING SKILLS OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS KÍCH HOẠT KIẾN THỨC NỀN ĐỂ NÂNG CAO KĨ NĂNG NGHE CHO HỌC SINH TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60.14.10 Hanoi - 2013 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ LAN ACTIVATING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE IN IMPROVING LISTENING SKILLS OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS KÍCH HOẠT KIẾN THỨC NỀN ĐỂ NÂNG CAO KĨ NĂNG NGHE CHO HỌC SINH TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60.14.10 Supervisor : Dr, Huỳnh Anh Tuấn Hanoi – 2013 DECLARATION I, hereby, certify the thesis entitled “Activating prior knowledge in improving listening skills of high school students” is the result of my own research for the Minor Degree of Master of Arts at the University of Language and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, and this thesis has not, wholly or partially, been submitted for any degree at any other universities or institutions Hanoi, 2013 NGUYEN THI LAN i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge my deep gratitude to all those who have supported me in doing this independent study Firstly, I would like to express my greatest appreciation to my supervisor, Dr Huynh Anh Tuan for his valuable time and useful guidance towards the completion of this study Secondly, I am extremely grateful to the staff members of the Faculty of Post - graduate studies for their helpful lectures My special thanks are also sent to my lecturers, my friends, my classmates, as well as my colleagues for their invaluable comments and criticism and also for their continued interest and encouragements Thirdly, I appreciate the assistance and cooperation given to me by teachers and students at Giao Thuy B high school Without their sincere participation, this paper would not have been possible Last but not least, I want to express my deepest gratitude to my beloved people, my parents, my husband and my children for their love, care, tolerance and encouragement ii ABSTRACT In recent years more and more studies have focused on language learning strategies and their importance, especially learning strategies in listening skill Sharing the same concern, this research aims at providing some information relating to the perception of activating prior knowledge in improving listening skill to high school students Firstly, the author briefly reviewed some literature concerning this issue Then data were collected by two instruments, namely questionnaires for both students and teachers, and class observations Nine teachers and 221 students in grade 10 and 11 were sampled The Microsoft Excel was undertaken to analyze the data The final results indicated that the teachers and students had inadequate knowledge about the role of activating prior knowledge in listening lessons The study also showed the difficulties that students encounter due to lack of prior knowledge in listening Lastly, the study offered some implications for activating students’ prior knowledge in teaching and learning listening skill iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration ………………………… …………………………… i Acknowledgements……………………………………… …… ii Abstract………………………………………………… ……… iii Table of contents…………………………………….………………… iv List of tables and figures……………………………………………… vii PART I: INTRODUCTION Rationale…………………………………………………………… Aims and objectives of the study………………………………… .,,, Scope of the study………………………………………………… .2 Significance of the study …………………………………………… Research methodology………………………………………………… Design of the study……………………………………………………… ,.3 PART TWO DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW I THEARETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Theories on listening comprehension 1.1.1 The concepts of listening comprehension 1.1.2 The processes of listening comprehension ………………………… .6 1.2 Theories on activating prior knowledge in the pre- listening stage 1.2.1 Definitions of activating prior knowledge in the pre- listening stage……,,8 1.2.2 Roles of activating prior knowledge in the pre- listening stage …………,9 1.2.3 Activities to activate prior knowledge in the pre- listening stage 10 1.2.4 Factors affecting the choice of pre-listening activities 11 1.3 Schema 1.3.1 Definitions of schema 12 1.3.2 Characteristics of schema 13 iv 1.3.3 II Types of schema .13 LITERATURE REVIEW ………… ……………………… 14 CHAPTER RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2.1 Research questions 16 2.2 Research approach…………………………………………… .16 2.3 Data collection methods……………………………………….…… 16 2.3.1 The questionnaire for the teachers……………………………….… 17 2.3.2 The questionnaire for the students………………………….… 17 2.3.3 Classroom observation .18 2.4 Data collection procedure 2.4.1 The setting of the study 18 2.4.2 Participants’ background information……………………………….19 2.4.2.1 The teachers……………………………………………… .19 2.4.2.2 The students……………………………………………….… 19 2.4 Procedure…………………………………………………… 20 2.5 Data analytical units .20 CHAPTER3 DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS 3.1 DATA ANALYSIS OF THE TEACHERS’ SURVEY QUESTIONAIRE AND THEIR PERFORMANCE IN CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET 3.1 1.The teachers’ attitudes toward the difficulties that high school students encounter when their prior knowledge is not activated 21 3.1.2 The situation of applying the techniques of activating prior knowledge in the pre-listening stage at Giao Thuy B High School 23 3.1.3 Teachers’ comments on the roles of activating prior knowledge in prelistening activities… ……………………… .26 3.2 DATA ANALYSIS OF THE STUDENTS’ SURVEY QUESTIONAIRE AND THEIR PERFORMANCE IN CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEETS 3.2.1 The students’ attitudes toward the difficulties that they encounter when their prior knowledge is not activated 28 v 3.2.2 The students’ attitudes toward the situation of applying the techniques of activating prior knowledge in pre-listening stage at Giao Thuy B high school 30 3.2.3 Students’ comments on the roles of activating prior knowledge in prelistening activities……………………………………………………… .33 3.3 SUMMARY………………………… …………………… 35 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 4.1 BENEFITS OF ACTIVATING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE TO TEACHING LISTENING 4.1.1 For the teachers…………………………………………… 37 4.1.2 For the students……………………………………… 37 4.2 RECOMMENDATION 4.2.1 To the curriculum designers …………… 39 4.2.2 To the teachers…………………………….… 39 4.2.2.1 Raising awareness of the role of pre listening activities……… 40 4.2.2.2 Exploiting background knowledge… 40 4.2.2.3 Improving pre-listening activities in the material 40 4.2.2.4 Using pre-listening activities appropriately and flexibly 41 4.2.3 To the students…………………… 43 PART THREE CONCLUSIONS REVIEW OF THE STUDY…………………………… 44 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY………………………………… 45 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH…………… …… .45 REFERENCES……………………………………… 46 APPENDIX……………………………………………………………………………….I vi LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Tables Table 1: Teachers’ remarks about activities used to motivate students’ prior knowledge in the pre listening stage (appendix 3, page V) Table 2: Students’ attitudes toward activities teachers carry out in the pre listening stage (appendix 3, page V) Figures Figure 1: Teachers’ comments on the difficulties in activating prior knowledge in pre-listening stage (appendix 4, page VI) Figure 2: Teachers’ comments on the difficulties students encounter if their prior knowledge is not activated in the pre-listening stage (appendix 4, page VI) Figure 3: Teachers’ comments on the frequency of activating student’s prior knowledge (appendix 4, page VII) Figure 4: Teachers’ remarks about the problems when motivating prior knowledge (appendix 4, page VII) Figure 5: Teachers’ remarks about the importance of activating prior knowledge in the pre-listening stage (appendix4, page VIII) Figure 6: Teachers’ remarks about the benefits of activating students’ prior knowledge (appendix4, page VIII) Figure 7: Students’ opinions whether it difficult when listening to a lesson if prior knowledge is not activated or not (appendix4, page IX) Figure 8: Students’ opinions about the difficulties students encounter when their prior knowledge is not activated (appendix4, page IX) Figure 9: Students’ attitudes toward the currency of being motivated prior knowledge in the pre listening stage (appendix4, page X) Figure 10: Students’ attitudes toward the duration of the pre listening stage for activating prior knowledge (appendix4, page X) vii Figure11 Students’ comments on the importance of activating prior knowledge in the pre-listening stage.(appendix 4, page XI) Figure 12: Students’ comments on the benefits of motivating prior knowledge (appendix4, page XI) viii ... 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