A STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF PRE-LISTENING ACTIVITIES ON LISTENING COMPREHENSION TASKS IN THE TRAINING PROGRAM TO NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS OF GRADE 10 AT BAC NINH GIFTED HIGH SCHOOL

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES **************** LÊ THỊ MÙI A STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF PRE-LISTENIN

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

****************

LÊ THỊ MÙI

A STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF PRE-LISTENING ACTIVITIES ON LISTENING COMPREHENSION TASKS IN THE TRAINING PROGRAM TO NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS OF GRADE 10 AT

BAC NINH GIFTED HIGH SCHOOL

(NGHIÊN CỨU TÁC ĐỘNG CỦA NHỮNG HOẠT ĐỘNG TRƯỚC KHI NGHE TỚI CÁC BÀI TẬP NGHE HIỂU TRONG CHƯƠNG TRÌNH ĐÀO TẠO DÀNH CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 10 KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH

TRƯỜNG THPT CHUYÊN BẮC NINH)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Hanoi, 2014

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

****************

LÊ THỊ MÙI

A STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF PRE-LISTENING ACTIVITIES ON LISTENING COMPREHENSION TASKS IN THE TRAINING PROGRAM TO NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS OF GRADE 10 AT

BAC NINH GIFTED HIGH SCHOOL

(NGHIÊN CỨU TÁC ĐỘNG CỦA NHỮNG HOẠT ĐỘNG TRƯỚC KHI NGHE TỚI CÁC BÀI TẬP NGHE HIỂU TRONG CHƯƠNG TRÌNH ĐÀO TẠO DÀNH CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 10 KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH

TRƯỜNG THPT CHUYÊN BẮC NINH)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Nguyễn Xuân Thơm

Hanoi, 2014

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DECLARATION

I, Lê Thi ̣ Mùi, hereby certify that the thesis entitled “A Study on the Effects of

Pre-listening Activities on Listening Comprehension Tasks in the Training Program

to Non-English Major Students of Grade 10 at Bac Ninh Gifted high school” is my

own study in the fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts at VNU University of Languages and International Studies

Hanoi, September, 2014

Lê Thi ̣ Mùi

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

On the completion of this thesis, I am indebted to many people

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor,

Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Xuan Thom for his valuable and prompt advice and helps,

without which, this thesis could not come into being

My thanks also go to all my lecturers and officers from Post Graduate Department, College of Foreign Languages, Vietnam National University, who have facilitated me with the best possible conditions during my whole course of studying

Last but not least, let my gratitude go to my family and friends, whose encouragement and assistance are of extreme importance during the course of my writing this thesis

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ABSTRACT

The present study attempted to find out the effects of pre-listening activities on listening comprehension tasks in the training program to non-English major students

of grade 10 at Bac Ninh Gifted high school The survey was randomly conducted with

7 teachers of English and 105 tenth form students in 5 classes whose major subject is not English The data used to analyze in this study were the participants’ answers to questionnaires, to some interview questions and the researcher’s observation in four listening lessons The results of the study show that both teachers and students at the school highly appreciate the importance of pre-listening activities Besides, some activities that are the most frequently used by the teachers are also considered the most effective on listening comprehension tasks in the training program by students They are pre-teaching vocabulary and structures; guessing the topic of the listening text and questioning Moreover, some effective techniques teachers often use to implement these activities are really helpful After taking part in pre-listening activities, students get better results of listening comprehension tasks

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TABLE OF CONTENT

DECLARATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

i ii iii PART A INTRODUCTION

I Rationale

II Objectives of the study

III Scope of the study

IV Methods of the study

V Design of the study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

I The concept of listening

I.1 What is listening?

I.2 Listening processes

I.3 Component skills for listening

II The concept of listening comprehension tasks

II.1 Definitions

II.2 Types of listening comprehension tasks

III The concept of pre-listening activities

III.1 Stages of teaching listening

III.1.1 Pre-listening stage

III.1.2 While-listening stage

III.1.3 Post-listening stage

III.2 Definitions of pre-listening activities

III.3 Types of pre-listening activities

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III.4 Factors affecting the choice of pre-listening activities

IV Prior studies related to pre-listening activities

V Summary

CHAPTER II: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

I Background of the study

I.1 The context of English teaching and learning at Bac Ninh Gifted High School

I.2 Materials

I.3 Limitations of a listening lesson in the classroom at Bac Ninh gifted high school

II Research methods

II.1 Participants

II.2 Data collection instrumentations

II.3 Summary

CHAPTER III: DATA ANALYSIS, DISCUSSION, MAJOR FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

I Questionnaires

I.1 The questionnaire for the teachers

I.1.1 Teachers’ opinions about the importance of pre-listening activities

I.1.2 Teachers’ opinions about the purposes of pre-listening activities

I.1.3 Teachers’ frequency of using pre-listening activities

I.1.4 Teachers’ frequency of using techniques for pre-teaching vocabulary and grammar structures

I.1.5 Teachers’ frequency of using techniques for working in pairs/ groups………

I.1.6 Teachers’ frequency of using techniques for brainstorming for the details of the text

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I.1.7 Teachers’ frequency of using techniques for introducing the topic I.1.8 Teachers’ frequency of using techniques for questioning I.1.9 Teachers’ frequency of using techniques for previewing tasks I.1.10 Teachers’ frequency of using pre-listening activities in the textbook

“English 10”

I.2 The questionnaire for the students

I.2.1 Students’ opinions about the importance of pre-listening activities I.2.2 Students’ opinions about the factors that make listening lessons more difficult

I.2.3 Students’ opinions about the purposes of pre-listening activities I.2.4 Students’ preferences for pre-listening activities I.2.5 Students’ opinions about the effects of pre-listening activities on listening tasks I.2.6 Students’ opinions about the most effective technique to pre-teach vocabulary and grammar structures

I.2.7 Students’ opinions about the most effective technique to raise questions I.2.8 Students’ opinions about the most effective technique to work in pairs/ groups I.2.9 Students’ opinions about the most effective technique to guess the topic I.2.10 Students’ opinions about the most effective technique to brainstorm for the content

I.2.11 Students’ opinions about the most effective technique to pre-view tasks

I.2.12 Students’ opinions about the pre-listening activities in the textbook

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II Class observation

III Interviews

III.1 Interviews for students

III.2 Interviews for teachers

IV Major findings

V Recommendations for implementing pre-listening activities

VI Summary

PART C: CONCLUSION

I Conclusion

II Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study

REFERENCES

APPENDICES

Appendix 1: Survey questionnaires

Appendix 2: Interview questions

Appendix 3: Class observation

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of a person as well as a nation

As second language learners, it is not easy at all to acquire English This requires good combination of four skills While reading and writing are important ways of gaining and consolidating information, vocabulary and structures in language learning, listening and speaking are the means of language communication Therefore, these four skills cannot be separated and they can be improved only by training and practicing

Among four skills, listening is considered the most difficult Like other skills, listening is closely related to store of vocabulary that carries most meanings of the passage but learners have to get it aurally, which is very difficult because of the speed, the accent, the intonation of the speakers and even the external factors that interrupt the sound Moreover, Vietnamese learners do not have many opportunities to communicate or speak to native speakers, especially high school students They only learn language through materials or Vietnamese teachers that do not provide them so good pronunciation as native speakers Last but not least, learners’ motivation, one of the most important factors to study language well, is discouraged by all of the factors mentioned above If they cannot hear anything or little, they cannot communicate in the language they are listening to

As a result, to help students improve listening skills, teachers first have to find out teaching techniques to attract them to the listening lesson, then to help them enlarge store of vocabulary, be familiar with the pronunciation of native speakers As a teacher of English, I think interesting and suitable pre-listening activities can raise students’ motivation and have other positive effects on learning procedures Hence, I

choose the topic “A Study on the Effects of Pre-listening Activities on Listening

Comprehension Tasks in the Training Program to Non-English Major Students of Grade 10 at Bac Ninh Gifted high school” with the hope, to some extent, to discover

the real effects of pre-listening activities on the students’ participation in listening comprehension tasks as well as their studying results

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II Objectives of the study

The study aims at:

- investigating the teachers and students’ opinions about pre-listening activities of a listening lesson in the classroom at Bac Ninh gifted high school

- discovering the frequency the teachers use pre-listening activities; the pre-listening activities students like best; the most effective ways to carry out these activities and their effects on listening comprehension tasks in the training program

- recommending some useful techniques in order to make pre-listening activities more effective on listening comprehension tasks

Above all, the purpose of the study is to encourage non-English major students

at Bac Ninh gifted high school to eagerly take part in the lesson and listen effectively through interesting and suitable pre-listening activities

In order to achieve these objectives, four research questions are raised:

1 What are the teachers and students’ opinions about pre-listening activities?

2 Which pre-listening activities are the most frequently used by the teachers and which activity do students like best?

3 What are the most effective techniques to carry out pre-listening activities?

4 What are the effects of pre-listening activities on listening comprehension tasks in

the textbook English10?

III Scope of the study

This study is carried out at Bac Ninh gifted high school in order to find out the effects of pre-listening activities on listening comprehension tasks in the Training Program to non-English major students of grade 10

IV Methods of the study

In order to achieve the objectives of the study, the researcher uses qualitative method with some data collection instruments: interviews, survey questionnaires, and class observation The survey is carried out with the participation of 105 non-English major students of grade 10 and 7 teachers who have been teaching non-English major students for years at Bac Ninh Gifted High School They are asked to give their responses by completing the questionnaires Then the collected data are analyzed and interpreted In addition to the questionnaires, some interviews with students and teachers and class observation during listening lessons are also carried out to support

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the findings

V Design of the study

The study includes three parts:

Part A: Introduction

This part presents the basic information of the study such as the rationale, the objectives, the scope, the methods and the design of the study

Part B: Development

This part is divided into three chapters:

Chapter 1: Literature review

In this chapter, the researcher discusses theoretical background of listening, listening activities and related prior studies

pre-Chapter 2: Research Methodology

The researcher presents the setting of the study and research methods including research questions, participants and data collection instruments

Chapter 3: Data analysis, discussion, major findings and recommendations

The researcher shows the detailed results of the survey, analyzes the data collected from questionnaires, interviews and class observation and then presents major findings for the study and some suggestions for implementing pre-listening activities

Part C: Conclusion

This part includes a review of the study, suggestions for further study and limitations of the study

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

I The concept of listening

I.1 What is listening?

Basically, listening is not the same as hearing Hearing refers to the sounds that you hear, whereas listening requires more than that It is defined as a process whose nature is active and complex Listening is the mental process of constructing meaning from spoken input (Rost, M 2002 : 279) Helgesen, M (2003 : 24) defines listening as

an active, purposeful processing of making sense of what we hear It is clear that the listener is doing more than simply decoding what is heard He gets information, relates them to what he already knows to figure out the meaning or the message that the speakers convey Underwood, M (1989: 1) also agrees that listening is a complex process that allows us to understand spoken language She states: “Listening is the activity of paying attention and trying to get meaning for something we hear"

Other scholars have also maintained the active and complex nature of listening comprehension by describing what listeners actually do when they are involved in listening activities For example, Richards (1985: 187) says: "Three related levels of discourse processing appear to be involved in listening comprehension: propositional identification, interpretation of illocutionary forces, and activation of real world knowledge” Having the same view, Vandergrift (1999: 168) further describes,

“Listening comprehension is anything, but a passive activity It is a complex, active process in which the listener must discriminate between sounds, understand vocabulary and grammatical structures, interpret stress and intonation, retain what was gathered in all of the above and interpret it within the immediate as well as the larger socio-cultural context of the utterance.”

This view of listening as a complex and active process is also shared by Rost (2001) and Cook (2001) They argue that as a goal-oriented activity, listening comprehension involves both bottom-up and top-down processing that are assumed to take place at various levels of cognitive organization: phonological, grammatical, lexical and propositional In bottom-up processing, listeners attend to data in the incoming speech signals, whereas, in top-down processing the listeners utilize prior knowledge and expectations to create meaning It involves "prediction and inference

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on the basis of hierarchies of facts, propositions and expectations" (Morley, 1991: 87)

All the views given above show that listening comprehension is a hard task which demands a great deal of mental analysis on the part of the listener In order to construct the message the speaker intends, the listener must actively contribute skills and knowledge from both linguistic and non linguistic resources These include having

an appropriate purpose for listening, social and cultural knowledge and background knowledge (Littlewood 1981, Richards 1985, Anderson and Lynch 1988, Morley 1991)

To develop this complex but essential skills, students need much support from their teachers They must be exposed to a variety of input sources in the form of listening opportunities embedded in social and academic situations Besides, they should be provided with varying listening activities that enable them to employ different strategies and enhance their listening skills (Underwood 1989, Rost 1990, Harmer 2001)

I.2 Listening processes

Listening comprehension involves bottom-up and top-down processes Underwood (1989) explains that the top-down and bottom-up processing are two ways

of processing a listening text Top-down processing refers to utilizing background knowledge and global understanding as to derive meaning from and interpret the message Bottom-up processing refers to deriving the meaning of the message based

on the incoming language data, from sounds, to words, to grammatical relationships, to meaning

The bottom-up process encourages students to use their knowledge of vocabulary, grammar and sounds to make sense of what they hear while the top-down one enables them to use their background knowledge or what they have already known from life experience and situational routines to predict the meaning However, all the factors like vocabulary, grammar, sounds and background knowledge are very necessary to understand spoken language In an English listening lesson, hence, teachers can use the most suitable process or make a good combination of two processes in certain tasks Of course, students need to be approached with both of them

in order that they can well activate their knowledge of all listening factors involved and finally improve their listening skills

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I.3 Component skills for listening

As mentioned above, listening is an active and complex process, hence it requires much practice of sub-skill combination A lot of components are drawn up by Rost (1994: 142) as:

- discriminating between sounds (phonemes)

- recognizing syllables to identify words

- identifying stressed words and groupings of words

- identifying functions in a conversation

- connecting linguistic cues to paralinguistic cues (intonation and stress) and to non-linguistic cues (gestures and relevant objects in the situation) in order to construct meaning

- using background knowledge and context to predict and then to confirm meaning

- recalling important words, topics and ideas

- giving appropriate feedback to the speaker

- reformulating what the speaker has said

He affirms that “successful listening involves an integration of these component skills In this sense, listening is a co-ordination of the component skills, not the individual skills themselves This integration of these skills constitutes a person’s listening ability” Consequently, it is assumed that the teacher, in teaching listening, need to identify the component skills and design specific tasks and activities that include the use of these component skills

II The concept of listening comprehension tasks

II.1 Definitions

A task is defined in several ways It is a classroom activity or exercise that has

an objective attainable only by the interaction among participants; a mechanism for structuring and sequencing interaction, and a focus on meaning exchange It is also a language learning endeavor that requires learners to comprehend, manipulate, and/or produce the target language as they perform some set of work plans (Lee 2000:32) Besides, the term “task” is used in a specific pedagogic sense to refer to “a unit of teaching/ learning activity which involves relevant instructional variables to be manipulated by the learners using some kind of data” (Rost 1990: 156)

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Language learning tasks are considered units of pedagogic planning in which teachers can identify in advance the factors that are likely to affect learning focus and learning outcomes in classroom activities (Breen 1987, Nunan 1988, 1989) To be more specific, listening comprehension tasks are "language learning activities which require students to do something in response to what they hear that will demonstrate their understanding" (Ur 1984: 25) Candlin (1987), as cited in Rost (1990: 158), suggests that any language learning task should contain six identifiable elements: input, setting and roles, procedures, outcomes, monitoring and feed-back However, Nunan (1989: 48) argues that the framework which combines simplicity with the power to analyze the majority of learning tasks should also incorporate learning goals

He says, “learning goals are the vague general intentions behind any given learning tasks that provide a point of contact between the task and the broader curriculum” So learning tasks should be planned in such a way to attain the specified learning goals According to Harmer J (2007), he claims that choosing listening comprehension tasks

is the key feature in the successful teaching of listening He emphasizes that the best kinds of tasks are those that raise students’ expectations, help them tease out meanings, and provoke an examination of the passage Although using comprehension tasks is a way to test students’ learning, they should be used to help students become better listeners through practice not testing during classroom activities In this sense, listening tasks need to be designed to match the text

This concept of language learning tasks provides useful insights for formal language instruction, as well as for the definition of aspects of listening comprehension development that can be included in the instruction It implies that planning tasks for teaching listening comprehension is useful, because it can clarify teacher’s choices in creating what influences students’ learning

II.2 Types of listening comprehension tasks

Tasks and the text should be matched appropriately To do this well, identifying the types of tasks is very useful Richards (1983: 204, 205) presents some common tasks types in materials They involve in both top-down and bottom-up listening processes In reality, however, it is necessary to use both processes in some types in order for students to get well-done tasks

A Top-down process

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- Transferring: This type involves receiving information in one form and

transferring the information or part of it into another

- Scanning: Listeners must extract selected items by scanning the input in order

to find a specific piece of information

- Predicting: Guessing or predicting outcomes, causes, relationships, and so

forth, based on information presented in a conversation or narrative

B Bottom-up process

- Matching or distinguishing: Choosing a response in written or pictorial form

that corresponds with what was heard

- Transcribing: Listening, and then writing down what was heard Dictation is

the most common example of this activity

- Extending: This type involve going beyond what is provided, such as -

reconstructing a dialogue when alternate lines are missing or providing a conclusion to a story

- Condensing: Reducing what is heard to an outline of main points, such as is

required in taking notes

- Answering: Answering questions from the input Different kinds of questions

will focus on different levels of listening

III The concept of pre-listening activities

III.1 Stages of teaching listening

A listening lesson usually consists of three stages: pre-listening stage, listening stage and post-listening stage

while-III.1.1 Pre-listening stage

This stage is considered as preparatory work because through suitable activities,

it helps students to focus their minds on the topic by narrowing down the things that the students expect to hear and activating relevant knowledge and already known language (Underwood, 1989: 30, 31) She also affirms the importance of this stage: “It

is unfair to plunge students straight into the listening text, even when testing rather than teaching listening comprehension.” Rost (2002: 20) also emphasizes that

“Effective listening tasks often involve an explicit pre-listening step, some activities

that the learner does prior to listening to the main input in order to increase readiness” This stage helps students to get ready for the listening tasks It is designed to activate

III.1.2 While-listening stage

This stage is the time when students listen to the text and do while-listening tasks, the purpose of which is to help learners develop the skills of eliciting messages from spoken language (Underwood, 1989: 45) To achieve this aim, listening comprehension tasks must be chosen carefully in order that they can both meet students’ interests and match the listening text As a result, they can raise students’ motivation in the lesson However, this stage of the listening task is usually the most problematic for the teacher to prepare because it involves designing a task that involves only minimal reading or writing (Rost 2002: 20) In English classroom, it is very important to use listening tasks to check and improve listening skills Hence, teachers need to pay much attention to choose the most suitable tasks in the textbook and design the new ones to make the lesson successful

III.1.3 Post-listening stage

This stage is carried out after the students finish listening through post-listening activities that embrace all the work related to a particular listening text done after the listening is completed Some activities are extensions of the work done at the pre-listening and while-listening stages and some relate only by loosely to the listening text itself (Underwood 1989: 74) She affirms the roles of this stage by stating a lot of its purposes besides to practice for the exam Firstly, it is to check whether the students have understood what they need to understand and whether they have completed whatever while-listening task has been set successfully Secondly, it gives students the opportunity to consider the manner and attitude of the speakers of the listening text Next, it is to expand on the topic or language of the listening text, and perhaps transfer things learned to another context These purposes depend on the tasks designed, so the teachers have to choose the appropriate tasks to achieve the purpose of the lesson

III.2 Definitions of pre-listening activities

As mentioned above, the pre-listening stage plays a very important role when

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teaching listening, so do the activities in this stage Ur (1984) states that teaching listening has been suggested including pre-task period to benefit from tasks The period prior to act on listening tasks, pre-listening phase, is associated to preparation stage in which learners are provided by some activities as a kind of support to help them act on tasks Also defining pre-listening activities as preparation stage, Underwood (1989) says before listening, students should be “tuned in” so that they know what to expect, both in general and for particular tasks This kind of preparatory work is generally described as “pre-listening work” or just “pre-listening.” Chastain (1988) considers pre-listening activities as the most crucial aspects in listening process because other activities depend on the extent to which the teacher has been successful

in activating students’ background and directing them to reach the goal of activity

In short, pre-listening activities give students time to get confident and interested in the lesson thanks to the given knowledge as well as the new one When planning lessons, time must be allocated for pre-listening activities and these activities should not be rushed (Underwood 1989: 31)

III.3 Types of pre-listening activities

Underwood (1989: 31) declares that pre-listening tasks can consist of a variety

of activities, which can help the teacher to focus the students’ minds on the topic by narrowing down the things that the learners anticipate to hear and stimulating relevant previous knowledge and already known language, including:

- the teacher giving background information;

- the students reading something relevant;

- the students looking at pictures;

- discussion of the topic or situation;

- a question and answer session;

- written exercises;

- following the instructions relevant for the while-listening activity;

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

Underwood also states other important roles of these activities: For students without sufficient prior knowledge of the topic, such activities provide a chance to gain some (even if limited) knowledge which will help them to follow the listening text In addition, it is likely that in this kind of pre-listening activity, students will

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actually use the words which they will shortly hear in the text This “bringing to the forefront” of known lexis and syntax will assist them when they come to match what they hear with the store of knowledge

In my study, all pre-listening activities listed by Underwood will be used to survey among students as well as teachers in order to discover their effects on listening comprehension tasks

III.4 Factors affecting the choice of pre-listening activities

There are many types of pre-listening activities Each has their own benefits in

a listening lesson In other words, not all these activities are useful for a specific lesson, so choosing suitable ones is a work which requires a lot of thinking, energy and time as well According to Underwood (1989: 33), the choice of activities depends on

a number of factors:

- the time available;

- the material available;

- the ability of the class;

- the interests of the class;

- the interests of the teacher;

- the place in which the work is being carried out;

- the nature and content of the listening text itself

Then she adds that among these factors, the last one is very important when choosing activities Therefore, teachers first need to pay much more attention to the nature and content of the listening text to design some suitable activities, then consider whether they fit to the other factors to choose the best pre-listening activities

IV Prior studies related to pre-listening activities

Most of studies focus on listening comprehension in general Researchers state the factors that affect listening teaching and learning and suggest methods, procedures, techniques teachers use to teach listening comprehension (Underwood 1989, Ur 1984, Rost 2001, Rixon 1986, Nunan 1998, Moley 1991, Richards 1983) The purpose of the researchers is to help understand the nature of listening and find the ways to improve learners’ listening skills as well as the effectiveness of the teaching process In these studies, of course, most of the researchers focus on the roles of pre-listening activities but they do not mention what activities are the most or least effective to listening

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teaching and learning in classroom environment Based on these theories, a lot of studies are carried out to find the effects of particular pre-listening activities on listening comprehension For example, Elkhafaifi, H (2008) conducts a research on the effect of vocabulary preview and question preview It shows these activities help learners get higher results for the test Similarly, Farrokhi, F (2012) studies the effect

of two pre-task activities (glossary of unknown vocabulary items and content related support) on improvement of Irian EFL learners’ listening comprehension However, the learners’ proficiency level is also the factor to decide the effect of both activities

Theoretical knowledge and prior related studies will be used as the base to conduct my research, one of its objectives is to find out the effects of pre-listening activities on listening comprehension tasks in the training program to non-English major students of grade 10

V Summary

In this chapter, a number of concepts about listening and component skills are given first according to some leading scholars This helps to get to know clearly about the nature of listening Then, the concepts and types of both listening comprehension tasks and pre-listening activities are presented Besides, three stages of teaching listening are also mentioned All presented has helped to form the theoretical and conceptual framework for the study

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CHAPTER II: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

I Background of the study

I.1 The context of English teaching and learning at Bac Ninh Gifted High School

The research was conducted at Bac Ninh Gifted High School, which has been considered the first ranked school of the province because of the teaching and learning achievements that make a great contribution to the education of the province and the nation as well This is due to the good quality of teaching and learning Years ago, there were 27 classes in three forms, each concluded 9 classes named after 9 major subjects: maths, physics, chemistry, informatics, biology, literature, history, geography and English In the last few years, however, one more English class in each form has been present This helps motivate English teaching and learning at school

One problem often raised in specialized high schools is deviation learning It means that the students often focus their learning on their major subject and two related others called sub-major that are used to take part in the university entrance exam In other words, they do not pay much attention to the other subjects called non-major This may be either true or false because attracting students to any subject (major, sub-major or non-major ) much depends on the teaching process To non-English major students, there are a lot of limitations in English learning in classroom, especially listening skills, so it is useful to take account for good techniques in teaching to make students interested in the lesson, then actively participate in it and improve their skills naturally Besides, English teachers need to study more to discover the most suitable and effective methods to listening tasks

I.2 Materials

There are two types of English textbook used in specialized high schools: advanced and standard program The advanced is used for English class (English as major subject) and literature class (English as sub-major subject) The standard is used for the other classes (English as non-major subject)

The textbook “English 10” – standard program- by Hoang Van Van, Hoang Thi Xuan Hoa, Do Tuan Minh, Nguyen Thu Phuong and Nguyen Quoc Tuan is theme-based one including 16 units and 6 Test Yourself sections Each unit mentions a specific topic that is familiar with daily life and consists of five lessons: Reading, Listening, Speaking, Writing and Language Focus Generally, this book aims to

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develop students’ communication competence through the four skills of English learning and consolidate grammar structures through Language Focus According to the syllabus, students have three periods a week for their English class and each period lasts 45 minutes to focus on one lesson As a result, students do not have much time to further practice with other materials prepared by the teachers

I.3 Limitations of a listening lesson in the classroom at Bac Ninh gifted high school

As mentioned above, to non- English major students, the textbook – standard program – is used at higher secondary school in general and at Bac Ninh gifted high school in particular The content of the book consists of many topics that are useful in communication and daily routines Generally, each topic has been developed in one unit which comprises five forty-five minute lessons: reading, speaking, listening, writing, and language focus Of course, all language skills are closely related and practiced during learning, but students and teachers tend to focus on the skills in each lesson, for example, listening skills in the listening lesson So the time to practice listening in the classroom is limited Secondly, the evaluation results of the subject are mainly based on written tests of grammar, vocabulary and reading comprehension or oral tests of previous lessons Therefore, students practice listening in the lessons but

be rarely tested or evaluated This results in the fact that students do not pay much attention to the listening skills and it is very difficult to have a good listening lesson in the classroom Students take part in the lesson passively Thirdly, non-English major students are considered as those who are not good at English listening

Next, in the classroom, there are some problems discouraging students’ participation in the lesson They are poor quality of equipments such as cassette players and CDs, the difficult tasks, unfamiliar topics, and noise Last but not least, the way to conduct a listening lesson is sometimes not suitable to the content of the lesson

or the students’ ability

II Research methods

II.1 Participants

Subjects of the study consist of both teachers of English and students that study

English as a non-major subject

In terms of teachers, there are 7 female teachers of English at Bac Ninh gifted

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high school aged from 27 to 48 participating in the study All of them have been teaching non-English major students and they have been discovering the most effective techniques to help students improve their English Five of whom have got M.A degree and they have a lot of experience in teaching non-English major students

The participants for the study also consist of 105 tenth form non-English major students from five classes: 10 Maths, 10 Physics, 10 Informatics, 10 Biology and 10 History-Geography All of them have learnt English at least for six years However,

their ability of using English is not the same

II.2 Data collection instrumentations

Survey questionnaires (Appendix 1) were delivered to both teachers and students

The questionnaire for the teachers is written in English and includes 10 questions, both closed and open –ended These questions aim at finding out the teachers’ opinions about pre-listening activities in general and activities in “Textbook 10” in specific; the frequency the teachers use pre-listening activities and teaching techniques to carry them out in a listening lesson; and their opinions to improve the effectiveness of pre-listening activities on listening comprehension tasks

The questionnaire for the students is written in Vietnamese in order that they can clearly understand the content of the questions and the answers given To open questions, they can write their answers in Vietnamese also There are 10 questions for students to answer to show their attitudes towards the importance of pre-listening activities; to show their preferences to types of activities and their opinions about the effects of them on listening comprehension tasks

Interviews (Appendix 2): Some interview questions are raised for both teachers and

students to get better insights into research questions The interviews include 6 questions for 5 out of 7 teachers and other 6 items for 30 students during break time While teachers and students give their answers, the researcher takes notes to key points All of the interview questions are about the same matters as shown in questionnaires

Class observation (Appendix 3) was carried out to have realistic investigation into the

problems raised in the study Four listening lessons in four research participation classes, each lasting 45 minutes, were observed and recorded All the activities of teachers and students, along with the interaction between them were written down

subjects and instruments of the study are also clearly stated

I Questionnaires

I.1 The questionnaire for the teachers

I.1.1 Teachers’ opinions about the importance of pre-listening activities

Item Number of the teachers Percentages (%)

Table 1: Teachers’ opinions about the importance of pre-listening activities

Being teachers of foreign languages in schools, all of them are clearly aware of the great importance of pre-listening activities All seven teachers often start a listening lesson by leading students to the topic of the listening text through some pre-listening activities and 6 out of 7 teachers find that they are very necessary and the other find them necessary This can be explained that all teachers have got to know many roles or purposes of pre-listening activities

I.1.2 Teachers’ opinions about the purposes of pre-listening activities

A To generate students’ interests in the lesson

B To provide students with new words/ phrases/ structures that appear in the listening text

C To help students acquire background knowledge about the topic

D To help students to guess the topic of the text

E To help students to brainstorm for the details of the text

F To get students involved in pair/ group work

G To make students more confident before listening to the text

H To help students obtain better results of listening tasks.

Chart 1: Teachers’ opinions about the purposes of pre-listening activities

As can be seen from the chart, all the purposes mentioned are chosen At least three roles are agreed by all of the teachers While all 7 teachers show that pre-

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listening activities can provide students with new words/ phrases / structures that appear in the listening text, which proves the key role as well as the key factor when listening is the store of vocabulary and grammar Next, 6 out of 7 teachers agree that pre-listening activities can generate students’ interests in the lesson and help students obtain better results of listening tasks Most of non-English major students find listening a very difficult skill, so the interest in the listening lesson plays an important part in the success of the lesson Moreover, in the classroom lesson, teachers can appreciate the students’ ability to listen through the tasks in the textbook Being experienced teachers, they find the results of the tasks are better thanks to suitable pre-listening tasks The other roles such as helping students acquire background knowledge about the topic, guessing the topic of the text, brainstorming for the details

of the text, etc., on average, are chosen by half of the teachers

I.1.3 Teachers’ frequency of using pre-listening activities

Chart 2: Teachers’ frequency of using pre-listening activities

According to the chart, pre-teaching vocabulary and grammar structures is always used in listening lessons by 6 teachers and the other often uses it This fits with teachers’ opinions about the purposes of pre-listening activities that is to provide students with new words and structures In listening, catching the key words and understanding the main ideas is greatly based on the listeners’ store of vocabulary and structures Questioning is the other activity always used but only by one teacher It is also often used by other teachers The five others sometimes use it Perhaps questions and answers are familiar with both teachers and students in each lesson Next, although no teacher always asks students to guess the topic of the text but 6 of them

pre-I.1.4 Teachers’ frequency of using techniques for pre-teaching vocabulary and grammar structures

Chart 3: Teachers’ frequency of using techniques for pre-teaching vocabulary and grammar structures

Looking at the table above, we can see that giving English explanation and definition in easier ways is used by all seven teachers: one always, two often and the others sometimes As teachers of English, we both provide the meanings of new words and structures and help students review the ones they have already known or learnt To pre-teach vocabulary, contexts, pictures/ real objects, translation, and small exercises are often used by 6, 5, 3, 2 out of 7 teachers respectively Like using explanation, contexts in sentences and situations are often used to encourage students to find out the new meanings from whatever they know Pictures or other visual aids are useful for guessing the meaning of the words because they are connected to the things in daily life However, there is one teacher that never uses this technique May be, it is time-consuming to prepare these objects Besides, synonyms/ antonyms are sometimes used

by five teachers and the others rarely or never use them This can be resulted from small store of vocabulary of non-English major students

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I.1.5 Teachers’ frequency of using techniques for working in pairs/ groups

Chart 4: Teachers’ frequency of using techniques for working in pairs/ groups

The chart indicates that asking and answering is the technique frequently used in pair/ group work because there is no teacher that rarely or never uses it All of them carry out this technique with different frequency: always (1 teacher), often (3 teachers)

or sometimes (3 teachers) While there are 2 teachers who rarely ask students to work

in pairs/ groups to do guided exercises and discuss a topic/ a picture/ and 2 teachers never ask to discuss The reason may be the teachers’ purposes in each activity They will apply when they feel it is suitable

I.1.6 Teachers’ frequency of using techniques for brainstorming for the details of the text

Chart 5: Teachers’ frequency of using techniques for brainstorming for the details of the text

The chart shows that almost techniques are used to help students brainstorm for the details of the text Teachers use all except for relevant reading materials with the frequency from always to sometimes while there are two teachers always using the title of the topic and true/ false statements to activate students’ thinking In terms of materials to read, it is not easy to find out the text or passage that is both related to the listening text and suitable to the students’ levels and knowledge, so there are only two teachers that sometimes use this technique and the others rarely or never use it

True/ False statements

materials

Always Often Sometimes Rarely Never

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I.1.7 Teachers’ frequency of using techniques for introducing the topic

Chart 6: Teachers’ frequency of using techniques for introducing the topic

We can see from the chart that all techniques mentioned are chosen to introduce the topic of the listening text However, only using games is always applied to do this

by two teachers that consider games as a means of motivating students’ participation

in the lesson as well as in the guessing of the topic Besides, the traditional way to state the topic directly is still popular among teachers Two teachers often use it and the others sometimes do This may help students get to know the topic they are going

to listen to Next, using audio-visual aids and relevant reading materials are the two techniques that are rarely or never used by the largest number of teachers (4 and 3 respectively) This can be explained by the difficulty in searching and designing audio-visual aids and reading materials relevant as well

I.1.8 Teachers’ frequency of using techniques for questioning

Chart 7: Teachers’ frequency of using techniques for questioning

Looking at the chart, we can clearly see that tag questions, not often used to raise questions, are not the suitable choice because only one teacher uses this type while the

Tag questions

Always Often Sometimes Rarely Never

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other six teachers rarely or never use it Next, MCQs are also rarely used by three teachers The others sometimes use them Perhaps, this type of questions requires much time to prepare The other types, wh-word and yes-no questions, considered more popular, are also frequently used

I.1.9 Teachers’ frequency of using techniques for previewing tasks

Chart 8: Teachers’ frequency of using techniques for previewing tasks

The tasks of the lesson are, of course, closely related to the content of the listening text, so pre-viewing them is a good way to guess the text However, not all of the tasks should be pre-viewed because it takes us a lot of time As can be seen in the

chart, 6 teachers rarely or never ask students to pre-view the tasks in After you listen

while only one sometimes does this activity These tasks may not be much connected with the details of the text and pre-viewing these may not be helpful to guess the text Then, the first listening task is useful 3 teachers often and three others sometimes ask students to pre-view this task Whereas, there is still one teacher that never carries out this technique This may come from the fact that the first listening task does not cover all the content of the listening text As a result, pre-viewing all of the listening tasks can be effective All the teachers ask their students to pre-view these tasks

I.1.10 Teachers’ frequency of using pre-listening activities in the textbook

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The table shows that pre-listening activities in the textbook are frequently used because all of the teachers agree that they bring positive effects on listening comprehension tasks in the textbook as can be seen from the chart 9 below However, that only one always uses these activities refers to the need to design more activities that are really suitable to the lessons and to the students as well

Chart 9: Teachers’ opinions about the effects of pre-listening activities on listening comprehension tasks in the textbook “English 10

I.2 The questionnaire for the students

I.2.1 Students’ opinions about the importance of pre-listening activities

Chart 10: Students’ opinions about the importance of pre-listening activities

Like teachers, students are clearly aware of the importance of pre-listening activities 42% of the students agree that they are very important and more than a half find them important They are sure these activities help them understand the text more easily and they also make the lesson more interesting However, there is still one student that considers these activities not important This can be explained that for this student, the pre-listening activities do not bring real benefits to the students as well as

42%

54%

4%

Very important Important Not important at all