Thực trạng dạy và học nghe đối với sinh viên năm thứ nhất không chuyên tiếng Anh tại trường Đại học Phương Đông vấn đề và giải pháp

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES MAI THỊ THU TRANG REALITY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING LISTENING SKIL

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

MAI THỊ THU TRANG

REALITY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING LISTENING SKILLS

TO FIRST - YEAR NON - ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT

PHUONG DONG UNIVERSITY: PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

( THỰC TRẠNG DẠY VÀ HỌC NGHE ĐỐI VỚI SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC

PHƯƠNG ĐÔNG: VẤN ĐỀ VÀ GIẢI PHÁP)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field : English Methodology Code : 601410

Hanoi, 2010

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

MAI THỊ THU TRANG

REALITY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING LISTENING SKILLS

TO FIRST - YEAR NON - ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT PHUONG

DONG UNIVERSITY: PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

( THỰC TRẠNG DẠY VÀ HỌC NGHE ĐỐI VỚI SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC

PHƯƠNG ĐÔNG: VẤN ĐỀ VÀ GIẢI PHÁP)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field : English Methodology Code : 601410

Supervisor : NGUYễN MINH HUệ, M.A

Hanoi, 2010

LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 1: Teachers‟ situational problems

Chart 2: Teachers‟ problems from listening materials

Chart 3: Teachers‟ problems from students

Chart 4: Teachers‟ solutions to the problem of background noise in teaching listening Chart 5: Teachers‟ solutions to the problem of large class size

Chart 6: Teachers‟ solutions to the problem of multi-level class

Chart 7: Teachers‟ solutions to the problem of poor teaching equipments

Chart 8: Teachers‟ solutions to the problem of unfamiliar topics to students

Chart 9: Teachers‟ solution to the problem of texts having different accents

Chart 10: Teachers‟ solutions to the problem of fast speed of speech

Chart 11: Teachers‟ solutions when the listening text has unfamiliar sounds to students Chart 12: Teachers‟ solutions to the problem of students‟ low motivation

Chart 13: Teachers‟ solutions to the problem of students‟ low level of proficiency

Chart 14: Teachers‟ solutions to the problem of students‟ anxiety

Chart 15: Teachers‟ solutions to the problem of students‟ limited vocabulary and structures Chart 16: Teachers‟ solutions to the problem if students‟ lack of background knowledge Chart 17: Students‟ situational problems

Chart 18: Students‟ problems from listening materials

Chart 19: Students‟ problems from students themselves

Chart 20: Students‟ solutions to the problems of background noise in listening lessons Chart 21: Students‟ solutions to the problem of listening in large class

Chart 22: Students‟ solutions to the problem of listening in multi-level class

Chart 23: Students‟ suggestions for teaching equipments in listening lesson

Chart 24: Students‟ solutions to the problem of unfamiliar topics

Chart 25: Students‟ solution to the problem of texts having different accents

Chart 26: Students‟ solutions to the problem of unfamiliar sounds

Chart 27: Students‟ solutions to the problem of texts having fast speed of speech

Chart 28: Students‟ solutions to their low motivation in learning listening

Chart 29: Students‟ solutions to the problem of difficult texts

Chart 30: Students‟ solutions to their anxiety

Chart 31: Students‟ solutions to the problem of texts having new vocabulary and structures Chart 32: Students‟ solutions to their lack of background knowledge

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration……… i

Acknowledgements……… ii

Abstract……… iii

List of tables……… iv

Table of contents……… vi

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION……… 1

1.1 Statement of problem and rationale……… 1

1.2 Aims of the study……… 2

1.3 Research questions……… 2

1.4 Scope of the study……… 2

1.5 Significance of the study……… 2

1.6 Design of the study ……… 3

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW……… 4

2.1 Definition of listening……… 4

2.2 Types of listening process……… 4

2.3 Common methods of teaching listening skill……… 5

2.4 Teaching listening in the view of task – based approach……… 6

2.5 Teachers and students’ problems and solutions in teaching and learning listening………

7 2.5.1 Situational problems……… 7

2.5.2 Problem from the listening materials……… 8

2.5.3 Problems from student factors……… 9

CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY……… 12

3.1 The setting of the study……… 12

3.2 Participants……… 12

3.3 The data collection methods and procedures……… 13

3.4 Data analysis……… 14

CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS……… 15

4.1 Teachers’ problems in teaching listening……… 15

4.2 Teachers’ solutions to the problems……… 17

4.3 Students’ problems in learning listening……… 24

4.4 Students’ solutions to the problems……… 27

CHAPTER FIVE: RESULTS DISCUSSION……… 35

5.1 Teachers’ problems in teaching listening……… 35

5.2 Teachers’ solutions to the problems……… 36

5.3 Students’ problems in learning listening……… 37

5.4 Students’ solutions to the problems……… 38

CHAPTER SIX: IMPLICATIONS……… 40

6.1 Implications for the university……… 40

6.2 Implications for the teachers……… 40

6.3 Implications for the students……… 41

CHAPTER SEVEN: CONCLUSION……… 43

7.1 Summary of the study……… 43

7.2 Suggestions for further study……… 43

REFERENCES……… 44 APPENDICES……… I APPENDIX 1: Survey questionnaires for teachers……… I APPENDIX 2: Survey questionnaires for students……… VI APPENDIX 3: Interviews with teachers……… XI APPENDIX 4: Interviews with students……… XV

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Statement of problem and rationale

In the time of globalization, the ability to acquire and use English well is considered the key to achieve success Learning English is no longer a priority but a necessity in the present time It is the reason why many researchers and educators express their concern about the methods to improve the quality of teaching and learning English

In the context of Phuong Dong University (PDU), great concern is put on listening Many students have raised their worries about the weak improvement in their listening ability The students in Phuong Dong University, especially the first year non English major ones found it difficult to perform listening tasks because of various reasons such as their low background knowledge, limited vocabulary and structures, low motivation, act Moreover, some students stated that in their high schools, they did not have chances to access listening, therefore when they move to university they lack experiences in acquiring this kind of skill Others have linked listening lessons with something much difficult and boring For the teachers in PDU, they revealed that sometimes they find it challenging to have a successful lessons and it is really difficult to motivate students in learning listening skill Although they have put great effort to increase students‟ interest, students‟ motivation sometimes is low and the listening lessons are stated to be boring and useless

In addition, although in PDU, many researches were conducted in methods of English teaching, not many of them were in listening Most of them were to focus on speaking and reading as well It means that in this context, there remains a lack of research in the field of listening

This above situation has inspired me to conduct a research study on the reality of listening and teaching listening to first - year non - English major students at Phuong Dong University: Problems and Solutions

1.2 Aims of the study

In general, the study is to investigate the current situation of teaching and learning listening skills to the first - year non – English major students at elementary level at PDU

Specifically, the study aims at:

- Identifying the problems that teachers and students encounter in listening course

- Finding out teachers‟ and students‟ solutions to these problems

- Providing some recommendations for the teachers and students to consult and apply in their teaching and learning listening skills

1.3 Research questions

1 What problems do the teachers have in a listening lesson?

2 What solutions to the problems do the teachers suggest?

3 What problems do the students have in a listening lesson?

4 What solutions to the problems do the students suggest?

1.4 Scope of the study

The study put its focus on the reality of listening and teaching listening to first – year non - English major students at Phuong Dong University at elementary level of English proficiency Due to the limited time, the surveys and interviews are conducted on 100 learners of elementary level and teachers in Faculty of Biotechnology (FOB) through their

listening course with the textbook named “New Headway Elementary-Third Edition” by Liz

and John Soars, Oxford University Press By this, the researcher aims to find out their problems and solutions in teaching and learning listening

1.5 Significance of the study

Listening is considered the most difficult skill to the students and “more demanding than talking” Green (2006, p.44) As Rost (1994, p.141) states: “Listening is vital in the language classroom because it provides input for the learners Without understandable input

at the right level, any learning simply cannot begin” Therefore, it is necessary for teachers of English language to realize the importance of how to make progress and feel interested in listening comprehension

This study owns its significance to find out the problems encountered by teachers and students and give suggestions for implementing techniques to motivate the first year – non major students to improve their listening skills Therefore, it plays an important role in enriching the methodology of teaching listening skills Furthermore, the results of the study will contribute and suggest ideas for later research on the same field

1.6 Design of the study

The thesis consists of seven chapters:

Chapter one is the introduction to the study which presents the statement of problem and rationale; aims of the study; research questions; scope of the study; significance of the study and design of the study

Chapter two focuses on the basic theoretical background from the literature review on listening skills

Chapter three presents the research methodology which describes how the research was carried out

Chapter four is on data analysis

Chapter five presents and discusses the finding of the surveys In other words, it helps to find the answers for the four research questions

Chapter six provides some recommendations for the development of teaching and learning listening to the first year non English majors at PDU

Chapter seven is the conclusion which summarizes the thesis and makes some suggestions for further study

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition of listening

There appear many different points of view on the definition of listening:

Underwood (1989, p.1) describes listening in a simple and easily understandable way:

“Listening is the activity of paying attention to and trying to get meaning from something you hear”

As a matter of fact, to succeed in listening, the duty of listeners is not only to understand of the words given, but also seek the real meaning hidden in words

Buck (2001, p.3) asserts listening in communicative approach:

“Listening comprehension is the result of an interaction between a number of information sources, which include the acoustic input, different types of linguistic knowledge, detail of the context, and general world knowledge, and so forth, and listeners use whatever information they have available, or what ever information seems relevant to help them interpret what the speaker is saying”

In this definition, Buck aims to highlight the active role of the learners who act as the negotiators and integrators in the process of learning listening In this process, learners activate both linguistic cues and nonlinguistic knowledge to achieve the meaning In other words, listening is the active combination of new input gained by what the listeners get and their prior knowledge and experience This view is valuable and worth considering in setting

up listening syllabus in the sense that it aims to build communicative competence to the learners in listening lessons

To conclude, listening demands many skills It is an active process in which learners use their prior knowledge to infer the message of the listening text

2.2 Types of listening process

There are two ways of processing a text: top-down processing and bottom-up processing

According to Hedge (2000, p.230), in the bottom-up part of the listening process, the learners understand the meaning of the listening text by using the knowledge of the language to analyze all acoustic cues to capture the sense of the sound More specifically, she states that

in this case, “we segment speech into identifiable sounds and impose a structure on these in terms of words, phrases, clauses, sentences, and intonation patterns” And “at the same time,

Top-down and bottom-up are not in opposite sides to each other, but are mutually independent Therefore, listening is “an interactive one in which linguistic information, contextual clues, and prior knowledge interact to enable comprehension” (Hedge, 2000, p.234) It can be denied that to be successful in listening, learners should combine flexibly extensive and intensive listening

2.3 Common methods of teaching listening skills

In the past, common methods of teaching listening are grammar-translation method and direct method Currently, researchers put focus on audio-lingual method and task – based method as the view provided by Larsen-Freeman (2000, p.35-145):

Audio-lingual method: Following this method, dialogues and drills (backward build up, chain, substitution, transformation, and question-and-answer) are used to introduce new vocabulary and structures Learners get the dialogues by imitation and repetition Learners receive the knowledge of grammar naturally through examples provided by the teachers Knowledge of culture is given in the dialogue or by the teacher Teacher acts as “orchestra leaders” and their role is “directing and controlling the language behavior of her students” and “providing her students with a good model for imitation” In this case, the learners perform as “imitators of the teacher‟s model” and “follow the teacher‟s directions and respond as accurately and as rapidly as possible”

Task-based method: By this method, learners are equipped with a natural context for listening The time they perform the task is the time they have interaction with each other which activate language acquisition The author focuses that: “by interacting with each other, they get to listen to language which may be beyond their present ability, but which may be assimilated into their knowledge of the target language for use at a later time” and “the language practiced in the classroom is not predetermined, but rather derive from the nature of

a particular project that the students elect to do”

2.4 Teaching listening in the view of task – based approach

Based on task-based approach, there are commonly 3 stages in a listening lesson: listening, While-listening and Post-listening

Pre-2.4.1 Pre – listening stage

As Davies and Pearse (2000, p.77) state, the pre-listening stage acts as a preparatory step which helps learners to have the beginning idea about what they will listen to such as the theme or the kind of language And in this stage, the teachers are advised not just to ask the listeners to do the listening and turn on the listening material, but to set up needed background knowledge and find out the purpose for listening When mentioning this stage, Llurda (2006, p.76) reveals that pre-listening activities “are also there to lower feelings of anxiety about a listening task”

Underwood (1989, p.31) introduces a range of activities for pre-listening including:

- the teacher giving background information;

- the students reading something relevant;

- the students looking at the pictures;

- discussion of the topic/situation;

- a question and answer session;

- written exercises;

- consideration of how the while-listening activity will be done

2.4.2 While – listening stage

In while-listening stage, students are asked to do activities while they are listening The purpose of this stage is to check learners‟ comprehension and most importantly, to “help learners develop the skill of eliciting messages from the spoken language” (Underwood,

1989, p.45) and to “motivate students to want to listen” (Underwood, 1989, p.44)

Davies and Pearse (2000, p.78) suggest some activities for while-listening stage:

- identify the exact topic, or an aspect of it;

- note two or four pieces of information;

- answer the question;

- complete sentences;

- complete a table, map or picture

2.4.3 Post-listening stage

The post – listening stage includes tasks which are carried out when the listening gets done Davies and Parse (2000, p.78) present some activities for post-listening stage:

- give opinion;

- relate similar experiences;

- role-play a similar interaction;

- write a brief report;

- write a similar text;

- debate the topic;

All in all, these stages are mutually dependent In listening lessons, the three stages cooperate with each others through various activities to build up a united listening lesson

Perceiving the importance and effectiveness of task-based approach, in PDU, teachers tend to apply task-based syllabus in listening lessons with an aim to drive students into communicative and active way of learning listening in elementary level

2.5 Teachers’ and students’ problems and solutions in teaching and learning listening

Teaching listening as well as learning listening is not simple, complex and difficult processes Teachers and students meet many challenges in this skill

“establishing routines and procedures” because “well-established routines give students a sense of stability and security” The exploitation of pair-work and group-work is also appreciated by this author in coping with large and multilevel classes

The problem of noise needs to be focused for the reason that many teachers and students complain noise affects the success of their listening lesson For teachers, they find it difficult

to control the class and to instruct students For the students, they feel distracted and sometimes can not capture the essential words and phrases due to the noise The feasible solution for this matter is to conduct listening lesson in lab room with good quality recorders and CD players and it is necessary that students keep quiet during the lessons It is not new that many teachers and students reveals good class equipments assist listening

With good quality recorder, it is easier for students to make out the sounds without noise Moreover, for the teachers, with video, computer and projector, they can have chance to exploit visual aids to give students lively illustration for the lessons

2.5.2 Problems from the listening materials

+ Unfamiliar topics

Listening texts can be about various topics in life including daily conversation, formal meeting and class discussion which make students confused and anxious Almost of words and phrases are new to them and they do not have any background knowledge of these topics In this case, it is a need for students to practice as much as they can on the topics at home And teacher‟s role is providing students with essential background and systemic knowledge

+ Different accents

Listeners feel strange to various accents, and they are sure to meet the difficulties when hear the new accent When considering problem with accent, Buck (2001, p.35) confirms: “accent is potentially a very important variable in listening comprehension” and

“an unfamiliar accent can make comprehension almost impossible for the listener” According to Tuyet (2007, p.34), it is advisable to have learners expose to English by watching English films, listening to news in English which help them to get the chance to listen to native speakers By this, the problem of understanding different accent will be solved

+ Speed of speech

It is the case in which learners regularly ask the teachers pause the recorder because they can not understand the fast native speech and fail to “control how quickly the speakers speak” and the consequence entailed is: “they are so busy working out the meaning of one part of what they hear that they miss the next part Or they simply ignore a whole chunk because they fail to sort it all out quickly” (Wood, 1989, p.16) Teachers‟ role in this situation is very important One solution is choosing the tape with slow-speed, but this way

seems not popular Other solutions include asking the learners to pick up the important words that they need to listen to; having them expose as much as possible the spontaneous informal talk as they can

+ Strange sounds

Many students have problems in hearing and catching the strange sounds in listening text because “most listeners rely mostly on context for comprehension, they are often themselves unaware of inaccurate sound perception” Ur (1991, p.111) This is not the only reason Another reason comes from the features of native speaker‟s pronunciation of English which is shown by Rixon (1986, p.38):

- The weak relationship between English sounds and the way they are spelt in the written language

- Changes in sounds when they occur in rapid, connected speech

- The rhythm pattern of English speech

- Different ways of pronouncing the “same” sound

In this case, practicing pronunciation is a need, but usually at home In class, it is essential for the teacher to introduce some strange sounds to students During the listening process, if students have difficulty with sounds, they should omit them and try to guess the meaning of words Talking to native speakers is suggested an effective way to get familiar to English sounds

2.5.3 Problems from student factors

+ Students’ low motivation

Students‟ low motivation is really a problem in listening lessons As the matter of fact, if the students get tired and feel not interested in the lesson, it will be difficult for them

to seek the success in the process of listening This fact is also confirmed by White (1998, p.13) as “listening well involves motivation and concentration” Many researchers provide the solutions for this kind of problem Ur (1996, p.112) suggests teachers not to make “the listening passage too long overall” and insists “breaking them up into „chunks‟ through pause” Hedge (2000, p.247) gives another suggestion which highlights that: “creating purpose for listening can motivate students” This view point is reasonable because if the students make out the point of what they are performing, they will feel encouraged to join the listening tasks Teachers can gain this by “providing tasks which are as realistic as possible,

so that the students can relate what they are doing in the lesson to things that happen in real life, outside classroom” (Underwood, 1989, p.21) Along with these, the students will get

disappointed when they always fail in doing tasks Therefore, to motivate and encourage students during the lesson, it is advisable for the teachers to “help students see how successful they have been in doing the task” (Hedge, 2000, p.244) And Ur (1984, p.25) expresses the same idea when he gives the confirmation as “task should be success oriented”,

it means “having learners do the activity more or less successful, not by having them fail” Tuyet (2007, p.35) provides one solution which states that: “teachers had better not treat the activities as tests to be marked or scored” Giving students background knowledge before listening is also a good advice The use of visual aids should be taken into consideration when teachers try to seek the path to have students‟ motivation Students themselves can seek the interest in learning listening through English songs, movies and stories at home as well as joining in pair-work and group-work in class

+ Students’ low level of proficiency

Teaching listening to intermediate and advanced students is difficult, and for the beginners, the case is more complex because they do not gain themselves a lot of experiences with listening, plus their lack of linguistic and cultural knowledge of the language Therefore,

it is not easy to understand the provided input to infer the meaning of the listening text Buck (2001, p.47) approves the use of visual aids in teaching listening to low competent learners This will help the students feel more exciting in acquiring the lesson Davies and Pearse (2000, p.79) propose the applying of parallel texts in teaching listening in which teachers design some modified versions of the texts to help the learners practice And this way is described like the way “babies hear their mothers use the same words and phrases over and over again” In addition, with the beginners, the listening tasks given should be simple enough They tend to be interested in the simple ones first, and then move to the more complex one because they need time to get used to the level of difficulty in each task For students, it is a need to practice a lot with simple listening exercises at home because everything always starts with the simplest points

+ Students’ anxiety

The feeling of anxiety always appears among beginners who are worried about the difficulties and the failure encountered during the lesson Rixon (1986, p.79) and Hedge (2000, p.237) give some suggestions for teachers who wish to cope with students‟ anxiety including: contextualizing the text; activate the prior knowledge; the pace and the length of listening task are not too taxing; the degree of response should be simple; treating the listening lesson like training lesson, not a test.; giving students sense of autonomy

For students, they should be exposed much to English through songs, movies, stories and get the chance to have conversations with native speakers Furthermore, it is good advice for them to read more about the country whose language they are learning These ways can help them more confident when dealing with the listening text

+ Students’ limited vocabulary and structures

Wood ( 1989, p.17) pinpoints this problem as: “an unknown word can be like a suddenly dropped barrier causing them to stop and think about the meaning of the word and thus making them miss the next part of the speech” There are many solutions for teachers in this case which suggest instructing them how to identify the important words that they need

to listen to, giving students chances to guess the meaning from the relevant clues and presenting some important words and structures before allowing the students to do their listening For students, Rixon (1986, p.5) advises that they should use dictionary to find out the meaning, ask teachers for explanation and repetition One considerable solution stated by this author for students is to “hold doubtful sections of what is heard in suspense and hoping that clarification will come later”

+ Students’ lack of background knowledge

Lack of background knowledge will cause the wrong interpretation to the listening text given because “when we listen we use our background knowledge of the world to set up expectations, and then we use those expectations to help us comprehend what we hear” (Buck, 2001, p.8) Get the importance of this, Lingzhu (2003) states that it is advisable for teachers to introduce the listening topic and after that, students write down as many words and phrases related to the topic as they can The problem also can be solved by giving students some questions related to the text and having them answer to get prior knowledge

In addition, looking at some pictures is considered a very exciting way for students to gain background knowledge One important point is that in listening lessons, students should be active to ask teachers for help in case they do not have any background knowledge

CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 The setting of the study

The study was carried out at the non-major English Faculty of Biotechnology (FOB)

The training course of students lasts 4 years and in this course, English is a compulsory subject In the first 2 years, students study General English with text book named “New Headway – Third edition by Liz and John Soars, Oxford University Press, and in the last two years before their graduation, the students move to English for Specific Purposes

When these students entered PDU, they have mixed level of English competency Therefore, they were required to take a placement test Base on the result of the test, the English Faculty placed the students with the same level of proficiency in a class However, the replacement tests were not effective because the tests were only on grammar Therefore, there were still multi level classes which caused many difficulties for teachers

+ The students

They are 100 first year English non - major students randomly selected from the FOB They are both females and males aged from 18 to 20 with the elementary level of English Their knowledge of English is not the same as they have experienced different years

of learning English at schools About 65% has learned English for 7 years, 25% has just done

it for 3 years and 10% seems not to learn English at all Besides, their aim of study is not English so they did not take much care of learning English in their years at high schools

3.3 The data collection methods and procedures

Both quantitative and qualitative methods are employed in this study More

specifically, the research is carried out by exploiting survey questionnaires for both teachers and students A long with questionnaires, follow-up interviews are conducted to double check the findings provided by survey questionnaires

+ Questionnaire

One survey questionnaire is for 10 teachers to get their ideas on the learning reality, problems experienced by them as well as their recommendations for improving the students‟ listening skills The survey questionnaires for teachers are carried out directly with teachers The second survey questionnaire is made for the 100 non English major students to identify their problems and solutions in learning listening In detail, in 110 survey questionnaires were delivered, the author received 100 back Among 100 survey questionnaires, 30 were conducted directly, 70 were carried out via email The questionnaires for students are translated into Vietnamese to make sure they understand all the questions properly

The two questionnaires consist of three parts The first part is about participants‟ general information The second parts is to state the problems encountered by teachers and students The second part is to find out teachers‟ and students‟ solutions to these problems

The exploitation of survey questionnaire is good for this study because it is suitable for the large sample of 10 teachers and 100 students

+ Interview

After exploiting questionnaire, the study exploits two follow – up interviews for teachers and students to get the more insightful information to support the findings The author exploited interviews for the reason that the results from survey questionnaires can be reliable enough Therefore, interviews double - check the findings from the questionnaires and get more

information for the study

The interviews with 4 teachers were carried out directly and at the same time written down

by the author The interviews with 8 students were conducted via telephone and in Vietnamese and also written down by the author The contents of the interviews focus on teachers‟ and students‟ problems and solutions in teaching and learning listening skills Each

of the interviews lasts about 10 minutes and individually

3.4 Data analysis

All the statistical data from the questionnaires will be shown in the form of percentage and supported by qualitative data from the interviews In all of the questions for teachers and students in the survey questionnaires, more than one choice is acceptable This

is the reason why the results for the questions are presented in the percentage of the options chosen

CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS

In this part of the paper, results from the questionnaires and interviews are presented The findings are presented in four major themes corresponding to the research questions, i.e teachers‟ problems in teaching listening, teachers‟ solutions to the problems, students‟ problems in learning listening, and students‟ solutions to their problems

4.1 Teachers’ problems in teaching listening

Chart 1: Teachers’ situational problems

0 20 40 60 80 100

a Background noise

b Large class

c Multi-level class

d Poor teaching equipments

Chart 1 states situational problems that teachers encountered in teaching listening The prominent problem given by them is multi-level class (90%) In PDU, the number of students in English class is from 31 to 35 Therefore, 6 teachers (60%) claimed that they had

to administer listening lessons in large classes The large classes made a lot of noise which was mentioned by 60% of the teachers Among 10 teachers, 5 of them did not satisfy with teaching equipments

The result from the interview is strongly in line with the one from survey questionnaires when it shows that almost of the participants agreed that they taught listening in large classes More specifically, the teachers confessed: “I see I have a lot of students in English class The maximum is 34, sometimes the number is 30 or 31 when some are absent” or

“There are many Let me think, firstly, there are always about from 31 students to 35” 2 out

of 4 teachers experienced noise which came from the microphone of the next door classes and students‟ talking in class The same number of teachers faced problem of multi-level class where many students are not good at listening, but some are quite good because beside university class, they also join extra evening class When the more competent students completed their tasks, they talked to other which also caused noise Complaint about poor teaching equipments was given by 2 out of the 4 teachers as they stated: “Every time, only cassette players, I need at least CD player, but there is none” and “I have complained much about the large class and teaching equipments, but nothing done from the department”

Chart 2: Teachers’ problems from listening materials

0 20 40 60 80 100

a Unfamiliar topics to students

b Different accents to students

c Speed of speech

d Unfamiliar sounds to students

When being asked about the problems from listening materials, 80% of the teachers revealed that they met obstacles when the listening texts have fast speed of speech Unfamiliar sounds to students caused big problem to teachers (60%) because of the fact that most of the students are beginners in listening and their pronunciation is not good 60% of the informants blamed on different accents to students while only 30% of them stated that they find the listening texts have unfamiliar topics to students

From the interviews, the fact is that 50% of the teachers interviewed said that the speakers often speak too fast The third teacher said: “Well, most of students are not good at listening, they can not catch up with the speed of speaker” One teacher confirmed that listening texts having unfamiliar sounds to students is a problem in teaching listening

Chart 3: Teachers’ problems from students

b Students' low level of proficiency

c Students' anxiety

d Students' limited vocabulary and structures

e Students' lack of background knowledge

Similar to point of view, students‟ limited vocabulary and structures troubled teachers the most The majority of response to what makes teachers difficult to carry out listening tasks is their students did not have large enough vocabulary and structures 80% of teachers were afraid of students‟ low motivation Motivation plays very important role in encouraging students to join listening lessons The same number of participants (60%) had difficulty with

4.2 Teachers’ solutions to these problems

Chart 4: Teachers’ solutions to the problem of background noise in teaching listening

The result from the interview stated that coping with background noise, teachers often asked their students to keep quiet and exploit pair-work and group-work

Chart 5: Teachers’ solutions to the problem of large class

b Exploit pair-workand group-work

c Ask for smallerclass

The teachers‟ solutions for problem of large class are presented in chart 5 Exploiting pair-work and group-work was most of the teachers‟ choice (5 teachers) Setting up classroom rituals and routines was favored by 66% (teachers) And there is a fact that only one out 6 teachers required the faculty of English to arrange them smaller class

From the interviews, we can see that when teaching in large class, teachers preferred to exploit pair-work and group-work, especially in pre-listening and while-listening as one of

them said: “During the lesson, I always stopped to ask my students keep quiet, but this costs much time I also let my students to join pair-work and group-work” It is seen that by this way, teacher could control class easier When pairs and groups work, teachers went around the class to help them

Chart 6: Teachers’ solutions to the problem of multi-level class

c Administer placement tests

Multi-level class posed teachers big problem because it made teachers difficult to control the whole class and to satisfy all students‟ need 80% (equivalent to 8 teachers) of the participants surveyed for their solutions to the problems of multi level class appreciated the exploitation of pair-work and group-work Smaller number of teachers minimized the negative affect of multilevel class by individualizing the listening tasks By this way, they gave more competent students more difficult listening tasks and vice versa No one asked for placement tests

Solving the problem of multi-level class, teachers interviewed also considered pair-works and group-works the best choice Another choice is teaching all students at the same rate, and giving more competent students more difficult exercises at home By this way, they could satisfy the need of all students

Chart 7: Teachers’ solutions to the problem of poor teaching equipments

The result from the interviews shared the same ideas when almost of the teachers suggested that classes should be equipped with modern facilities like T.V, CD players, VCD players and DVD players Every time, only cassette player, the teacher needed at least CD player, but there is none There is a lab, but not many wanted to teach in the lab because “the quality of the lab is not good”

Chart 8: Teachers’ solutions to the problem of unfamiliar topics to students

background knowledge

When meeting listening texts which had unfamiliar topics to students, 100% of the students (3 teachers) revealed they provide students with background knowledge 1 teacher had idea of asking students to practice as much as they could on the unfamiliar topics at home

Chart 9: Teachers’ solution to the problem of texts having different accents

b.Have students listen to a lot of English

c.Record the listening with some other teachers before class, read all

or part of the tapesript out in your accent, then design the listening task for student

d.Encourage students to have conversation with native speakers

e.Expose students to different accents

in class

We can see from the table that the highest percentage of teachers (66.66%, equivalent

to 4 teachers) would like to have their students listen to a lot of English both in class and at home to get used to different accents Half of teachers (3 teachers) agreed to expose students

to different accents in class Other choices were encouraging students to have conversation

with native speakers ( 33.33%, equivalent to 2 teachers) and having students listen to

recorded materials in which different accents are presented at home (1 teacher) No one chose the way of recording the listening with some other teachers before class, read all or part of the tape script out in your accent, then design listening tasks for students

Chart 10: Teachers’ solutions to the problem of fast speed of speech

b Ask students to expose

to as much spontaneous informal talk as they can

c Let students listen to the listening texts several times

Chart 10 indicates teachers‟ solutions when the listening texts have fast speed of speech In case the speakers speak too fast, almost of teachers (7 teachers) preferred to ask their students to pick out what is essential in the listening Another solution is that teachers let students listen to the listening texts several times (50%, equivalent to 4 teachers) Only 3 out of 7 teachers had students to expose to as much spontaneous informal talk as they can Teachers in the interviews often had students “listen again several times and stop the tape many times”, then try to catch the important words, and then guess the meaning of the whole utterance

Chart 11: Teachers’ solutions when the listening text has unfamiliar sounds to students

b Have students practice a lot

on pronunciation exercises at home

c Ask students to guess the meaning of the words

d Suggest students get chances

to talk to native speakers

e Pause the tape and explain the unfamiliar sounds to students

Facing the problem of listening texts having unfamiliar sounds to students, the highest percentage of teacher (83.33%, equivalent to 5 teachers) preferred to pause the tape

and explain the unfamiliar sounds to students Other solutions were having students practice

a lot on pronunciation exercises at home and guess the meaning of the words and suggesting students get chances to talk to native speakers introducing the students some essential unfamiliar sounds Only one teacher introduced the students some essential unfamiliar sounds before listening tasks

Considering the unfamiliar sounds to students, one teacher in the interview revealed that she stopped the tape and introduced the sounds to students She taught student how to pronoun correctly and let them practice many times until they can achieved the accurate pronunciation Another teacher solved the problem by asking her students to practice a lot on pronunciation at home

Chart 12: Teachers’ solutions to the problem of students’ low motivation

g Not treat listening tasks like a test

h Use visual aids

i Teach listening through songs, movies…

Concerning teachers‟ solutions to students‟ low motivation, the majority of teachers stated that they made the listening purposeful for the students and include lots of pair-work

and group-work in the listening lesson In raising students‟ motivation, 5 out of 8 teachers chose to vary types of listening exercises; exploit listening tasks which are success-oriented and not make the listening tasks too long Half of numbers preferred to teach listening through songs, movies The same number claimed they provide their students with background knowledge However, there were only 3 out of 8 participants using visual aids and not making the listening passage too long Very few of them (2 out of 8 teachers) claimed that not treating listening tasks like a test helps to raise students‟ motivation

The interviews with teachers show that exploiting pair-works, group-works and English songs and games were teacher‟s choice when students did not feel interested in learning listening Another solution is “give students many types of listening tasks in every listening stage” and “design more simple listening tasks, games and songs”

Chart 13: Teachers’ solutions to the problem of students’ low level of proficiency

b Give the simple listening activities

c Use visual aids

d Use parallel text

The aim of the question is to find out how teachers deal with students‟ low level of proficiency The result from the data analysis shows that 5 out of 6 teachers considered giving the simple listening activities as an effective way to help less competent students Two other solutions were teaching students necessary strategies and how to apply them into listening lesson (3 out of 6 teachers) and using visual aids (2 out of 6 teachers) Only one teacher got used to the use of parallel text

Chart 14: Teachers’ solutions to the problem of students’ anxiety

a Contextualize the text

b Activate the prior knowledge

c Have students expose to English through T.V programs and movies

d Not make the listening tasks too long

e The degree of response should be simple

To help students who were not confident and felt anxious in listening lessons, the highest percentage of participants stated they contextualize the text and activate the prior knowledge Half of number had students expose to English by T.V and film; not make the

listening tasks too long and simplify the degree of response

Chart 15: Teachers’ solutions to the problem of students’ limited vocabulary and

b Give students chances to guess the meaning from the relevant clues

c Present some important words and structures before allowing students to do their listening

As shown in the chart above, 7 out of 9 teachers solved the problem of students‟ limited vocabulary and structures by presenting some important words and structures before allowing the students to do their listening Others were instructing them how to identify the important words that they need to listen to (4 out of 9 teachers) and giving students chances

to guess the meaning from the relevant clues (3 out of 9 teachers)

Concerning students‟ limited vocabulary and structures, teachers interviewed also appreciated the way of introducing some important words and structures before students‟ listening They also suggested using English songs and games to enrich students‟ vocabulary

b Give students some questions related to the listening text and have them answer

c Have students discuss background knowledge in pairs and groups

d Give students written input

e Have students look at pictures before listening

Being asked the question: “What do you do when students have lack of background

knowledge?”, 5 out of 6 teachers gave students some questions related to the listening text and had them answer, 3 out of 6 participants preferred to give students the topic of listening task and asked them to write down as many words and phrases as possible related to the topic and have students discuss background knowledge in pairs or groups Giving students written input and having them to look at pictures before listening were chosen by 2 teachers

4.3 Students’ problems in learning listening

Chart 17: Situational problems

From the data collected above, we can come to the conclusion that students faced many situational problems 75% of them admitted that they learned listening in large class A smaller number (62%) complained about the background noise Poor teaching equipments

Chart 18: Problems from listening materials

b Different accents to students

c Speed of speech

d Unfamiliar sounds to students

The result from chart 18 demonstrates problems caused by listening materials Almost of the students confirmed that it was not easy for them to understand what the speakers said because they spoke too fast This truth is understandable because the beginners

in English like these first non- English majors only focused on the single word and tried to catch the meaning of its Consequently, they missed other part of the sentence and could not infer the meaning of the whole utterance 80% of students complained that the listening texts have many unfamiliar sounds which are not appeared in their first language A smaller number (40%) experienced problem of different accents Like their teachers, not many (32%)

of the students found listening texts have unfamiliar topic That is maybe because the topics

in the 6 first lessons are simple and like what they experienced in their daily life

The interview also reveals that students felt speakers in the listening texts spoke too fast (5 out of 8 students) Students only can understand the Vietnamese teachers when they speak at low speech rate, but when listening to the native speakers or foreigners talking in tapes, it is really difficult for them to catch up with them When being interviewed, 3 out of 8 ones stated they their pronunciation is not good enough, therefore they met many unfamiliar sounds which Vietnamese does not have The listening texts having different accents were the problem of one student And no one mentioned the problem of unfamiliar topic

Chart 19: Problems from students

a Students' low motivation

b Students' low level of proficiency

c Students' anxiety

d Students' limited vocabulary and structures

e Students' lack of background knowledge

Beside situational problems and problems from the listening materials, students had many other difficulties We can see clearly that students shared the same opinion as their teacher when 94% of them stated that limited vocabulary and structures is a big problem And 86% confirmed that their low motivation also hindered their interest to listen This figure is worth concerning and need the effective techniques from the teachers to raise students‟ interest 70% of the participants blamed on their low level of proficiency, lack of background knowledge and anxiety (60% and 55%, respectively)

Limited vocabulary and structures was mentioned by the highest percentage of students in interviews ( 5 students) When they did not know the meaning of one word, two words, many words, they could not understand anything More specifically, students learned with many topics and her teacher always introduced new words and structures of each topic in reading but, in almost of listening texts there still appeared new vocabulary and structures to them Low motivation was also mentioned by 4 students interviewed The roots of students‟ low interest in listening lesson are the difficult listening texts to students and students‟ health

problems Some of students did not know what they listen for 2 informants said that they met obstacles because the listening texts were too difficult for them

4.4 Students’ solutions for these problems

Chart 20: Students’ solutions to the problems of background noise in listening lessons

b Ask teacher to teach listening in labroom

c Keep quiet during the lesson

d Follow class's rituals and routines

In responding to the question: “What do you do when having problems of background noise in listening lessons?” 75.8% (47 students) wanted to learn listening with good cassette,

CD, VCD and DVD Not many students were interested in learning listening in laboratory room 32.25% of the students (20 students) kept quiet during the listening lesson The same number followed class‟s rituals and routines

In the interviews with students, teachers‟ use of good cassette, CD, VCD and DVD was preferable among most of the participants Other solutions were moving to the first table in class and paying attention to the lessons These ways helped students have clearer listening VCD and DVD helped to give students interesting motion pictures while listening

Chart 21: Students’ solutions to the problem of listening in large class

Chart 22: Students’ solutions to the problem of listening in multi-level class

When learning listening in a multi-level class, 35 out of 43 students wanted to have listening task that fit their proficiency And 31 out of 43 students liked to join in pair-work and group-work activities

Unlike the survey, the result from interviews shows that only one student stated that she learned listening in multi-level class The student wanted to work in pair-work and group-work in this case for the reason that she felt confident and not shy when asking and discussing with partners

Chart 23: Students’ suggestions for teaching equipments in listening lesson

0 20 40 60 80 100

Chart 23 presents students‟ suggestions for teaching equipments in listening class The highest percentage of the students required CD players (86.66%, equivalent to 52 students) Others needed TV (68.33%, equivalent to 41 students), VCD or DVD (68.33% or equivalent to 41 students), computer (26.66%, equivalent to 16 students) and 8 out of 60 students chose projector

Most of the informants in the interviews suggested T.V, CD player, VCD or DVD player and computer for listening classes No one interviewed mentioned the need of projector

Chart 24: Students’ solutions to the problem of unfamiliar topics

a Practice as much as you can

on these topics at home

b Ask your teacher about the topic

c Ask your partners about the topic

Concerning unfamiliar topics in listening texts, 65.62% of the participants (equivalent

to 21 students) preferred to ask their partners about the unfamiliar topic 15 out of 32 students practiced much on the unfamiliar topics Asking teachers about the topic was chosen by 10 out of 32 students

The only one student in the interview liked to ask his partners about the topic He preferred this ways because it was more comfortable than asking teachers In fact, this student felt shy and anxious to ask teacher something related to the lesson

Chart 25: Students’ solution to the problem of texts having different accents

0 20 40 60 80 100

a Listen to recorded materials in which different accents are presented at home

b Listen to a lot of English

c Get chance to have conversation with native speakers

The data collected about students‟ solutions when the text has different accents shows that 65% of the students (equivalent to 26 students) listened to a lot of English to be familiar

to various accents Nearly half of the students chose to listen to recorded materials in which

different accents are presented at home Not many of them (25%, equivalent to 10 students)