USING DICTOGLOSS TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF 8 TH FORM STUDENTS’ LISTENING COMPREHENSION= sử dụng kỹ thuật Dictogloss để nâng cao hiệu quả học nghe hiểu của học sinh lớp 8

For these reasons, Dictogloss technique is recommended to be used more extensively in Vietnam in order to increase the effectiveness of listening in particular and English teaching and

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HANOI UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

-o0o -

PHÙNG THỊ MƠ

USING DICTOGLOSS TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE

LISTENING COMPREHENSION (Sử dụng kỹ thuật Dictogloss để nâng cao hiệu quả học

nghe hiểu của học sinh lớp 8)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITYHANOI UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

-o0o -

PHÙNG THỊ MƠ

USING DICTOGLOSS TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE

LISTENING COMPREHENSION (Sử dụng kỹ thuật Dictogloss để nâng cao hiệu quả học

nghe hiểu của học sinh lớp 8)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Dr Trần Thị Tuyết

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby state that I: Phùng Thị Mơ, am the author of the thesis entitled:

―Using Dictogloss technique to improve the effectiveness of 8th form students‘ listening comprehension‖, which is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, and that this thesis has not been submitted for any other degrees

The thesis also integrates the publication with my supervisor during my candidature The publication is included in appendix III

Hanoi, 2014

Phùng Thị Mơ

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to Dr Tran Thi Tuyet, my honorable supervisor for her great guidance and encouragement without which the study would not be completed Her patience and the amount of time she spent on revising manuscripts with muddled up contents have been truly appreciated Besides, her sense of thoughtful criticism and recognition of the work have played a crucial role to the progress and completion of this study

I also take this opportunity to express my thankfulness to all of my course instructors and lecturers of University of Foreign Languages and International Studies - Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their valuable advice and suggestions throughout my study

In addition, I am appreciative of my students of class M5 at Clever school for their wholehearted cooperation in involving in the lessons and participating in interviews which gave great help to form a significant part of this study

Last but not least, my heartfelt gratitude goes to all those who have kindly advised and helped me towards the completion of my study report

ABSTRACT

Despite the growing need for the communicative English skills suited for global integration and curriculum innovations to teach English through communicative language teaching over the years, studies conducted in Vietnam education system report that most language teachers still follow the traditional methods in teaching English Given that the four language skills namely listening, speaking, reading and writing are taught separately, and especially listening skill which has not been paid due attention in EFL seems to be the most challenging issue with learners This study reports the findings of a case study where Dictogloss technique was used to enhance the effectiveness of students‘ listening comprehension Dictogloss technique is an integrated skills technique for language learning in which students work together to create a reconstructed version of a text Accordingly, the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing were integrated in a lesson with a focus on both communicating meaning and correct use

of grammar The findings show that although Dictogloss tasks are challenging, students hold positive attitudes towards dictogloss tasks Additionally, the dictogloss technique used gives a great help in the development of students‘ listening comprehension For these reasons, Dictogloss technique is recommended

to be used more extensively in Vietnam in order to increase the effectiveness of listening in particular and English teaching and learning process in general

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

EFL English as a foreign language ESL English as a second language ELT English language teaching

LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1: INTERVIEW QUESTIONSAND SOME KEY ANSWERS APPENDIX 2: STUDENTS‘ REFLECTION FORMS

APPENDIX 3: REPORT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

LIST OF APPENDICES iv

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study 1

2 Aims and research questions 4

3 Significance of the study 4

4 Scope of the study 5

5 Methods of the study 6

6 Thesis organization 6

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 8

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 8

1.1 Listening comprehension in ESL 8

1.1.1 What is listening comprehension? 9

1.1.2 Nature of learning listening 10

1.1.2.1 Listening is more than hearing 10

1.1.2.2 Listening has a strong attachment to other skills 10

1.1.3 Significance of listening 11

1.2 Overview of current teaching and learning ESL learning situation in Vietnam 12

1.2.1 Current teaching and learning ESL learning situation in Vietnam 12

1.2.2 Problems of teaching and learning listening comprehension in Vietnam14 1.3 General concepts of Dictogloss technique 15

1.3.1 What is Dictogloss? 15

1.3.2 Dictogloss Procedure 16

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 19

2.1 Setting of the study 19

2.2 Participants 20

Students 20

2.3 Data collection methods 20

2.3.1 Class observation 21

2.3.2 Students’ reflection 22

2.3.3 Semi-structured interviews 22

2.4 Qualitative data analysis 23

CHAPTER 3: RESULTS OF DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 24

3.1 The students’ attitudes towards Dictogloss – applied listening lessons 24

3.1.1 Dictogloss tasks foster students’ interest for listening comprehension 24

3.1.2 Dictogloss tasks: challenging but interesting 26

3.2 The roles of Dictogloss tasks in improving the effectiveness of students’ listening comprehension 27

3.2.1 Dictogloss tasks increase students’ comprehension of the information heard 27 3.2.2 Dictogloss tasks offer students different strategies to develop listening comprehension skills 28

3.2.3 Dictogloss tasks improve students interactions in listening lessons 29

3.2.4 Dictogloss helps to direct students’ focus on both meaning and form of the language 31

3.2.5 Dictogloss tasks help to develop students’ critical thinking and autonomy 31 PART C: CONCLUSION, IMPLICATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 33

1 Implications of the study 33

2 Limitations of the study 35

3 Suggestions for further studies 36

4 Conclusions 37

REFERENCES 39

APPENDICES: I Appendix I I Appendix II V Appendix III: VI

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study

It can be seen that language is the most important communicative tool of humankind and English is an important tool for today‘s international communication (Richards & Rodgers, 2001) As ―the last 50 years have witnessed the rise of English from an international language to the position

of the first truly global language in the history of the world‖ (Hung, 2002, p.33), the need for English in Vietnam has increased significantly It is likely that the needs and requirements of Vietnamese learners have changed In the past, students put more focus on learning grammar and tried to be good at grammar, attempting to achieve good results in formal examinations Nowadays, English is needed for daily communication and employment However, despite the fact that in English teaching, one of the main objectives

is to prepare students for the communication in the real life and it is of great importance and necessity to efficiently equip students with the four skills together with relatively sufficient background knowledge, the teaching of English in Vietnam has been widely criticized for the weak ability of the students in using the language outside the classroom Indeed, the outcome of English as a foreign language (EFL) education in secondary schools and universities is far from effective (Ngan, 2004; Nguyen, 2002; Tran, 2006) Compared with other students in Asian region, Vietnamese students generally have lower proficiency; most can hardly communicate or pursue a study program in English, and thus experience disadvantages in the international work force (Huynh, 2006) Although some students are very good and achieve such high scores in grammar-based examinations, they are unable to produce a perfect sentence in both written and spoken forms (Huy,

2006) Hence, this failure in education has set the theme for the researcher to search for what can be done and how English should be taught to fully meet the requirements of each of language level

Regarding listening in EFL, it has been considered as one of the most important language skills in EFL as an input for the other skills Listening seems to become a bridge of productive skills since it is an activity that happens in order to get or receive information which plays a very important part to learn a foreign language In other words, it provides input for the learner Without understanding input, student cannot learn anything It is also admitted that listening is the most frequent skill used in everyday life Rivers and Morley (2008) assume that we listen twice as much as we speak, four times as much as we read, and five times as much as we write Besides, listening is a highly integrative skill playing a crucial role in language acquisition It is not simply the perceptions of sounds, but a complex process

in second or foreign language Due to its complex nature, listening comprehension has been so far believed to be one of the most challenging skills for EFL learner to develop Therefore, a lot of students face the fact that they have met many difficulties to comprehend the information and to tackle with listening skill

Being a teacher of English for secondary students at Clever School for nearly two years, I realize that my students get difficulties in listening not only because of lack of grammatical knowledge or prior knowledge in English but also inappropriate learning language technique as well In addition, it seems

to be an obstacle for learners lacking background knowledge and cultural understanding in a listening lesson As a result, students have less motivation

to learn listening Therefore, it is essential for the teacher to find out the

effective teaching approaches to make the lessons more interesting so that s/he can attract students‘ attention and help to improve their listening proficiency as well Besides it is the teacher‘s job to create more opportunities for students to master language skills in the class due to the fact that the crucial objective of English lesson for Junior high school is to develop communicative skills in both spoken and written forms Based on this, the students will achieve ability to use language to meet the demands of daily needs such as ability to read newspaper or understand a video well

Realizing the gap between the theory and current situation of teaching listening skills for students, the above – mentioned reasons put the researcher

on the path to conduct a research project of Dictogloss applied in listening lesson in the hope of improving students‘ listening ability as well as enhancing students‘ motivation and attitudes towards English listening learning at a secondary school in Vietnam Accordingly, this thesis namely

―Using Dictogloss technique to improve the effectiveness of eight – form students‘ listening comprehension‖ aims to find innovative ways to help Vietnamese secondary students to feel more motivated to learn listening and

to enhance students‘ comprehension in the development of listening skills The findings suggest that dictogloss technique, a multiple skills and system activity (Vasiljevic, 2010), can be used to improve students‘ understanding and retention of spoken English in listening lessons It is undeniable that exploiting Dictogloss technique effectively is challenging for teachers because they have to take many things into consideration However, if the lesson is carefully designed, dictogloss will potentially enhance both students‘ listening and communication skills

2 Aims and research questions

The major purposes of the study are

1 To explore whether Dictogloss technique is applicable

2 To explore the effect of Dictogloss technique in students‘ listening proficiency

3 To find out students‘ attitudes towards Dictogloss technique used in listening skills

With these initial targets, the result is expected to raise implications for teachers of English, students and educators

In order to achieve the aforementioned aims, the paper seeks the answers for the following research questions

1) What are the students‘ attitudes towards Dictogloss – applied listening lesson?

2) To what extent does Dictogloss technique help to enhance the effectiveness of students‘ listening comprehension?

Based on the rationale of the study, the research hypothesis is formulated as follows: Dictogloss technique can improve the effectiveness of students‘ listening comprehension of 8th graders at Clever School

3 Significance of the study

Vietnamese researchers have so far conducted extensive research about English teaching and learning in an EFL context Therefore, this research continues to contribute to the growing body of research conducted by Vietnamese researchers This research will add to the literature of the implementation of Dictogloss technique in listening lessons in particular and

To my best knowledge, there has been little work which examined the effectiveness of Dictogloss in language teaching in the Vietnam context Specifically, Nguyen (2013) conducted a study on dictogloss tasks which focused on its effectiveness on teaching grammar Therefore, the results of the study are expected to bring a very new practical benefit for teachers to teach English, especially teaching listening For the teachers, the study hopefully provides practical lessons and principles of Dictogloss technique as one of the innovative methods available for the choices of language teachers to increase the motivation of secondary school students to learn listening and use output

in communication effectively For the students, it can also useful to facilitate them to improve their listening comprehension and cooperative learning

4 Scope of the study

The study is concerned with exploring the effects of using dictogloss technique in helping students to learn EFL listen more effectively at Clever school In other words, the study is limited in its object of study In more details, I will carry out my research among 8th graders at Clever school, a language school in Hanoi Due to the limitation of time and human resources, this paper only attempts to research on a small group of participants, namely

18 8th form students

Added to this, the researcher only studies on the use of Dictoloss technique to teach and enhance students‘ effectiveness in their listening comprehension Other approaches or techniques to teach listening skills for students would be beyond the scope

5 Methods of the study

To seek the answers to the research questions, the data are analyzed from the material collection and were collected from observation, students‘ reflection and face-to-face interviews with students

First of all, for the theory, a lot of reference materials on listening comprehension and Dictogloss technique have been collected, analyzed and synthesized carefully with the due consideration for the teacher‘s and student‘s teaching and listening situations

Secondly, the interviews and observation are carried out with the students to collect the most reliable data for the study

Part B: Development – consists of three chapters

Chapter one called “Literature review” reviews the theoretical

background of the study It presents overview of listening comprehension and Dictogloss technique

Chapter two describes in details the research methodology which

comprises the information of the research subjects, instruments for data collection and procedure for data collection

Chapter three presents results and the analysis of the collected data The

results are the basement to determine the effects of using Dictogloss technique on teaching listening

Part C: Conclusion

This chapter closes the study by summarizing the main contents and providing suggestions for further study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

Based on the rationale and the research questions raised in the previous sections, the relevant literature in the field will be demonstrated in this chapter Initially, this section focuses on the understanding of the nature of listening comprehension with regarding to different factors affecting teaching and learning listening in ESL Based on these theories, the background of listening teaching and learning in Vietnam as well as Vietnamese students‘ problems in learning listening are raised with the view to exploring the gaps between the theory and the real context From then on, theory of Dictogloss technique is introduced in the hope of solving problems raised in the real context Those are considered to be the theoretical and conceptual framework for the present study

1.1 Listening comprehension in ESL

The topic of the study ―listening comprehension‖ has been received a wide variety of approaches and understandings However, within the framework of this study, the focus is put on investigating ―listening comprehension‖ which

is defined profoundly by Clark (1977, cited in Xu (2011), p.161) He gives both a narrow and broad definition:

―Comprehension has two common senses In its narrow it denotes the mental processes by which listeners take in the sounds uttered by a speaker and use them to construct an interpretation of what they think the speaker intended to convey … Comprehension in its broader sense, however, rarely ends here, for listeners normally put the interpretations they have built to work” (p.161)

In the study, the two terms ―listening comprehension‖ and ―listening skill‖ are used as alternative terms

1.1.1 What is listening comprehension?

Listening has been so far considered as one of the most important language

skills Feyten (1991) indicated that ―listening time accounts for more than 45% of communicating time” Since the importance roles of this skill as a tool

to understand and facilitate language learning in overall language ability, there are a lot of researchers taking listening for granted Each scholars holds

a different views towards the concept ―listening‖ or ―listening comprehension‖, so there have been varieties of definitions surrounding what listening is

According to Nunan (1998), listening in general is defined as ―an active process that involves deciphering and constructing meaning from verbal and nonverbal messages” In other words, it might be understood that listening

process requires a variety of skills such as prediction, hypothesizing, checking, revising and generalizing that writing and reading demand Accordingly, listeners actively select what they want to know and interpret the information they get

O‘ Malley, Chamot and Kupper (1989) share the same view about listening that ―listening comprehension is an active and conscious process in which the listener constructs meaning using cues from contextual information and from existing knowledge, while relying upon multiple strategic resources to fulfill the task requirements‖ It seems that listener obtains the input as well as actively processes the message to comprehend Therefore, the objective of listening comprehension is that the learner is able to talk and write about what

he has heard after listening

In short, it can be seen that listening is a language skill involving a wide range

of ―sub-skills‖ It is more than simply hearing, it decodes sounds and understand the meaning behind those sounds Accordingly, students should learn to decode, follow verbal instruction, infer word meaning, listen for detail and sequence, extract the main idea, distinguish fact from opinion and identify mood during listening (Abelleira, 1987)

1.1.2 Nature of learning listening

1.1.2.1 Listening is more than hearing

It can be said that hearing is a completely automatic activity Whenever sound waves appear, you hear Listening, however, goes far beyond the mere reception of sound due to the fact that it is a complex activity As can be seen, listening process involves a lot of factors such as intellectual, emotional and social factors In addition, who is talking, when, where and why one listens are also considered Therefore, listening is not only a simple activity called absorbing audio signals but also an active intellectual process of decoding, interpreting, understanding and evaluating messages as mentioned above

1.1.2.2 Listening has a strong attachment to other skills

The purpose of language learning is to improve the speakers‘ four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, with the base of large vocabulary and grammar However, this is not the final purpose The final purpose is to let speakers be able to use the language It can be seen that a lot of speakers can read and write quite well, but they can hardly communicate, or even express themselves with their own words Aderson and Lynch (1988) suggest that improvements in speaking depend on successful listening, if speaking and listening are separated, the conversation will be broken down In the relation

to reading, both listening and reading comprehension are receptive skills comprising both a physical process and interpretive, analytical process Generally speaking, these four skills cannot be separated due to the fact that the goal of learning listening is to leaner how to understand the actual speech

in order to communicate in English Accordingly, learners should be given opportunities to practice all sets of skills and to integrate them in the conversation

1.1.3 Significance of listening

No one can deny that the importance of listening skills in foreign language learning because the key to acquire a language is to receive the language input Krashen, Terrell, Ehrman, and Herzog (1984) claimed that acquisition takes place only when students absorb enough comprehensible input

As an input skill, listening has made great contribution to students‘ language development Rost (1994) emphasizes this importance of listening

“Listening is vital in the language classroom because it provides input for the learners Without understanding the input at the right level, any learning simply cannot begin”

Brett (1997:39) shares the same view with Rost that listening is one of the most important sources of input that a human brain has He states that

―listening is a key language skill It has a vital role in the language acquisition process‖ Being an essential skill for most interaction, listening is therefore the most primary medium for input in language learning process and by speeding up the students‘ ability to perceive speech, the amount of input they get will increase and thus aid students‘ language acquisition

Besides, in comparison with other skills, Morley (2001) states that in an ordinary day, the listening skill is exercised almost twice as much as the speaking skill, and around four to five times as the reading and writing skills There are more and more studies indicating the importance of listening

in language learning and communication such as Anderson and Lynch (1988), Dunkel (1991) or Michael Lewis (1993)

Given the importance of listening in language teaching and learning not only

a receptive skill but also to the development of spoken language prophecy, it

is essential for language teachers to help students become effective listeners

1.2 Overview of current teaching and learning ESL learning

in the system still pay more attention to English grammar, reading and vocabulary (Luu, 2011) As a consequence, listening and speaking skills do not seem to be paid due attention in teachers‘ lesson plans Thus, English teaching and learning in Vietnam has strongly remained grammar/examination - focused Indeed, most English exams are composed in order to test students‘ knowledge of grammatical structures and vocabulary more than students‘ all rounded skills (Luu, 2011)

Moreover, language skills are usually taught separately in most language schools in Vietnam In other words, the interrelationship among four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) is not paid due attention Listening

is often taught separately from speaking, whereas, in real life interaction, listening and speaking are integrated skills Aderson and Lynch (1988) suggest that improvements in speaking depend on successful listening, if speaking and listening are separated, the conversation will be broken down Consequently, many Vietnamese students still cannot communicate successfully with foreigners even in simple daily conversations despite the fact that they are good students with high marks in English tests (Nguyen, 2008)

Teaching approach is also worth mentioned here Overall, the Vietnamese English classroom is described as a ―cultural island‖ in which the teacher-centered approach to teaching is an outstanding feature (Le, 2000) In other words, the English learning environment in Vietnam seems to put more burdens on the teachers as the imparter of knowledge of The teacher plays a crucial role in designing the syllabus, deciding the learning purposes and learning paths for students, transmitting knowledge and providing assessment through examinations In such teaching context, students, instead of being active learners, seem to become passive receivers or good imitators of the teachers Besides, given the absence of an English communication environment, ELT practice in Vietnam has undoubtedly prioritized preparing knowledge about the English language rather than developing ability to use English

1.2.2 Problems of teaching and learning listening comprehension in

Vietnam

Of the four language basic English language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), listening skill seems to be the most challenging skill to

be acquired by Vietnamese students

The first problem might be laid on students‘ and teachers‘ attitudes towards listening comprehension As for students, there are many problems or difficulties they have to deal with in listening comprehension In fact, it seems fairly difficult for the students to find out the main ideas in the listening text,

or the students cannot find the specific information as well as the meaning of the words and phrases in the listening text Also, the students cannot identify the communicative purposes contained in the listening text Therefore, the students might not be interested in listening skills (Nguyen, 2008) This might put a negative effect on students‘ learning listening As for teachers, teachers‘ attitudes towards listening somehow are mentioned earlier Teachers only want to measure the students‘ listening skill but not teach it For instance, the teachers just only give the questions or materials without any explanation Accordingly, the students are not able to digest all the information with their limited vocabulary, grammar and socio knowledge In fact, the students do not have time to reflect on what they have just listened Another point can be seen is that the materials which the teachers are too difficult for students to understand It means that the teacher may set too high standard for students to reach It is not suitable with the learner‘s level Thus, the students would have a sense of depression, and they would not be interested in the lesson

The failure of students in listening may also originated from the fact that the teaching and learning process of listening is not conducted effectively and the inappropriate teaching method is applied by the teacher In other words, the students may find the strategies which the teachers use not interesting and effective enough to develop their listening comprehension

In short, the factors as described above had an overarching effect on the teaching practice and teaching outcomes especially on implementing a new pedagogical approach with the more learner-centered learning activities With

a growing demand for English for communication in the current era, changes are urgently required for the situation This necessarily involves change in teachers‘ classroom practice toward encouraging a more active learning style

In the position I myself of a researcher consider that a dictogloss listening lesson, if implemented appropriately, will help the students promote their positive attitudes towards listening skills as well as improve their effectiveness in their listening learning

1.3 General concepts of Dictogloss technique

1.3.1 What is Dictogloss?

Dictogloss was first introduced as an alternative method of teaching grammar

by Ruth Wanjryb (1990) It then was developed and used for different teaching focuses such as listening comprehension, reconstructing the writing text and integrated skills to ease students‘ cooperative learning and learner autonomy (Vasiljevic, 2010) In regard to teaching listening, dictogloss brings

a means for the teacher to change the focus from assessing how much has been understood to helping learners to understand more (Prince, 2013) Wilson (2003, p 341) also claims that dictogloss could be a ‗practical,

student-centered way of dealing with perceptual errors‘ On the other hand, Vasiljevic (2010) suggests that dictogloss helps the process of teaching English listening overcome its limitation of often being assessed but rarely taught (Sheerin, 1987) by offering ‗a unique blend of teaching listening comprehension and the assessment of student listening ability‘ (Vasiljevic,

2010, p 46) The following section will describe the usual dictogloss procedure to explain why this technique can be used with multiple aims in a

(1) In the preparation stage, the teachers give students clear commands about the task that the students have to do and organize them into groups before the listening stage begins These activities aim to prepare learners to the known and unknown vocabulary for the text as well as brief understanding about the topic This makes students more receptive to the listening stage Jimenez and Perez (2012) state that learning vocabulary requires learners a constant exposition to texts by most of the possible means transmitted and perceives by students

(2) In the listening stage, the students listen to the text which is read at normal speed from the tape or by the teacher and take fragmentary notes The first time, they should not take notes Kondo et al (2012) claim that during the

first reading, learners are instructed to grasp the gist of the text They are not allowed to take notes, so that they can focus on the meaning of the text (Prince, 2013) In the second listening, they need to take notes about the key words used to put the text together in the reconstruction stage

(3) The reconstruction stage is used for the learners to work together in small groups to reconstruct a version of the text from their shared resources While learners proceed to collect notes in groups, work on the version of their texts, and together check the grammar, textual cohesion, and logical sense; teachers monitor the activity and point out some possible grammatical errors without providing any actual language input Smith (2011) declares that reconstruction stage promotes interaction and sharing of ideas among the participants Nevertheless, Nakamura (2008) also places a warning that when students do not have enough lexicon, many words will not be identified Thus it is of great important that the listening text need to be at student level of proficiency and the preparation stage need to help student familiar with the topic and the key vocabulary used in the text

(4) The final stage is correction and analysis stage In this phase, students analyze and compare their reconstructed text with other groups and the original text and make necessary correction However, it is important to clarify that the original text should not be seen by learners until their own versions have been analyzed

1.3.3 Significance of Dictogloss

Several advantages of dictogloss have been discussed Jacobs and Farrell (2003, p 2) summarize the advantages of dictogloss as:

When implemented conscientiously, dictogloss embodies sound

principles of language teaching which include: learner autonomy,

cooperation among learners, curricular integration, focus on

meaning, diversity, thinking skills, alternative assessment, and

teachers as co-learner

Vasiljevic (2010) also suggests that dictogloss technique is an effective way

to combine individual and group activities, it also creates chances for learners

to use all four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) in order to complete a dictogloss activity Kowal and Swain (1994), on the other hand, suggest that dictogloss encourages students to move from the semantic processing dominant in comprehension to the grammatical processing needed for production

Dictogloss procedure also promotes learners‘ autonomy by reflecting on their

use of target language Swain (1999, p 145) argues that ‗Students gain insights into their own linguistic shortcomings and develop strategies for solving them by working through them with a partner) Moreover, according

to Brown (2001), dictogloss seeks to combine and direct students focus on both meaning and form Swain (1999) also suggests that students must be engaged in the act of ―meaning-making‖ when they focus on form In this case, during the reconstruction stage, students are required not only using their grammatical competence but also developing ideas to produce another version of text

However, preparation for a dictogloss lesson can be time-consuming Different features need to be adjusted to suit one‘s particular purpose and student level of proficiency: the topic, the length of the test and of the sentences, the delivery speed and the familiarity of vocabulary (Prince, 2013) Prince (2013) also notes other problems related to dictogloss lessons: the difficulty of remembering, the burden of note-taking, students‘ various learning styles and attitude toward cooperative learning These factors all

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

In outlining the design and methodology employed in this study, this chapter begins with a description of the setting of the study and participants These are followed by the method of the research namely qualitative method used to achieve the study‘s objectives Then, the data collection instruments and data collection procedures are given These were developed through class observation, student‘s reflection form and semi-structured interviews

2.1 Setting of the study

The study was conducted at Clever School in Hanoi Currently, there are 31 classes with nearly 600 students enrolling in Clever School English classes The ages of students range from 11 to 15 The teaching and learning conditions are good due to the fact that it is a private centre, so in order to attract students the center is well-equipped with teaching and learning technologies such as projectors, TV, CD player, computer with internet access and so on They are always available to English classes Besides, the class size of grade 8 is limited to 20 students All the students in each classes are carefully selected through placement test For this reason, almost students in one class are in the same level of English proficiency Dictogloss has been used in listening lessons in several classes at the school This study was designed to investigate student attitude toward dictogloss lessons and to find out the extent dictogloss technique can help to enhance student learning of English

2.2 Participants

Students

The subjects of the study were 18 8th form students learning English as a foreign language at Clever School They come from different schools in Hanoi but they share the relatively similar English level All of the students are at the age of 14 and have been studying English for at least 5 years There are 13 females and five males Besides, these students are very well-perceived, hard-working and sociable They really like learning English, but they express the negative attitude towards learning listening These students are attending English lessons with the course book: My world 4 is designed

on the basis of topic with 16 units and there is listening part in each unit The book, in fact, provides students with a wide range of listening texts with a view to helping students improve their listening skill

Teachers

At Clever school, there are about 10 English teachers The researcher chose the head English teacher of class M5 as a participant in the study She has two-year experience of teaching English for secondary students with good knowledge of modern language teaching methodology Moreover, she is especially experienced in dealing with classroom problems, organizing class activities and willing to adopt a new teaching method for the sake of the students‘ progress

2.3 Data collection methods

My hypothesis was that using Dictogloss technique in listening lesson could enhance the effectiveness of students‘ learning listening comprehension In

increasingly confident and engaged; students‘ autonomy would be developed

in such a process Furthermore, dictogloss technique applied in listening lessons could improve students‘ attitude towards learning listening because they are encouraged to use its input in the context related to the real world The students were given opportunities to express their attitudes toward this technique

This qualitative research comprises of classroom observation, student reflections and face-to-face interviews with students and the teacher in one of the classes using dictogloss technique in their listening lessons Using these kinds of instrument allows the researcher to collect the data in ―qualitative form‖ Besides, the researcher found it easy to summarize, analyze and report the collected data Besides, the participants had an opportunity to express their attitudes towards listening lessons with the implementation of Dictogloss

technique

2.3.1 Class observation

According to Potter (1996), the observation is the method used in research in order to obtain data of a specific topic through contact with an individual or a group of individuals documenting their characteristics in their natural state or applying some variations In this study, the observations were conducted during listening lessons with the main purpose of gathering information about the students‘ comprehension and attitudes towards lessons These observations were also documented through field notes due to the detailed support that those filed notes can provide Also, the field note was made to investigate the teaching and learning process using Dictogloss technique in the listening lessons The researcher conducted class observation in four different listening lessons with the same students and teacher For each

lesson, the researcher observed 60 minutes and all the activities the teachers and students were doing in the real classroom setting and took notes in a checklist The checklist for listening class observation was made by the researcher concerning teachers‘ activities in different periods of Dictogloss listening lesson, and students‘ involvement

2.3.2 Students’ reflection

At the end of each lesson, the researcher delivered the reflection sheets for the students in the class to write their thoughts about the lesson with the application of dictogloss technique The aim of writing reflection is to discover factors such as students‘ difficulties, students‘ preferences in the listening lesson, the advantages and disadvantages of dictogloss lessons compared to the traditional listening lessons they approached before Also, it helps students to show their expectation to the teacher From that, the researcher will gain recognition of applying Dictogloss technique in the real environment

2.3.3 Semi-structured interviews

Finally, based on the information collected from classroom observation and students‘ reflection, the researchers also conducted the interview with the students and the teacher of the class According to Brinkmann (2008:470), interview is conversational practice where knowledge is produced through the interaction between an interviewer and an interviewee or a group of interviewees Most of the interview questions were open-ended in an attempt

to ―allow the respondents opportunities to develop their responses in ways which the interviewer might not have foreseen‖ (Nunan, 1992, p 99) Accordingly, by asking open questions related to the role of listening and

their attitudes toward dictogloss technique, the researcher would identify the effectiveness of students‘ listening learning in the dictogloss- applied lessons

Accordingly, the data collected from the classroom observations, students‘ reflections and mainly from the interview was analyzed to find out students‘ attitudes towards Dictogloss technique used in listening skills as well as to explore the effect of Dictogloss technique in enhancing students‘ listening proficiency

2.4 Qualitative data analysis

In qualitative research, raw data is gathered from the transcripts of interviews

or notes from archival materials (Vierra, et al.1998) Qualitative data in the present study include students‘ responses in the reflection form and the semi-structured interviews regarding student‘s effectiveness in learning listening comprehension and their attitudes towards dictogloss technique applied in listening lesson The responses in the semi-structured interviews were first given to students in the form of Vietnamese language and then transcribed After collected, the data will be complied and analyzed In this study, NVivo software was employed for qualitative analysis All focus group interviews were transcribed anonymously in to Vietnamese to avoid data loss and ensure the privacy and confidentiality of respondents Then, themes were created based on constructs from the research questions and the literature review

CHAPTER 3: RESULTS OF DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter reports on the outcomes of the data-gathering phase The data collected are analyzed by using Nvivo software in relation to the research question posed in this thesis Accordingly, the aims of the study were to discover the how the students think about English listening lessons with the implementation of Dictogloss technique and the roles of Dictogloss technique

in enhancing the effectiveness of students‘ listening comprehension Those were done through all three methods: class observations, student‘s reflection and semi-structured interviews

3.1 The students’ attitudes towards Dictogloss – applied listening lessons

The triangle data gained from three sources mentioned above at the end of the course showed that generally the majority of students got involved in the lesson and they hold their positive attitudes towards dictogloss tasks.I organized into some perspectives as the reasons why the students hold this attitude towards dictogloss technique, namely dictogloss in helping students improve their attitudes towards listening learning, and students‘ perception in performing dictogloss tasks

3.1.1 Dictogloss tasks foster students’ interest for listening comprehension

With regarding to listening comprehension, the majority of students showed excitement to the dictogloss lessons, and expressed their strong support for these lessons in the interviews These students suggested that dictogloss was

an interesting technique One student noted ―I really love the reconstruction stage It is very interesting and I have chance to work with my friends I can

topic before listening very much I really want to show my understanding about the topic.‖This finding can be also supported by the results gained from the students‘ reflection and class observation One student shared the similar point of view in commenting in their reflection that she loved working with her friends, and she could do finish the exercises more quickly Obviously, dictogloss procedures make students feel more motivated in their learning listening comprehension through addressing their various needs in learning listening

The topic of listening lessons also attracts students‘ concerns From the observation, the researcher found that students seemed to show lots of interest

in the first and third listening topic namely ―advantages and disadvantages of playing sports‖ and ―activities after school‖ However when it comes to a bit more challenging topic in the second and fourth lessons called ―smoking in public‖ and ―recycling‖, the students sounded to be not excited Similarly, one student said in her reflection form that ―I don‘t like the topic about smoking It‘s very boring and hard for me to say about it I want my teacher to choose other topics like teenager‘s life or advantages of Facebook It would be much more interesting for us‖ Another student also mentioned that ―I somehow feel easy when the topic is easy like the previous lesson talking about favorite sports; it‘s quite familiar with teenagers I can talk more and therefore I can listen better‖ This raised a question for the teacher to choose the suitable topic to suit students‘ interest From the class observation, the researchers found that the teacher of the class had changes in choosing various topics addressing students‘ learning preference from the second teaching to the fifth one