Diversification of pre listening activities to improve students’ listening skill action research at industrial economics technology college

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES -* - NGUYỄN THỊ ÁNH NGUYỆT DIVERSIFICATION OF PRE-LISTENING ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ LISTENING SKILL: ACTION RESEARCH AT INDUSTRIAL ECONOMICS TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE (Đa dạng hóa hoạt động trước nghe để nâng cao kỹ nghe sinh viên: nghiên cứu hành động trường Cao đẳng Công nghệ Kinh tế Công nghiệp.) M.A MINOR PROGRAM THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 8140231.01 HANOI – 2019 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES -* - NGUYỄN THỊ ÁNH NGUYỆT DIVERSIFICATION OF PRE-LISTENING ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ LISTENING SKILL: ACTION RESEARCH AT INDUSTRIAL ECONOMICS TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE (Đa dạng hóa hoạt động trước nghe để nâng cao kỹ nghe sinh viên: nghiên cứu hành động trường Cao đẳng Công nghệ Kinh tế Công nghiệp.) M.A MINOR PROGRAM THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 8140231.01 Supervisor : Assoc Prof Dr LÂM QUANG ĐÔNG HANOI – 2019 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc.Prof.Dr Lam Quang Dong for his patient guidance, stimulating suggestions and encouragement throughout my research I wish to thank all the staff members of the Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies for providing me the best environment to fulfill my graduate program My sincere gratitude also goes to my colleague Mrs Nguyen Mai Linh The support that she gave me truly helped with my progress and completion of the research project Especially, I would like to express my special thanks to my family who offered me their love, care, support and encouragement so that I could accomplish my study Last but not least, I would like to express appreciation to my students in Industrial Economics Technology College who were very enthusiastic to support me by participating in the research and providing me with the needed data without which the study could not have been completed i ABSTRACT Although listening skill, one of the four core language competences fostered in Industrial Economics Technology College (IETC)‟s English curriculum, has always been promoted, students‟ performance in this aspect of proficiency still remains low Through practice, the researcher realized that the main reason for this problem is the lack of good preparation for students from the pre-listening stage Therefore, it is extremely necessary to conduct an action research with the aim of improving students‟ listening comprehension by diversifying pre-listening activities In the study, a pre-test and post-test were employed to check the students‟ listening comprehension and the questionnaires to gauge students‟ attitudes when the teacher used varied pre-listening activities The findings of this study suggest that students‟ listening skill was much boosted after they were exposed to various pre-listening activities The results also showed that the students had improved attitudes towards learning listening skill after the introduction of varied pre-listening activities Hopefully, the thesis can be considered a practical contribution to more effective teaching practices at IETC and the ongoing process of renovation for teaching and learning listening ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i ABSTRACT ii LIST OF TABLES i LIST OF FIGURES ii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study 1.2 Aims and scope of the study 1.2.1 Research Aims 1.2.2 Scope of the study .3 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Summary of Chapter CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Theoretical background of listening skill 2.1.1 A brief overview of listening 2.1.2 Listening comprehension in language learning and teaching process 2.2 Factors affecting students‟ listening comprehension 2.2.1 Unfamiliar topics 2.2.2 Cultural Differences 2.2.3 Pronunciation, stress, rhythm and intonation 2.2.4 Listeners‟ limited vocabularies 2.2.5 Length and Speed of Listening 2.2.6 Inability to concentrate .9 2.3 Listening Comprehension in EFL Classrooms 2.3.1 Pre-listening stage 2.3.2 While-listening stage and post-listening stage 10 2.3.3 The roles of pre-listening activities 11 2.3.4 Pre-listening activities 12 iii 2.4 Previous research 14 2.8 Summary of chapter 17 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 19 3.1 Research methodology 19 3.1.1 Definition of action research 19 3.1.2 Characteristic of action research .20 3.1.3 Process of action research .20 3.1.4 Benefits of Action Research 23 3.2 The research questions restated 23 3.3 The participants 23 3.3.1 Students 24 3.3.2 Observers 24 3.4 Data collection instruments 24 3.4.1 Detailed description of tests .24 3.4.2 Questionnaires 25 3.5 Action research procedures 25 3.5.1 Identifying a problem 25 3.5.2 Collecting the data 26 3.5.3 Analyzing data and generating hypothesis 26 3.5.4 Planning action 26 3.5.5 Implementing the action plan 27 3.5.6 Collecting data to monitor change 28 3.5.7 Analyzing data and evaluating the change 28 3.6 Summary of chapter 28 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 29 4.1 Results from the pre-test 29 4.2 Results from the post-tesst 29 4.3 Comparison of the pre-test and the post-test 30 4.4 Data collected by questionnaire part 32 iv 4.5 Data collected by questionnaire part 33 4.6 Data collected by observation 34 4.7 Discussion 36 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION .38 5.1 Summary of the Result of the Study 38 5.2 Limitations of the Study 39 5.3 Implications for Further Research 40 5.4 Implications for Teaching and Learning Practice 41 5.4.1 Implications for Teachers 41 5.4.2 Implications for Students 42 5.5 Final remarks 42 REFERENCES 44 APPENDICES I Appendix 1: The pre-test I Appendix 2: The post-test VI Appendix 4: Observation sheet XIII Appendix 5: Result from the pre-test and post-test XVI Appendix 6: Result from observation sheet XIX Appendix 7: Results from learner questionnaire XX Appendix 8: Action plan implementation of varying pre-listening activities during the experiment XXI Appendix 9: a lesson plan of implementation of varying pre-listening activities during the experiment XXII v LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1 The pre-test result 29 Table 4.2 The post-test results 29 Table 4.3 Comparison of the pre-test and post-test 30 Table 4.4 Students‟ comments about pre-listening activities 32 Table 4.5 Students‟ comments on the diversification of pre-listening activities that the teacher applied 33 i LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3.1 Simple Action Research Model adapted from MacIsaac (1995) 21 Figure 3.2 Detailed Action Research Model adapted from Susman (1983) 22 Figure 4.1 .29 Figure 4.2 The post-test results 30 Figure 4.3 Comparison of the pre-test and post-test 31 Figure 4 Students‟ comments on the varying pre-listening that the teacher applied .32 Figure Students‟ comment on the varying pre-listening that the teacher applied 33 Figure Students‟ on-task behavior 34 ii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study Listening is an important skill in acquiring a language and it can be defined as the process of understanding speech in a second or foreign language Listening is the most frequently used in communication It is stated that during conversations, people spend 50 percent of time on listening, 25 percent on speaking, 15 percent on reading, and 10 percent on writing (Richards, 2008) Moreover, according to Morley (1984), listening is the key to all effective communication Indeed, without the interlocutors‟ ability to listen effectively, messages are easily misunderstood However, generally, students are fearful of listening, and can be disheartened when they listen to something they understand very little It is also harder for them to concentrate on listening if little or no interest in a topic or situation is developed before The initial pre-listening phase should prepare students by helping them activate their background knowledge and clarify their expectations and assumptions about the listening text by, for example, initiating some discussion about a picture involved in the listening text or discussion of some questions related to the listening passages An ideal pre-listening task is the one in which the teacher, through carefully constructed questions, helps students activate their background knowledge and language components needed to comprehend the text In general, pre-listening activities play a critical role and the main aim of this stage is to make learners focus their attention on the following while-listening stage, to build confidence and to facilitate comprehension As cited in Medley (1977), pre-listening activities can be divided into readiness activities and guidance activities Readiness activities focus on motivating students‟ preliminary knowledge through asking students to read the title, make predictions or guesses what they are going to hear, explore new and/or key words that may appear in the listening text, look at accompanied pictures, interpret the listening tasks, and providing them with scaffolding support before listening Guidance activities Part adapted from Linkert (1932) Learners‟ self-reported opinions The purpose of this questionnaire is to collect your‟ opinions about the result of using pre-listening activities that the teacher used to teach you in the listening lessons Please circle the number on each scale to show how you find the activities used in class today Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree Number Question They are suitable for your knowledge They are interesting They can expand your vocabulary and structure They extend your knowledge in many fields 10 They are effective for you to complete the listening task well 11 Pre-listening activities should be used in the next listening lesson XII Appendix 4: Observation sheet Adapted from Hopkins (1985) Observer:…………………………… Date: …………………………………… Teacher ……………………………… Time of class: ………………………… No of students present ………………… level of class ………………………… Lesson: ………………………………… stage: ……………………………… Types of pre-listening activities: ……………………………………………… Instructions The observation purpose is to measure student‟s attitude toward various prelistening activities Do not attend the lesson; place yourself in a unobtrusive position in the classroom Start observing when students work together in groups or pairs at the prelistening stage Observer student by turns, identify students by name or number Write down the categories best describing students‟ behavior at that moment, then move to the next student Write the numbers of sequence in the data sheet Remember all students have to be observed 12 times Student Scan number Number S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 XIII 10 11 12 S8 S9 S10 S11 S12 S13 S14 S15 S16 S17 S18 S19 S20 S21 S22 S23 S24 S25 S26 S27 S28 S29 S30 S31 S32 S33 S34 S35 XIV S36 S37 S38 S39 S40 Categories: 1: student on-task (pay attention to the task) 2: student off-task (lack of attention to the task) XV Appendix 5: Result from the pre-test and post-test students‟ code No Name 1.0 Nguyễn Phương Anh DTE1353402010004 3.0 4.0 2.0 Nguyễn Thị Lan Anh DTE1353402010006 4.0 5.0 3.0 Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Anh DTE1353401010008 5.0 6.0 4.0 Trịnh Thị Hải Anh DTE1353401010012 2.0 5.0 5.0 Phạm Thị Ngọc Ánh DTE1353402010011 3.0 5.0 6.0 Lương Thị Hồng Bích DTE1353401010016 2.0 3.0 7.0 Đinh Thị Kim Dung DTE1353402010025 4.0 4.0 8.0 Hà Tiến Dũng DTE1353402010026 5.0 5.0 9.0 Đỗ Thị Duyên DTE1353401010044 5.0 6.0 10.0 Liêu Văn Đại DTE1353401010028 3.0 5.0 11.0 Đặng Thị Điệp DTE1353401010032 6.0 7.0 12.0 Ngô Xuân Đông DTE1353402010022 2.0 3.0 13.0 Nguyễn Thị Thu Hà DTE1353402010032 7.0 8.0 14.0 Nguyễn Văn Hiếu DTE1353401010072 3.0 4.0 15.0 Lương Thị Thu Hoài DTE1353401010080 4.0 8.0 16.0 Trần Thị Minh Hồng DTE1353401010088 4.0 6.0 17.0 Ngô Việt Hưng DTE1353401010092 4.0 6.0 18.0 Lê Thị Hương DTE1353402010056 2.0 5.0 19.0 Lê Thị Lan Hương DTE1353401010096 6.0 7.0 20.0 Nguyễn Thị Kiều DTE1353401010112 3.0 3.0 21.0 Lê Quang Lâm DTE1353401010116 6.0 7.0 22.0 Trần Thị Liễu DTE1353402010073 3.0 4.0 23.0 Mai Thị Diệu Linh DTE1353401010128 5.0 6.0 24.0 Nguyễn Thị Lương DTE1353401010140 4.0 6.0 25.0 Ngô Thị Mai DTE1353401010144 6.0 8.0 26.0 Nguyễn Văn Mạnh DTE1353401010148 6.0 6.0 27.0 Đỗ Thị Thúy Mây DTE1353402010093 2.0 4.0 XVI pre-test post-test 28.0 Nguyễn Tiến Nam DTE1353401010156 5.0 5.0 29.0 Đặng Thị Kim Ngân DTE1353401010164 7.0 8.0 30.0 Đàm Đức Ngiêm DTE1353401010168 3.0 2.0 31.0 Hoàng Thị Thanh Nhàn DTE1353402010104 5.0 7.0 32.0 Lò Thị Nhan DTE1353401010176 2.0 4.0 33.0 Dương Tuấn Ninh DTE1353401010184 5.0 5.0 34.0 Lê Thị Phương DTE1353401010188 4.0 6.0 35.0 Bùi Xuân Quý DTE1353402010119 8.0 9.0 36.0 Nguyễn Thị Vân DTE1353401010276 6.0 5.0 37.0 Trần Văn Việt DTE1353401010280 2.0 3.0 38.0 Dương Thị Thời Xuân DTE1353401010284 5.0 6.0 39.0 Nghiêm Thị Tuyến DTE1353401010272 6.0 6.0 40.0 Nguyễn Ngọc Tuấn DTE1353401010268 3.0 4.0 Descriptive Statistics Minimu Maximu N m m Mean Std Deviation Pretest 40 2.00 8.00 4.2500 1.62906 Valid N 40 Descriptive Statistics Minimu Maximu Posttest N m m Mean Std Deviation 40 2.00 9.00 5.4000 1.32985 XVII Descriptive Statistics Minimu Maximu Posttest Valid N N m m Mean Std Deviation 40 2.00 9.00 5.4000 1.32985 40 (listwise) One-Sample Statistics Std N Mean Deviation Std Error Mean Pretest 40 4.2500 1.62906 25758 Posttest 40 5.4000 1.62985 25770 One-Sample Test Test Value = 95% Confidence Interval Sig (2- Mean of the Difference T Df tailed) Difference Lower Upper 16.500 39 000 4.25000 3.7290 4.7710 posttest 20.954 39 000 5.40000 4.8787 5.9213 Pretest XVIII Appendix 6: Result from observation sheet Data table about student‟s on-task behavior collected from observation sheet Lessons Number of times students on-task 10 11 1 10 11 60.5 10 10 61.3 10 8 63.5 10 8 65.6 10 69.4 10 71.2 11 15 72.4 10 10 74.6 2 7 1 Percentage 3 XIX 12 Appendix 7: Results from learner questionnaire Part 1: students‟ opinions about the teachers‟ use of varying pre-listening activities in listening lessons in the future Number Question Mean score They are suitable for your 10 15 2.52 11 8 2.83 your 15 2.92 12 6 2.80 12 14 12 2.80 knowledge They are interesting They can expand vocabulary and structure They extend your knowledge in many fields They are effective for you to complete the listening task well XX Appendix 8: Action plan implementation of varying pre-listening activities during the experiment Week Units Pre-listening Work Time allowed Group work 15 minutes the Whole class 12 minutes Whole class 15 minutes activities Unit period Pre-teach vocabulary Unit period Predicting content Unit period Brain storming Unit period Using language Pairs work 12 minutes games Unit period Using pictures to Whole class 15 minutes introduce the topic of the lesson Unit period Pre-questions Group work 13 minutes Whole class Unit period Using language Group work 12 minutes language Group work 15 minutes games Unit period Using games XXI Appendix 9: a lesson plan of implementation of varying pre-listening activities during the experiment UNIT 6: SALES Period 2: LISTENING Multi-channel retail I Aims of designing pre-listening to start teaching in this listening lesson: The pre-listening activities the teacher used were designed from the pre-listening activities in the textbook The aim of this stage was to get students motivated and familiar with the topic and vocabulary of the listening lesson II OBJECTIVES By the end of the lesson, students will be able to develop their listening comprehension skill and give opinion about something basing on the topic selling online II MATERIALS Book, CD, screen, projector, handout, board III PROCEDURE Teacher’s activities Stages Students’ activities Pre- Game: Cross word listening - T explains the rules of game to Ss (15 - T divides class into groups of four or five and - listen to T delivers hand out to each group minutes) - T shows the clues on the screen in turn and asks - unlock the groups for their answer - rows After finding out the key word, T leads to the lesson - listen to T There is a key word in the column If you want to know the key word, you have to unlock the rows The key words contain letters so there are six rows for you to XXII unlock You will work in groups to find out the key word Groups has the fastest and right answer will be the winner Crossword Clues If you want to buy a thing with lower price, you have - Look at the clues to to………with the seller You need a menu when you are in a restaurant find out the key word to… dish There is a big…….in supermarket so people come there to buy cheaper things This fridge has been run out of……so you need to pay money to repair it Many company gets big……from “sale-off” strategy You should come to a ………agent to get some advice before you visit some where Key XXIII in the crossword B A R G A I N O R D E R D I S C O U N T G U A R A N T E E N T E R E S T I T R A V E L While- A Work in pairs Discuss which words from the box - listen to T listening you could use to complete the sentences below about - elicit Agros, the UK’s largest multi-channel retailer meaning of - T explains the requirement of the exercise words 30 minutes - T shows words in box and elicits meaning from Ss - T asks Ss to work in pairs to finish this task - gives answer - T goes round and give help if necessary - T gets Ss to gives their answer - T does not show the key because it will be presented in exercise B B Now listen to the interview with Indira Thambia, Head of E-commerce at Argos, and complete the - listen to T sentences in Exercise A - listen to - T explains the task to Ss recording - T plays the tape record and after the first time T asks Ss whether they have filled all blanks or not - T asks some Ss to give answer if they have filled all - T plays the tape record the second time After that, call some Ss to give answer If the answer is wrong, asks other Ss - T plays the tape record the third time and pauses after each sentence, explains any difficulties in this XXIV - give answers listening task Key: online/telephone website/identical/store enquire/order/channel run/integrated C Here are some of the keys to successful online selling, in Indira’s experience Listen to the second - listen to T part of the interview and number each point in the - read the four order in which she mentions them points - T explains what students have to in this task - T has Ss read the four points and make sure they - listen to the understand them recording and - T plays the tape record You may prefer to ask Ss to answer listen once to get the gist of what Indira say, then again to put the points in order - give answer - T has some Ss give their answer Key: 1d 2c 3a 4b read through statements D Work in pairs Discuss whether you think these statements are true or false - Work in - T asks Ss to read through the statements groups and - T divides class into groups and asks each group to discuss discuss one statement - - After discussing, T asks presenters of three groups Give opinions to give their opinion on what they have discussed E Listen to the last part of the interview Are the statements in exercise D true or false, in Indira’s XXV - listen to T - experience? listen to - T explains the requirement of the exercise recording - T plays the tape record for Ss to listen to Indira’s and mark views, tell them that what she says is continuous True or speech, and is not broken down into the three False questions - - T asks Ss for the answer and discusses any difficulty give answer if they have Key true false true Post- - T reviews what have been done in the lesson - Check listening - T may ask Ss some vocabulary in the lesson to vocabulary check whether they understand or not they have T asks Ss prepare for the Reading part learnt minutes - - Listen and take notes if necessary XXVI ... formulated: To what extent does diversification of pre- listening tasks help students at my college improve their listening comprehension? What are these students‟ attitudes towards diversification of pre- listening. .. Scope of the study The study concentrated on the effects of alternating pre- listening activities on improvement of students‟ listening skill in Industrial Economics Technology College Participating... students at IETC whose English is at pre- intermediate level The aim of this study was to access how much diversification of pre- listening activities can help to improve students‟ listening skill