Some common listening problems of can tho university first year english majors and some suggestions

CAN THO UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION ENGLISH DEPARMENT SOME COMMON LISTENING PROBLEMS OF CAN THO UNIVERSITY FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH-MAJORS AND Trung tâm Học liệu ĐHSOME Cần SUGGESTIONS Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu B.A Thesis Supervisor: Trần Thị Sáu M.A Student: Nguyễn Kim Thảo Student code: 7032577 Class: NN0354A4 Course: 29 Can Tho, June 2007 Some common listening problems Can Tho University first-year Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu English-majors often have and some suggestions ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work would not have been possible without the assistance provided by many people So, I would like to send my sincere thanks to Ms Tran Thi Sau, my thesis supervisor, for her enthusiasm and vision throughout this thesis; Mr Dao Minh Trung for his many useful feedback as second-reader; Mr Huynh Van Hien for his encouragement for fulfillment of this thesis; Mr Trinh Quoc Lap and Mr Tran Minh Tuan for their useful help with performing descriptive statistical analysis in SPSS and also for their support for this thesis; Mr Huynh Trung Nghia, Ms Nguyen Thi Anh Tho, Mr Daniel James White and their classes for their fully devoted cooperation in this thesis for data collection My family and my friends – thanks for the support, sacrifice and putting up with me during all this Errors and omissions that remain are, of course, mine alone Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu i TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CHARTS AND FIGURES v NOMENCLATURE / LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .vi ABSTRACT CHAPTER INTRODUCTION .3 1.1 Rationale .3 1.1.1 Background 1.1.2 Personal-Experience 1.2 Research question and research aims 1.3 Thesis organization .6 CHAPTER Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition of listening 2.2 Kinds of listening 2.3 Definition of a problem 10 2.4 Definition of listening problem 11 2.5 Common kinds of listening problems 12 2.5.1 Study strategies .11  Mother tongue influence 12  Word-by-word listening and word-by-word taking note 12  Closed-mindedness listen 13 ii 2.5.2 Psychological base .14  Intellectual despair .14  False attention 14  Stress 15 2.2.3 Physiological base 15 2.2.4 Linguistic knowledge 16 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 17 3.1 Design .17 3.2 Participants and Context 17 3.3 Data collection techniques and procedure 19 Trung tâm liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên19cứu  Học Recorded Interviews with teachers and students  Questionnaires for students 19  Classroom observation 20 CHAPTER RESULTS 21 4.1 Questionnaires analysis .22 4.1.1 The importance of solving listening problems 22 4.1.2 Common kinds of listening problems 23 4.2.3 Solutions for listening problems 26 iii 4.2 Interview analysis .27 4.2.1 The importance of solving listening problems 27 4.2.2 Common kinds of listening problems 27 4.3 Observation analysis 28 CHAPTER DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS 29 5.1 Discussion .29 5.1.1 Research question 29 5.1.2 Research aim 30 5.1.3 Some suggestions for listening problems 30 5.1.3.1 Study strategies .31  Mother tongue influence 31  Word-by-word listening and note taking .31  Closed-mindedness listen 31 Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu 5.1.3.2 Psychological and physiological base .32  Intellectual despair and False attention 32  Stress .33 5.1.3.3 Linguistic base 33 5.2 Limitation .34 5.3 Suggestions .34 iv CHAPTER CONCLUSION 35 APPENDICES 36 Appendix A: Questionnaire (English) 36 Questionnaire (Vietnamese) .39 Appendix B: Observation Sheet .42 Appendix C: Questions For Interview 45 PROTOCOL 46 REFERENCES 50 Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu v LIST OF CHARTS, TABLES AND FIGURES Figure 1: Bottom-up vs top-down processing, a brick-wall analogy Figure 2: The policy cycle 10 Chart 1: The importance of solving listening problems 22 Table 1: Reliability Statistics of Questionnaires 23 Table 2: Descriptive statistics of general listening problems 23 Chart 2: The comparative of kinds of listening problems 24 Table 3: Descriptive statistics of kinds of listening problems 25 Chart 3: The comparative between kinds of listening problems solutions 26 Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu vi NOMENCLATURE / LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CTU Can Tho University SLA Second Language Acquisition SD Standard Deviation L1 Native language L2 Foreign language VN Vietnam Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu vii Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu Listening problems and solutions 21 To what extent, you think solving listening problems is: a Very important b Important c Have no idea d Not important e Not important at all 22 Which solutions you apply to overcome your listening problems: a Try to locate the clues to the meaning of the main ideas b Base on what you are listening to; guess what is unsaid and the speaker bias c Identifying the ―big ideas‖ _ the fundamental concepts or key ideas _ that help you understand the whole passage Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu d Skip these unknown lexis or terms, which make you panic, and try to listen to the next useful passage, which may interests you more e Keep calm and take note the main ideas f Train listening at your most appropriate time in a day and choose your most interested topics g Try to guess strange grammar structures, lexical devices h All the above Thanks for your hearted cooperation! 38 Listening problems and solutions Khóa:………………… Lớp: ………………… CÂU HỎI PHỎNG VẤN Hãy đánh dấu vào ô có câu trả lời thích hợp với bạn Mọi thông tin bạn giữ kín 1: 2: 3: thường thường Khi nghe đoạn băng đàm thoại lớp 4: thường 5:luôn 1) Tôi cố gắng dịch hầu hết nghe sang tiếng Việt 2) Tôi cố gắng nghe từ ghi lại Trung tâm Họcđược liệuchoĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu nghe dù có quan trọng hay không 3) Tôi cảm thấy mệt mỏi, chán nản nên tập trung vào nghe 4) Tôi giả vờ hiểu cách gật đầu hay giao tiếp mắt với giáo viên 5) Tôi cảm thấy căng thẳng (stress) làm tập trung 6) Tôi thường mắc lỗi khả nghe có vấn đề (bệnh lý bẩm sinh làm nghe không rõ) 39 Listening problems and solutions 7) Kỹ nghe không cao khả tập trung 8) Tôi đãng trí nên cần nghe lại vài lần 9) Tôi hay nhầm lẫn từ có âm gần giống 10) Tôi thường không hiểu nghĩa đoạn người nói lên xuống giọng 11) Tôi thiếu kiến thức từ vựng 12) Tôi thiếu kiến thức loại cấu trúc câu 13) Đôi tâm khi, cảm liệu thấy ngại phát Trung Học ĐH(mắc Cầncỡ)Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu biểu ý kiến 14) Tôi ý nghe kỹ từ để nắm rõ ý làm tập 15) Tôi học từ vựng hay cấu trúc câu nghe lạI không nhớ 16) Trí nhớ không tốt nên hay quên mớI nghe 17) Có nhiều cấu trúc câu lạ làm không hiểu 18) Tôi ngạI phát biểu ý kiến sợ ý kiến 40 Listening problems and solutions không 19) Tôi tập trung nghe tốt vào thờI gian định ngày 20) Khả phát âm, lên xuống giọng chưa xác Câu hỏi phụ: 21 Bạn nghĩ việc khắc phục vấn đề gặp phải môn nghe là: a Rất quan trọng b Quan trọng c Không có ý kiến d Bình thường Trung tâm Học liệue ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu Không quan trọng 22 Bạn thường dùng phương pháp để khắc phục vấn đề gặp phải môn nghe? (bạn đánh dấu nhiều câu trả lời phần này) a Kết nối kiện nghe với nội dung b Dựa vào nghe đoán ý người nói c Cố gắng tìm ý d Lướt qua phần không nghe (không hiểu) để nghe phần e Tự trấn tĩnh thân ghi nhanh nội dung nghe f Chỉ luyện nghe vào lúc minh mẫn nghe chủ đề yêu thích g Cố gắng đoán nghĩa cấu trúc, từ vựng, thuật ngữ lạ h Tất phương pháp Chân thành cảm ơn hợp tác bạn! 41 Listening problems and solutions Appendix B OBSERVATION SHEET Class: _ Date: Classroom Teacher: _ Task and activity Yes Neutral No Duration  Length of recorded listening task  Number of days studying listening per week Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu Class Membership  Number of students in classroom  Number of students with disabilities in class Physical Features  Is the classroom free of hazards?  Is the lighting acceptable?  Is there ample room for the number of people present?  Do learning materials and equipment appear to be adequate?  Is there a "private place" in the classroom where 42 Listening problems and solutions students may go if they feel over-stimulated? Academic Features  Are there minimum competency levels for students in this classroom?  Are students taught at their developmental levels, or are all expected to accomplish the same task? Seating Routines  Do students ever sit at small groups?  Do students at any time during the day sit in assigned seats? Instruction and Feedback Routines Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu  Are teachers or tape recording voice loud and clearly enough?  Are students told exactly how and why to perform an upcoming activity, or are they expected to infer the procedure?  When are students given feedback on their work? 43 Listening problems and solutions Independent Work Routines  Are students expected to follow sequenced directions given at a previous time?  What instructional terms are students expected to understand in order to work independently?  What are students expected to when the assigned task is finished? Classroom Interaction  Do students make eye contact and take note when listening?  Is there any time when students are allowed to work cooperatively? Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu  How long are students expected to listen and converse in a large group setting? Attention-and Assistance-Seeking Routines  Do students raise their hand to answer in a group situation?  Are students able to speak out answers without being called upon? Adapted from: Bridging Early Services Transition Project, McPherson, KS (1991) 44 Listening problems and solutions Appendix C QUESTIONS FOR INTERVIEW  For students: Why you think listening is a difficult subject? Why you think solving listening problems is important? What problems you think you usually have? How can you overcome it (them)?  For teachers: Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu Why you think listening is a difficult subject? Why you think solving listening problems is important? What listening problems your students usually have? How you help them to overcome it (them)? 45 Listening problems and solutions PROTOCOL  To teachers: Questions Teachers‘ answers 1.Why you think  Mr Jason: totally agree listening is a difficult subject listening is a difficult  Practice time and listening concentration in high school not subject? enough, so students lack of listening background knowledge  Lack of practice environment (communicate with foreigners, practice listening to tape recording or radio)  Lack of classroom practice time (general training curriculum)  Mr Ivan: totally agree  Restriction of Vietnamese teachers Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu  Lack of high school listening practice  Ms Rachel: totally agree  Lack of high school listening practice  Lack of classroom practice time (general training curriculum)  Mr Fred: totally agree  Second language learning (strange, unknown expectation)  Cannot review Why you think  Mr Jason: totally agree solving listening  Help students overcome their own problems, improve listening problems is skill 46 Listening problems and solutions important?  Limit imparting wrong knowledge  Mr Ivan: partly agree  Teach skill only self-practice at home  Students self-finding problems since time limited  Ms Rachel: totally agree  Students listening skill improvement  Mr Fred: agree  Essential means of communication, discouraged confidence if not master it What listening  Mr Jason: problems your  Lack of linguistic knowledge studentstâm usuallyHọc liệu  Psychological (confused, stress study cứu Trung ĐH Cầnbase Thơ@Tài liệu since họctime tậpand vàplace nghiên have? arrangement, amount of training curriculum)  Physiological base (crowded classroom, tape-recording quality)  Study strategy (mother tongue influence (maybe), word-by-word listening, full sentence take note, passive minded listening)  Methods of teaching (adapt not adopt)  Mr Ivan:  Almost never practice listening in high school  Stress (afraid)  Study aptitudes (lack of listening practice at home, prefer entertain study activity, listen many times (above times), mother 47 Listening problems and solutions tongue influence, word-by-word) Listen times: 30%-40%  Teacher feeling affecting students ability  Ms Rachel:  Lack of listening practice in high school  Linguistic and Culture  Lack of condition for home practice (tape-recording, radio, TV)  Limited teaching time  Mother tongue (some), listen above times: 70% for interaction  Mr Fred:  Linguistic (new lexical, expression)  Get lost from try to guessing Trung tâm Học liệu ĐHmind Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu  Wander (close minded listening)  Speed of talk (cannot recognize words, terms…get lost)  Vietnamese speaker of English, Vietnamese style of teaching and speaking  Word-by-word listening How you help  Mr Jason: them to overcome it  Search for good quality tape-recording (them)?  Apply suitable methods of teaching based students‘ basis knowledge and study tasks arrangement  Teach take note method (sometimes)  Mr Ivan: 48 Listening problems and solutions  Create more listening motivation for practicing listening task at home (Listen for it, Let‘s talk 1)  Teach guessing in listening, advice more practice in classroom and at home  Ms Rachel:  Recommend reference listening books (Learning to listen, Basis tactics for listening)  Create listening homework habit  Video – students feedback (interesting, listen for main idea, practice pronunciation)  Extra practice periods class  Mr Fred: Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu  Make students engage in practice activity in class  Practice active, critical listening in class (listening for content, main ideas, critical guessing)  Correct boring teaching style (change activity, refresh minds)  The names of the four teachers are fictitious 49 Listening problems and solutions REFERENCES Ali, S Hasan (2005) Learners’ Perceptions of Listening Comprehension Problems Damascus University, Damascus, Syria Anderson, A & Lynch, T (1988) Listening Oxford University Press Bernard, Spolsky (1989) Conditions for second language learning Oxford University Press Brown, G (1990) Listening to spoken language (2nd edition) Longman Group UK Ltd Carla W., (2003) Environmental Science and Policy Northern Illinois University Press Carol, J Evans (1999) Listening skills Retrieved from http://dl.clackamas.cc.or.us/os11class/LearningSkills/listenskills.htm Costas, G (1998) Receptive skills with young learners Retrieved from Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu http://www.gabrielatos.com/ReceptiveSkillsWithYL.htm Harmer, J (1998) How to Teaching English Essex: Pearson Education Limited Hedge, T (2000) Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom Oxford: Oxford University Press Henry L Roediger (2004) Memory (psychology) Retrieved from Encarta e-learning Hong Nhung, Nguyen T (2006) CTU English-majored Students’ Perceptions of Error Correction in Speaking Can Tho University Press Howard, C (1999) The professor in the classroom Retrieved from http://home.snu.edu/~HCULBERT/listen.htm James J Messina & Constance Messina (2006) ImprovingListening Skills Retrieved from Encarta e-learning 50 Listening problems and solutions Jeremy, Harmer (1998) How to teach English Wesley Longman Krashen, S (1981) Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning New York: Pergamon Lynch, T (1996) Communication in the Language Classroom Oxford: Oxford University Press Marc Helgesen & Steven Brown (1995) Active Listening introducing skills for understanding Cambride university press Mendelsohn & J Rubin (n.d.) A Guide for the Teaching of Second Language Listening California: Dominie Press Inc Mendelsohn, D J (1994) Learning to Listen: A Strategy Based Approach for the Second Language Learner San Diego: Dominie Press Mendelsohn, D J (1995) Applying learning strategies in the second/foreign language listening Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu comprehension lesson California: Dominie Press Inc Mind Tools (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.mindtools.com/CommSkll/OvercomingChallenges.htm Minh Nguyet, Nguyen (2004) How to teach listening with the book “Kickstart” effectively? Can Tho University Press Mort, O (1995) Keys to Listening That Will Win You Friends, Improve Your Marriage, Boost Your Profits, And Make People Want To Follow You Anywhere! Retrieved from http://www.stresscure.com/relation/7keys.html Nancy, F (2004) Improving listening skills Retrieved from http://www.connectionsmagazine.com/articles/4/061.html 51 Listening problems and solutions Nobuko, Osada (2004) Listening comprehension research: a brief review of the past thirty years Retrieved from http://talkaseda.net/dialogue/no03_2004/2004dialogue03_k4.pdf Nunan, D (1989) Designing Tasks for the Communicative Class Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Rost, M (1991) Listening in Action London: Prentice Hall Rost, M (1990) Listening in language learning Essex: Longman Tomatis, (2007) The listening center Advanced treatment for listening, communicating and learning Retrieved from Encarta e-learning Underwood, M (1989) Teaching Listening Essex: Longman Ur, Penny (1984) Teaching listening comprehension Cambridge University Press Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu Ur, Penny (1996) A course in language teaching Cambridge University Press Van Hien, Huynh (2006) English Language Teaching in Vietnam: A Comparison of Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices, and Students’ Perceptions Michigan State University Press 52 [...]... read a lot of research articles and books discussing about common listening problems those students who study English as a foreign language usually have These problems are very similar to those that CTU English- majors have Thus, my research had two aims: In the short-term, my aim is to investigate the common listening problems that CTU firstyear English- majors usually experience and my suggestions. .. solutions CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 3.1 Design My research question is ―What are common listening problems that first year Englishmajored students often have?‖ and the research aim is to find out the solutions for those problems Thus, revealing the nature of listening skills in studying English, surveys were used to gain insight into CTU first year English- majored students‘ common listening problems These included... of CTU first- year English- majored students‘ level and problems A total of 140 CTU first year English- majored students of the course 32 were involved in this research through questionnaires and 8 of those were interviewed are among them The students‘, aged from 18 to 22, had Vietnamese as their first language and came from various provinces (both city and country side) in the South of Vietnam Most of. .. highly listening skill in their study and daily life If they do not care about listening skill, they would not concern much about listening problems and solving listening problems Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu 0% 29% IMPORTANT VERY IMPORTANT 71% Chart 1: The importance of solving listening problems 22 Listening problems and solutions 4.1.2 Common kinds of listening problems. .. means that the students in general have listening problems to some degree This result is completely reasonable for the former result inferred from chart 1 (the importance of solving listening problems) i.e first- year English- majored students trend to have listening problems in their study 23 Listening problems and solutions THE COMPARATIVE OF KINDS OF LISTENING PROBLEMS 5 3.57 3.07 2.91 2.92 4 3 SCALE... explore and indicate the comparative trends among participants‘ kinds of listening problems and their solutions My research question is ―What are common listening problems that first year English- majored students often have?‖ and my research aim will answer for the question ―What are the solutions for those listening problems? ‖ so the results are presented in sub-topics as discussed in the procedure of. .. various SLA researchers in the field of listening problems and my own experiences lead me to the implementation of this thesis 1.2 Research question and research aims My research will answer the question: ―What are common listening problems that first year English- majored students often have?‖ and my research aim is to find out some suitable solutions for these listening problems Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần... relating to English- majored students‘ listening problems and their solutions First of all, interviews were conducted and recorded with four teachers of English to look for their experience about their students‘ listening problems and their solutions to help their students overcome that matter At the end of the collecting data part (after collecting questionnaires), eight randomly academic first year English- majored... comparative of kinds of listening problems Having a deep look through each kind of listening problems (table 3), we see that the Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu most common kinds of listening problems students usually caught in are linguistics base knowledge (Mean: 3.57, Std.: 68) and study strategies (Mean: 3.07, Std.: 98) Certainly, the least common kind of listening problems. .. four English- majors classes to know the way of teaching and learning listening; ways students interact with their teachers; and problems they have and their attempt to solve them Finally, the questionnaires were analyzed to determine the reliability of this research Furthermore, a comparison has been made between the hypotheses (common listening problems of others scientists) and these students‘ problems