A study on the reality of teaching listening skills to second year non english major students at hanoi university of industry relevant problems and some suggested solutions

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES -  - ĐỖ KIM THUỲ A STUDY ON THE REALITY OF TEACHING LISTENING SKILLS TO SECOND-YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY: RELEVANT PROBLEMS AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS Nghiên cứu thực trạng dạy kỹ nghe cho sinh viên không chuyên năm thứ trường Đại học Công nghiệp Hà Nội: Khó khăn số giải pháp đề xuất M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HA NOI – 2015 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES -  - ĐỖ KIM THUỲ A STUDY ON THE REALITY OF TEACHING LISTENING SKILLS TO SECOND-YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY: RELEVANT PROBLEMS AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS Nghiên cứu thực trạng dạy kỹ nghe cho sinh viên không chuyên năm thứ trường Đại học Cơng nghiệp Hà Nội: Khó khăn số giải pháp đề xuất M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: PhD Mai Thi Loan HA NOI – 2015 DECLARATION I certify that the minor thesis entitled “A study on the reality of teaching listening skills to second-year non-English major students at Hanoi University of Industry: Relevant problems and some suggested solutions” is my own work and has not been submitted in any form for another degree to any other university or institution Hanoi, November 2015 Do Kim Thuy i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In the completion of this thesis, I have received valuable supports from many individuals and groups First and foremost, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Mrs Mai Thi Loan, PhD for providing careful guidance, thorough encouragement, valuable comments and constructive supervision throughout my study Without her deliberate help, my thesis would not have been completed I would like to show my sincere thanks to all the lecturers who have been engaged in teaching K22 M.A course for their precious lectures My special thanks also go to my colleagues and students at Hanoi University of Industry for willingly participating in the study Furthermore, I owe my great acknowledgment to my parents, my husband, my son and my friends who unceasingly gave me encouragement and support throughout the study Eventually, this research has been fulfilled to the best of my knowledge; however, mistakes and shortcomings are unavoidable Therefore, I exceedingly appreciate comments and suggestions from any readers for the perfection of this work Hanoi, November 2015 Do Kim Thuy ii ABSTRACT This study was conducted to investigate the reality of teaching listening skills at Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI) To collect relatively objective information, a combination of both qualitative and quantitative approaches was used Data collection instruments consisted of questionnaires- one for teachers and one for students, and class observations The findings pointed out that teachers and secondyear non-English major students at HaUI were encountering many difficulties in teaching and learning listening such as students’ low listening competency, students’ limited vocabulary and students’ poor background knowledge Some suggestions were made by the teachers and the students to improve the current situation of teaching listening skills at HaUI including using different motivating activities to motivate students; having students work in pairs/groups and different tasks and guiding students what and how to without understanding all the text At last, the researcher gave some recommendations for effective listening lessons iii LIST OF ABBRIVIATION EFL: English as foreign language HaUI: Hanoi university of Industry iv LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES Page Chart 1: The importance of teaching listening skills 16 Chart 2: Teaching aids used in listening lessons 18 Chart 3: Exercises often used at while-listening stage 21 Chart 4: Activities often used at post-listening stage 22 Chart 5: Teaching procedures followed by teachers 22 Chart 6: Stages often omitted in listening classes 23 Chart 7: Reasons for teachers' omission 23 Chart 8: Students’ evaluation of the listening skill 27 Chart 9: The importance of learning listening skills 27 Chart 10: Students’ assessment towards listening topics in the textbook 28 Chart 11: Level of difficulty of listening tasks in the textbook 28 Chart 12: Students' favorite activities in listening classes 29 Table 1: Listening strategies employed by teachers 17 Table 2: Frequency of organizing pre-listening activities 19 Table 3: Frequency of organizing while-listening activities 20 Table 4: Teachers’ adaptation of listening sections in the textbook 24 Table 5: Teachers’ difficulties in teaching listening skills 25 Table 6: Teachers’ suggested solutions 26 Table 7: Students’ difficulties in learning listening skills 30 Table 8: Students’ suggested solutions 31 Table 9: Teacher’s preparation 32 Table 10: Teachers’ presentation 33 Table 11: Teacher and students’ interaction 34 v TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLE v TABLE OF CONTENS vi PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study .1 Aims of the study Research questions Scope of the study Methods of the study Significance of the study Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW .4 1.1 Definition of listening 1.2 Significance of listening 1.3 Process of listening 1.3.1 Bottom-up listening process .5 1.3.2 Top-down listening process 1.4 Stages of a listening lesson 1.4.1 Pre-listening stage 1.4.2 While-listening stage 1.4.3 Post-listening stage 1.5 Potential problems in listening 1.5.1 The message .9 1.5.2 The speaker .10 1.5.3 The listener .10 vi 1.5.4 Physical setting .11 1.6 Summary 11 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 12 2.1 The context .12 2.1.1 The University 12 2.1.2 The English course and its objectives at HaUI 12 2.2 Participants 12 2.2.1 The teachers 12 2.2.2 The students 13 2.3 Data collection instruments 13 2.3.1 Questionnaires 13 2.3.2 Class observation 14 2.4 Data collection procedure .14 2.5 Data analysis method 15 2.6 Summary 15 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION .16 3.1 Findings from questionnaire for the teachers .16 3.1.1 The importance of teaching listening skills 16 3.1.2 Teachers’ methodology and strategies of teaching listening 16 3.1.2.1 Listening strategies 16 3.1.2.2 Teaching aids used in listening lessons .17 3.1.3 Activities in listening lessons 19 3.1.3.1 Pre-listening stage .19 3.1.3.2 While-listening stage 20 3.1.3.3 Post-listening stage 22 3.1.3.4 Teaching procedures of a listening lesson 22 3.1.3.5 Teachers’ adaptation of listening sections in the textbook 24 3.1.4 Teachers’ difficulties in teaching listening skills 25 3.1.5 Teachers’ suggestions for better teaching listening skills .26 3.2 Findings from questionnaire for the students .27 vii 3.2.1 Students’ attitudes towards listening learning 27 3.2.1.1 Evaluation of the listening skill 27 3.2.1.2 The importance of listening skills .27 3.2.2 Evaluation and assessment on listening sections in the textbook 28 3.2.2.1 Listening topics in the textbook 28 3.2.2.2 Listening tasks in the textbook 28 3.2.3 Students’ difficulties in learning listening skills 30 3.2.4 Students’ suggestions for better learning listening skills .31 3.3 Findings from class observations 32 3.3.1 Teacher’s preparation .32 3.3.2 Teacher’s presentation 33 3.3.3 Teacher and students’ interaction 34 3.4 Discussion of the findings 36 3.5 Summary 38 PART C: CONCLUSION 39 Recapitulation .39 Implications 40 2.1 For the school administrations 40 2.2 For the teachers 40 2.3 For the students 41 Limitations of the study .42 Suggestions for further research .42 REFERENCES .43 APPENDICES I Appendix A : Questionnaire for teachers I Appendix B : Questionnaire for students (English version) VI Appendix C : Questionnaire for students (Vietnamese version) IX Appendix D: Classroom observation checklist XII viii REFERENCES Abbas, P.G (2011) A study of factors affecting EFL learners' English listening comprehension and the strategies for improvement Journal of language teaching and research, Volume 2, Issue 5, p.977-988 Academy publisher manufactured in Finland Arono, A (2014) Improving students listening skill through interactive multimedia in Indonesia Journal of language teaching and research, Volume 5, Issue 1, p.63-69 Barker, L., Edwards, R., Gaines, C., Gladney, K., & Holley, F (1980) An investigation of proportional time spent in various communication activities by college students Journal of applied communication research, 8, p.101-110 Brown, S (2006) Teaching listening Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Buck, G (2001) Assessing listening Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Celce-Murcia & Marianne (2001) Teaching English as a second or foreign language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Christine, C M G., & Vahid, A (2015) Examining the notion of listening subskill divisibility and its implications for second language listening International journal of listening, Volume 29, Issue 3, p.109-133 Coakley, C., & Wolvin, A (1997) Listening in the educational environment In M Purdy & D Borisoff (Eds.) Listening in everyday life: A personal and professional approach (2nd ed.) (p.179-212) Lanham, MD: University Press of America Đào Thị Ngân (2012) The reality of teaching and learning English listening skills in grade 10 at Yen Mo B High School, Ninh Binh province Unpublished MA Thesis, ULIS, VNU 10 Franca, F B., Rosanne, V., & Barbara, L (2015) Fostering and assessing critical listening skills in the speech course International journal of listening, Volume 5, Issue 3, p.161-169 Oxford Press 43 11 Gilbert, M B (1988) Listening in school: I know you can hear me- but are you listening? Journal of the international listening association.2 p.121132 12 Hasan, A.S (1993) Methodology of teaching English Damascus: Damacus University 13 Hedge, T (2000) Teaching and learning in the language classroom Oxford: Oxford University Press 14 Hoàng Thị Thanh Minh (2013) The problems faced by teachers and first year non-English major students at Sao Do University in teaching and learning English listening skill and some solutions Unpublished MA Thesis, ULIS, VNU 15 Howatt, A., & J Dakin (1974) Language laboratory materials Oxford University Press 16 Jan, H (2015) Connectionist model of language processing and the training of listening skills with the aid of multimedia software International journal of listening, Volume 16, Issue 5, p.413-425 17 John, F (2015) Skills and strategies: towards a new methodology for listening Oxford journals, Volume 52, Issue 2, p.110-118 18 Karl, L S., & Richard, F (2013) Developing effective interpersonal communication and discussion skills International journal of listening, Volume 69, p.276-283 19 Kaufmann, T., Sterkens, J., & Woodgate, J M (2015) Hearing loops, the preferred assistive listening technology Journal of the AES, Volume 63, Issue 4, p.298-302 20 Liz, Soars, J., & Wheeldon, S (2000) New-headway series, third edition Oxford University Press 21 Magnus, W (2015) Discovery listening - Improving perceptual processing ELT journal, Volume 57, Issue 4, p.335-343 44 22 Morley, J (1999) Current perspectives on improving aural comprehension Retrieved on 20th September, 2015 from http://www.eslmag.com/MorleyAuralStory.html 23 Mulvany, S (2015) Improving listening skills Journal of property management, Volume 23, Issue 11, p.7-11 24 Nguyễn Thị Hyền (2014) Using movies to increase motivation and listening comprehension of Third year EFL students at Academy of Finance: An action research study Unpublished MA Thesis, ULIS, VNU 25 Peter, C., Fontana, Steven, D., Cohen, Andrew D., & Wolvin (2015) Understanding listening competency: A systematic review of research scales International journal of listening, Volume 29, Issue 3, p.148-176 26 Seliger, H.W., & Shohamy, E (1995) Second language research methods (3rd ed) Oxford: OUP 27 Shao-Wen Su &Chung-Hsiang Liu (2014) Teaching listening comprehension skills: A test-orientated approach Journal of language teaching and research, Vol 3, Issue 3, p.458-465 28 Underwood, M (1989) Teaching listening New York: Longman 29 Ur, P (1984) Teaching of English as a second or foreign language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 30 Vandergrift, L (1999) Facilitating second language listening comprehension: Acquiring successful strategies ELT journal, Volume 53, Issue 3, p.168-176 Oxford Press 31 Wolvin, A D., & Coakley, C G (1988) Listening (3rd ed.) Dubuque, IA: Wm C Brown 32 Yagang, F (1993) Listening: problems and solutions Forum, 31/1 Retrieved on 20th September, http://exchanges.state.gov/forum/vols31/no1/p16.html 45 2015 from APPENDICES APPENDIX A QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS Dear teachers, This questionnaire aims at surveying the reality of teaching listening skills to second-year non-English major students at HaUI Your information is used for my research only, not for any other purposes Thank you very much for your cooperation Please provide your personal information Age: Sex:  Male  Female Qualification: How long have you been teaching listening? : ……………………………… Have you ever attended any workshops on Listening Teaching? Yes  No Please read the following questions carefully and tick () the answers you choose For some questions, you can have more than one choice How important is listening teaching skills at HaUI?  Very important  Important  Unimportant  Very unimportant What listening strategies you use to teach your students? (You can tick as many options as appropriate)  Providing students with background knowledge of what is being spoken  Reading through the requirement of the tasks to get general ideas  Guessing unknown words based on context  Guessing the answers basing on linguistic clues and context  Predicting what they are going to listen for  Taking notes the main ideas  Focusing on key information Other(s):……………………………………………………………………………… I How often you use the following teaching aids in listening lessons to motivate your students? Always Often Sometimes Teaching aids Seldom Never Cassette- tapes Visual aids (pictures, photos ) Music Games VCDs/CDs/Projectors Handouts Radios Computers Other(s): How often you organize pre-listening activities? Always Often Sometimes Pre-listening Activities Seldom Warm-up Games Introducing the topic Providing new vocabulary and structures Providing background knowledge Guiding questions Setting purposes of the tasks Providing students with techniques to the tasks Other(s): II Never 5 How often you use these techniques at while-listening stage? 1- Always 2- Usually 3- Sometimes 4- Rarely 5- Never Techniques Play the tape again and again until students finish their tasks Play twice or three times for students to the tasks first, then transcribe sentence by sentence to check their understanding Play the tape and complete doing exercises only Play the tape with no pauses once Play the tape with necessary pauses once Ask students to take notes before or after doing tasks Other(s) Which of the following types of exercises you often use at while-listening stage? (You can tick as many options as appropriate)  T/F Statements  Matching  Gap-filling  Grids (Information gap)  Mistake-correction  Multiple choices  Questions and Answers Other(s): ………………………………………………… … At post-listening stage, which activities you often use to motivate your students’ participation? (You can tick as many options as appropriate)  Discussion  Summarizing  Problem-solving  Free talk  Role-playing  Extra listening tasks  Other(s): III Do you usually follow all three stages (pre-while-post) of a listening lesson?  Yes  No (If your answer is “No”, continue with questions and 10, If “Yes”, skip them.) Which stage is often omitted?  Pre-listening  While-listening  Post-listening 10 Why is it omitted?  Time limitation  It is not necessary  Students’ low interests at this stage  Other(s): 11 How often you make use of listening sections in your text book? Always Usually Sometimes Rarely Never Totally base on the textbook Change the activities in the textbook Change the exercises in the textbook Use more visual-aids from the textbook suggested Use other sources of listening from the textbook Other(s) 12 Which difficulties you often encounter in teaching a listening lesson? (You can tick as many options as appropriate)  Students’ low motivation or passive attitude  Students’ poor background knowledge  Students’ limited vocabulary  Students’ low listening competency  Large classes and mixed ability  Lack of teaching facilities and teaching aids  Listening tasks dissatisfy students’ needs and levels  Time limitation for curriculum  Lack of experience in teaching listening Other(s): ……………………………………………… …………… IV 13 What you suggest to better the current listening teaching situation? Suggestions  Reducing the number of students in each class School  Equipping more teaching facilities and teaching aids  Using different motivating activities to motivate students  Having students work in pairs/groups and different tasks  Guiding students what and how to without understanding all the text Teachers  Adapting listening tasks to suit students’ ability  Cutting off unnecessary activities and focusing on the main tasks  Attending/providing more workshops to exchange experiences and improve teaching methodology  Using more interesting materials besides the textbook  Practicing listening outside school Students  Attending English clubs Other(s) Thanks for your cooperation! V APPENDIX B QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS Dear students, This questionnaire aims at surveying the reality of teaching listening skills to second-year non-English major students at HaUI Your information is used for my research only, not for any other purposes Thank you very much for your cooperation Please provide your personal information Class: Age: Sex:  Male  Female How long have you been learning English? : ……………………………… Please read the following questions carefully and tick () the answers you choose For some questions, you can have more than one choice How you feel about the listening skill in comparison with other skills?  The most difficult  As difficult as others  The easiest How important is listening learning skills at HaUI?  Very important  Important  Unimportant  Very unimportant How you find the listening topics in the textbook?  Interesting  Boring  Familiar  Unfamiliar  All right VI In your opinion, how difficult are the listening tasks in the textbook?  Very difficult  Difficult  Easy  Very easy Which types of the following activities you like to participate in listening lessons? (You can tick as many options as appropriate)  Free talk  Questions and answers  Multiple choice  Discussions  Matching  Role-playing  Gap-filling  Summarizing  Mistake-correction  Extra listening tasks  Free talk  Other(s): Which difficulties you often encounter in learning listening? (You can tick as many options as appropriate) Students’ low motivation or passive attitude  Students’ poor background knowledge  Students’ limited vocabulary  Students’ low listening competency Large classes and mixed ability  Lack of learning facilities and learning aids  Teachers’ ineffective teaching methods  Time limitation for curriculum  Listening tasks dissatisfy students’ needs and levels  Others: ……………… ……………… VII What you suggest to better your listening learning? (You can tick as many options as appropriate) Suggestions  Reducing the number of students in each class School  Equipping more learning facilities and learning aids  Using different motivating activities to motivate students  Having students work in pairs/groups and different tasks  Guiding students what and how to without understanding all the text Teachers  Adapting listening tasks to suit students’ ability  Cutting off unnecessary activities and focusing on the main tasks  Attending/providing more workshops to exchange experiences and improve teaching methodology  Using more interesting materials besides the textbook  Practicing listening outside school Students  Attending English clubs Other(s) Thanks for your cooperation! VIII APPENDIX C PHIẾU KHẢO SÁT DÀNH CHO SINH VIÊN Các em thân mến, Bảng câu hỏi nhằm nghiên cứu thực trạng dạy kỹ nghe tiếng Anh cho sinh viên không chuyên năm thứ trường Đại học Công nghiệp Hà Nội Sự giúp đỡ em đóng góp lớn vào thành công nghiên cứu Mọi thông tin em sử dụng với mục đích nghiên cứu, khơng dùng cho mục đích khác Xin chân thành cảm ơn hợp tác em Em điền đầy đủ thông tin cá nhân vào đây: Lớp: Tuổi: Giới tính:  Nam  Nữ Em học tiếng Anh bao lâu? : Em đọc kỹ câu hỏi đánh dấu () vào đáp án mà em lựa chọn Với số câu hỏi em chọn nhiều đáp án So với kỹ học tiếng Anh khác, em thấy kỹ nghe nào?  Khó  Khó kỹ khác  Dễ Tại trường Đại học Công nghiệp, kỹ nghe:  Rất quan trọng  Quan trọng  Không quan trọng  Rất không quan trọng Em thấy chủ đề nghe giáo trình học nào?  Thú vị  Quen thuộc  Nhàm chán  Không quen thuộc  Bình thường IX Theo em, tập nghe giáo trình học có khó khơng?  Rất khó  Hơi khó  Dễ  Rất dễ Em thích tham gia vào hoạt động sau tiết học nghe? (Em chọn nhiều đáp án)  Chọn câu trả lời đúng/sai  Trả lời câu hỏi  Lựa chọn câu trả lời  Nối  Điền vào chỗ trống  Nói tự  Sửa lại lỗi sai  Tóm tắt  Đóng vai  Thảo luận  Nghe tập bổ sung Khác: …………………………………… .……………………… Em gặp khó khăn học nghe? (Em chọn nhiều đáp án)  Khơng có hứng thú học nghe  Thiếu kiến thức  Thiếu vốn từ  Trình độ nghe thấp  Lớp học đơng nhiều trình độ  Thiếu trang thiết bị học tập  Thiếu thời gian  Giáo viên thiếu kinh nghiệm dạy nghe  Bài tập nghe không phù hợp với nhu cầu trình độ Khác: ………………………………………… .………………… X Em muốn có thay đổi để giúp em học nghe hiệu hơn? (Em chọn nhiều đáp án) Đề xuất  Bổ sung thêm trang thiết bị hỗ trợ Nhà trường  Giảm số lượng sinh viên lớp  Thiết kế thêm hoạt động nghe thú vị  Điều chỉnh tập nghe phù hợp với trình độ sinh viên Giáo viên  Hướng dẫn sinh viên kỹ nghe phù hợp  Cắt bỏ hoạt động không cần thiết tập trung vào tập  Bổ sung thêm tài liệu tham khảo  Tham gia hội thảo để củng cố phương pháp dạy trao đổi kinh nghiệm Sinh viên  Luyện nghe lớp học  Tham gia câu lạc tiếng Anh Khác Cảm ơn giúp đỡ em! XI APPENDIX D: CLASSROOM OBSERVATION CHECKLIST Class: Observer: Number of students: Date: Respond to each statement using the following scale: 1: Not observed 2: Need improvement 3: Accomplished well CONTENT I Teacher’s preparation Presented overview of lesson Related today’s lesson to previous one Defined unfamiliar terms, concepts, and principles Wrote key terms on blackboard or overhead screen Provided students with techniques II Teacher’s presentation Presented the tasks clearly Chose effectively the activities to achieve the objectives Transited among activities smoothly Allotted time for activities appropriately Allocated the amount of teacher talk and student talk appropriately Gave students effective feedback Used teaching aids appropriately III Teacher and students’ interaction Teacher actively encouraged students’ questions Teacher asked questions to monitor student understanding Teacher waited sufficient time for students to answer questions Teacher listened carefully to students’ questions Teacher responded appropriately to students’ questions Teacher was sensitive to students’ difficulties and abilities Student participation was active and lively The class atmosphere was warm, open and friendly XII Notes ... teachers to participate in the study The teachers are all female and graduated from Hanoi University of language and international studies, 12 Vietnam National University Eleven of them had an... information, a combination of both qualitative and quantitative approaches was used Data collection instruments consisted of questionnaires- one for teachers and one for students, and class observations... and learning of English listening skills at HaUI Aims of the study The study aims to investigate:  The current situation of teaching English listening skills to the second-year non-English major