An Investigation into the Influence of Using Listening Strategies on Listening Skills Development: An Example of Second Bachelor’s degree Students in English Department, Hanoi University

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES ************************* VŨ QUỲNH ANH AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE INFLUENCE OF USING LISTENING STRATEGIES ON LISTENING SKILLS DEVELOPMENT: AN EXAMPLE OF SECOND BACHELOR’S DEGREE STUDENTS IN ENGLISH DEPARTMENT, HANOI UNIVERSITY NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ SỰ ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA ỨNG DỤNG CHIẾN LƯỢC NGHE TRONG KỸ NĂNG NGHE TRONG VIỆC PHÁT TRIỂN KĨ NĂNG NGHE CỦA SINH VIÊN VĂN BẰNG HAI KHOA TIẾNG ANH TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY Code: 60 14 0111 HA NOI - 2015 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES ************************* VŨ QUỲNH ANH AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE INFLUENCE OF USING LISTENING STRATEGIES ON LISTENING SKILLS DEVELOPMENT: AN EXAMPLE OF SECOND BACHELOR’S DEGREE STUDENTS IN ENGLISH DEPARTMENT, HANOI UNIVERSITY NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ SỰ ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA ỨNG DỤNG CHIẾN LƯỢC NGHE TRONG KỸ NĂNG NGHE TRONG VIỆC PHÁT TRIỂN KĨ NĂNG NGHE CỦA SINH VIÊN VĂN BẰNG HAI KHOA TIẾNG ANH TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY Code: 60 14 0111 Supervisor: DR.NGUYỄN THỊ MINH TÂM HA NOI - 2015 DECLARATIONS I, Vũ Quỳnh Anh, hereby certify that the thesis entitled “An Investigation into the Influence of Using Listening Strategies on Listening Skills Development: An Example of Second Bachelor’s degree Students in English Department, Hanoi University ” is the result of my own research in the fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts at Faculty of Post Graduate Studies — University of Languages and International Studies, VNU, Hanoi and this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other university or institution Vũ Quỳnh Anh Hanoi, September 2015 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my special gratitude to my supervisor Dr Nguyen Thi Minh Tam for her valuable advice and insightful guidance at every stage of the completion of this thesis I am also grateful to my lecturers at the Department of Post-Graduate StudiesUniversity of Foreign Languages and International Studies-National University, Hanoi for their useful and interesting lectures which laid the foundation for this thesis Last but not least, my special thanks also go to second bachelor’s degree students at 7VB13, Hanoi University who participated in this study Without them, this research would not have been possible ii ABSTRACT In the past, listening was viewed as passive process which could come along naturally without assistance In fact, listening is active process which involves a variety of mental processes This study was designed to investigate the influence of using listening strategies on students’ listening skills development The participants in the study were 24 first year students who were attending the second bachelor’s degree course at Hanoi University The participants went through an eight-week listening strategy instruction section in metacognition which focused on planning, monitoring, evaluating From data collected through Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ), pre-test and post test, semi-structured interview, the study yielded results indicating that the work carried out had an impact iii LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Page Figure 1: Cycle of Action Research 14 Figure 2: The model of action research proposed by Kemmis & 15 McTaggart Table 1: Records of students’ score in the previous final test 21 Table 2: Explicit Listening Strategy Instruction Sections 23 Table 3: Planning and evaluation strategies 27 Table 4: Directed attention strategies 28 Table 5: Person knowledge 29 Table 6: Mental Translation 30 Table 7: Problem Solving 31 Table 8: A detailed lesson plan of a listening strategy instruction 31 section Table 9: Comparison of the means and standard deviation between 35 pre-test and post-test Table 10: The results of paired sample t-test for pre-and post-test iv 36 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Declarations……………………………………………………………………………… i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii List of charts iv Table of contents .v Abbreviations vii PART A: INTRODUCTION Background to the study and statement of problem ………1 1.1.Theoreticalbackground……………………………………………………… 1.2.Statement of problem………………………………………………………… .2 Aim of the study…………………………………………………………………… 3 Research question……………………………………………………………… Scope of the study …………………………………………………………… Significance of the study ……………………………………………………… Organization of the study ………………………………………………………… PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Models of Listening comprehension……………………………………… .5 1.2 Listening Comprehension Strategies……………………………………………… 1.2.1 Classification of Listening Strategies……………………………… .8 1.2.2 Listening Strategies used in the study…………………………………………9 1.3 Framework for Strategy Instruction……………………………………………… 1.4 Empirical studies on the use of Listening Strategies………………………………10 v CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY 2.1 Rationale for the use of Action research …….13 2.1.1 The Action Research Process…………………………………………… 14 2.2 Context of the study…………………………………………………………… 16 2.3 Material………………………………………………………………………… 17 2.4 Subjects…………………………………………………………………………….17 2.5 Research instruments…………………………………………………………… 18 2.5.1 Questionnaire …………………………………………………………… 18 2.5.2 Pre-test and post-test……………………………………………………… .18 2.5.3 Semi-structured interview………………………………………………… 19 2.6 Research procedures…………………………………………………………… 20 2.6.1 PHASE 1: Pre-action………………………………………………………… 20 2.6.1.1 The findings from the questionnaire ………………………………………… 21 2.6.2 PHASE 2: Action……………………………………………………….…… 28 2.6.3 PHASE 3: Post-action…………………………………………………… 33 2.7 Data Analysis ………………………………………………………………… ….34 CHAPTER THREE: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 The findings of the pre-test and post-test…………………………………………35 3.2 The findings from the semi-structured interview………………………………….37 3.3.Discussion……………………………………………………………………… 39 PART C: CONCLUSION Recapitulation………………………………………………………………………42 Pedagogical implications ………………………………………………………… 42 Limitations of the study ………………………………………………………… 43 Suggestion for further studies…………………………………………………… 44 vi REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………… 45 APPENDIXES……………………………………………………………………………….I ABBREVIATIONS L2: Second Language SLA: Second Language Acquisition EFL: English as a Foreign Language IELTS: The International English Language Testing System Hanu: Hanoi University CALLA: Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach MALQ: Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire vii PART A: INTRODUCTION Background to the study and statement of problem 1.1 Theoretical background In the past, listening was considered as a passive activity and merit little classroom attention (Thompson & Rubin, 1996; Vandergrift, 2004) Second language (hereafter referred to as L2) researchers considered listening as an ability that could be developed without assistance, and the language learning research reveals the lack of attention to the skill of listening (Moyer, 2006; Mendelsohn, 1998) However, a large proportion of the L2 research findings indicate that "listening is an important skill through which language learners internalize linguistic information without which they cannot produce language" and it is the first step in the process of language communication (Brown, 2001, p.248) Listening is also now regarded as one of fundamental language skills in EFL classrooms and gains more attention in SLA research Developing listening skill becomes a significant goal in many language teaching courses However, listening has always been perceived to be the most challenging skill which commonly causes anxiety and frustration among L2 learners Listening is now viewed as an active and conscious process, in which listeners engage in a variety of mental processes in an effort to comprehend information from oral texts They draw their attentions to the important information from the aural input, comprehend the meaning of the input, and relate them to the contextual information and background knowledge to produce output (O‘Malley, Chamot & Küpper, 1989) As stated by Byrnes (1984, p.318), listening is a “highly complex problem-solving activity” However, a perfect match between input and knowledge hardly could exist As a result, comprehension gaps occur and special efforts to Người vấn: Vậy sau buổi dạy chiến lược nghe, bạn có thay đổi trước, sau nghe khơng? S2: Có khác nhiều Em khơng cịn cảm thấy mơng lung trước Em thấy biết phải làm thời gian đọc câu hỏi Trước section đọc câu hỏi đốn trước loại từ hay thơng tin mà em nghĩ câu trả lời Trong lúc nghe em cố gắng để ý vào thơng tin mà em nghĩ có câu trả lời Sau nghe em điền vào bảng checklist đưa biết cần làm cho lần nghe sau để nghe tốt Người vấn: Vậy bạn cảm thấy chiến lược nghe planning, monitoring evaluation mà em học em cảm thấy thích sao? S2: Em nghĩ planning Việc đốn trước thơng tin xuất nghe làm em cảm thấy khơng cịn bị mơng lung Người vấn : Vậy theo bạn việc dạy chiến lược nghe có giúp ích cho việc nghe hiểu em khơng? Vì sao? S2: Có ạ, em thấy giúp ích nhiều Trước em nghe nghe Không biết nghe cho hiệu Người phóng vấn: Cơ cảm ơn ý kiến bạn Cuộc vấn với sinh viên thứ ba (S3) Người vấn: Bạn đánh giá mức độ nghe hiểu thân qua luyện nghe lớp trước tuần dạy chiến lược nghe? XI S3: Kém Em không nghe ạ, phân vân khơng câu trả lời, Ielts ln có thơng tin gây nhiễu Người vấn: Trước làm nghe, bạn thường làm trước, sau nghe? S3: Em đọc trước câu hỏi, tra từ Trong nghe em cố nghe từ có câu hỏi Sau nghe em thường xem qua lại câu trả lời thơi Người vấn: Cịn sau nghe em có tự đánh giá khả nghe hiểu khơng? S3: Khơng Người vấn : Vậy sau buổi dạy chiến lược nghe, bạn có thay đổi trước, sau nghe không? S3: Em biết tận dụng thời gian đọc câu hỏi hơn, em biết liên hệ em biết để đốn thơng tin câu hỏi Vì em nghĩ quen thuộc với topic nghe nghe tốt Ví dụ nghe phần 1, em nhớ có gọi booking reference, có lần em gọi đặt tour cho công ty, em biết nên em dự đoán thông tin phải điền chữ số Từ mà nghe em biết nên tập trung vào thông tin loại trừ thông tin không liên quan Người vấn: Vậy bạn cảm thấy chiến lược nghe planning, monitoring evaluation mà bạn học bạn cảm thấy thích sao? S3: Với em planning Nó giúp em nghe có mục đích XII Người vấn: Vậy theo em việc dạy chiến lược nghe có giúp ích cho việc nghe hiểu em khơng? Vì sao? S3: Rất nhiều Em biết nên nghe cho hiệu Người phóng vấn: Cơ cảm ơn ý kiến em Cuộc vấn với sinh viên thứ tư (S4) Người vấn: Bạn đánh giá mức độ nghe hiểu thân qua luyện nghe lớp trước tuần dạy chiến lược nghe? S4: Nghe kĩ em bốn kĩ năng, trước em có biết đến dạng Ielts cảm thấy khó Người vấn: Trước làm nghe, em bạn thường làm trước, sau nghe? S4: Em thường đọc trước câu hỏi, gạch chân số key words tra từ Người vấn: Còn sau nghe bạn có tự đánh giá khả nghe hiểu khơng? S4: Thường khơng Người vấn: Vậy sau buổi dạy chiến lược nghe, bạn có thay đổi trước, sau nghe không? S4: Sau tuần học em cảm thấy nghe có mục đích hơn, q trình nghe biết loại phán đốn sai Sau nghe em có ý thức phần nghe tốt, phần chưa tốt lý XIII Người vấn: Vậy bạn cảm thấy chiến lược nghe planning, monitoring evaluation mà em học bạn cảm thấy thích sao? S4: Với em planning monitoring Người vấn: Vậy theo bạn việc dạy chiến lược nghe có giúp ích cho việc nghe hiểu em khơng? Vì sao? S4: Em thấy có ích Rõ ràng giúp người nghe biết cách nghe hơn, không trước em thường nghe theo kiểu mông lung nên tập trung vào đâu Người phóng vấn: Cơ cảm ơn ý kiến bạn Cuộc vấn với sinh viên thứ năm (S5) Người vấn: Bạn đánh giá mức độ nghe hiểu thân qua luyện nghe lớp trước tuần dạy chiến lược nghe? S5: Với em nghe kĩ em gặp nhiều trở ngại thiếu tự tin Người vấn: Trước làm nghe, em bạn thường làm trước, sau nghe? S5: Em đọc câu hỏi, em nghĩ vấn đề em tận dụng thời gian đọc câu hỏi Người vấn: Còn sau nghe bạn có tự đánh giá khả nghe hiểu khơng? S5: Em khơng XIV Người vấn : Vậy sau buổi dạy chiến lược nghe, bạn có thay đổi trước, sau nghe không? S5: Em thấy em biết tận dụng hiệu thời gian đọc câu hỏi Em để ý đặc điểm loại để có định hướng nghe tốt hơn, nghe nhiều thơng tin Có trước đơi em thấy tập trung vào câu hỏi mà bị bỏ lỡ câu sau, sau, em lại tự nhủ bỏ qua câu để tập trung cho câu sau Người vấn: Vậy bạn cảm thấy chiến lược nghe planning, monitoring evaluation mà em học em cảm thấy thích sao? S5: planning monitoring Người vấn: Vậy theo bạn việc dạy chiến lược nghe có giúp ích cho việc nghe hiểu em khơng? Vì sao? S5: Em thấy có ích Em cảm thấy nghe tự tin hẳn Người phóng vấn: Cơ cảm ơn ý kiến bạn XV STUDENT INTERVIEW (Translation of Student Interviews) The interview with the first student (S1) Interviewer: How would you describe the level of your listening comprehension of listening practice tests before the listening strategy instruction sessions? S1: My level of listening comprehension was very low and I faced a lot of difficulties in listening Interviewer: What did you usually to understand the listening task before, during, and after listening before attending the listening strategy instruction sessions? S1: I often read through the question to see whether there were any new words or not and then I tried to translate them into Vietnamese While listening I tried to translate what the speakers were saying to find the answers for the questions Interviewer: What did you often after listening? For example, did you often evaluate your level of listening after finishing listening? S1:No I didn’t Interviewer: What changes did you experience through attending the listening strategy instruction session? S1: Yes, I have changed the way I listen a lot Before listening, I have tried to make prediction about upcoming information During listening I have tried to focus on the information that I needed For example, I realized that in sections of Ielts listening tests, the questions always come in the order of the recording, that’s one way to know which information I need to pay attention to in order to get the answers Besides, XVI sometimes although I find it difficult to catch up with the listening text, I try to continue listening Interviewer: Which strategies did you like and dislike? Why? S1: I think it’s planning that I like most This kind of strategy helps me be prepared in order to listen more efficiently Interviewer: Do you think the listening strategy instruction sessions were beneficial to you? Why / why not? S1: The instruction sections were good for me because now I feel more confident I also know what to in order to listen more effectively Interviewer: Thank you so much The interview with the second student: (S2) Interviewer: How would you describe the level of your listening comprehension of listening practice tests before the listening strategy instruction sessions? S2: I was not good at listening, actually In fact, I did not know how to improve my listening skills Interviewer: What did you usually to understand the listening task before, during, and after listening before attending the listening strategy instruction sessions? S2: I often read and then translated the questions; I tried to catch the keywords to get the answers during listening XVII Interviewer: What did you often after listening? For example, you often evaluate your level of listening after finishing listening? S2: I almost never did that I did not know whether what I listened was right or wrong Interviewer: Describe your experience of listening strategy instruction session What changes did you experience through attending the listening strategy instruction session? S2: I think there are many differences between before and after listening strategy instruction sections happened I not feel confused as I did before I know what I should before listening I am now able to predict kind of information or kind of words or phrases that I think are possible answers While listening I try to focus on the information that I think it includes the answer for the question After listening I answer the listening checklist and I become more aware about what I have to differently next time Interviewer: Which strategies did you like and dislike? Why? S2: I think I like planning strategy the most Making prediction about upcoming information helps me not confused any more Interviewer: Do you think the listening strategy instruction sessions were beneficial to you? Why / why not? S2: Yes, I think they really help Before the instruction sections, I just listened in incidental way I don’t know to listen effectively Interviewer: Thank you very much XVIII The interview with the third student: (S3) Interviewer: How would you describe the level of your listening comprehension of listening practice tests before the listening strategy instruction sessions? S3: Actually, I found listening very difficult I had trouble catching the right information because there were sometimes more than one option which made me confused when I listened to Ielts listening tests Interviewer: What did you usually to understand the listening task before, during, and after listening before attending the listening strategy instruction sessions? S3: I often read through the questions and look up words I don’t know I sometimes look back at my answer after listening Interviewer: Did you often evaluate your level of listening after finishing listening? S3: No Interviewer: Describe your experience of listening strategy instruction session What changes did you experience through attending the listening strategy instruction session? S3: Planning strategy helped me make the best use of the time before listening I referred to my background knowledge in order to understand the listening text better In fact, I think that if I am more familiar with the topic, I will understand better For example, I there was something called “booking reference” in section of the practice test I remember that one time when I booked a tour for my company, I heard about this word Therefore, I know that it contains both numbers and letters It also XIX helps me know what information I should pay attention to and ignore irrelevant information Interviewer: Which strategies did you like and dislike? Why? S3: In my opinion, it is planning It helps me more focused on important information Interviewer: Do you think the listening strategy instruction sessions were beneficial to you? Why / why not? S3: The instruction sections help a lot, I think Now I know how to listen more effectively Interviewer: Thank you very much The interview with the fourth student (S4) Interviewer: How would you describe the level of your listening comprehension of listening practice tests before the listening strategy instruction sessions? S4: To me, listening is the most challenging skill compared with the other skills I knew about Ielts listening test before but I still found it difficult Interviewer: What did you usually to understand the listening task before, during, and after listening before attending the listening strategy instruction sessions? S4: I often looked through the questions and underlined the key words and looked up words that I didn’t know Interviewer: Did you often evaluate your level of listening after finishing listening? XX S4: I rarely did that Interviewer: Describe your experience of listening strategy instruction session What changes did you experience through attending the listening strategy instruction session? S4: I found that after 8-week instruction sections, I have listened with a purpose in mind During listening I know how to eliminate the wrong prediction After listening, I have been more aware of which part of the listening practice test I listened well and which one I did not, and find the reasons for that Interviewer: Which strategies did you like and dislike? S4: I think they are planning and monitoring Interviewer: Do you think the listening strategy instruction sessions were beneficial to you? Why / why not? S4: They really work for me It is obvious that using those strategies help listeners know how to listen It does not like before when I often approached the listening tasks in random way and did not what I should focus on Interviewer: Thank you very much The interview with the fifth student (S5) Interviewer: How would you describe the level of your listening comprehension of listening practice tests before the listening strategy instruction sessions? XXI S5: I faced a lot of difficulties in listening I did not feel very confident with listening skills Interviewer: What did you usually to understand the listening task before, during, and after listening before attending the listening strategy instruction sessions? S5: I only read the questions, actually I think one of my problems is that I did not know how to make the most efficient use of given time before listening Interviewer: Did you often evaluate your level of listening after finishing listening? S5: No, I didn’t Interviewer: Can you describe your experience of listening strategy instruction sessions? What changes did you experience through attending the listening strategy instruction session? S5: I know how to make the most efficient use of my time before listening now I also pay more attention to the requirements of different kinds of tasks in order to know how to deal with them At times, when I found myself get left behind trying to work out what a word meant in a question, I just skipped and moved on to the next questions Interviewer: Which strategies did you like and dislike? S5: I like planning and monitoring They helped me a lot Interviewer: Do you think the listening strategy instruction sessions were beneficial to you? Why / why not? S5: Yes, they were I feel much more confident now XXII Interviewer: Thank you very much XXIII Appendix D Performance Checklist for Listening Student name: _ Date: (Place a check mark in the 'yes' column when verifying each statement) Before listening Yes I understand the task (what I have to after I have finished listening) I know what I must pay attention to while I listen I have asked the teacher for clarifications, if necessary I have attempted to recall all that I know about the topic have attempted to recall what I know about the type of text I will listen to and the type of information I will probably hear I have made predictions on what I am about to hear I am ready to pay attention and concentrate on what I am about to hear I have encouraged myself After listening Yes I concentrated on the task to be accomplished I attempted to verify my predictions I revised my predictions accordingly I focused my attention on the information needed to accomplish the task I used background noises, tone of voice, and other clues to help me guess at the meaning of words I did not understand I used key words, cognates, and word families to understand the text I used my knowledge of the context and of text structure to understand the text I evaluated the logic/plausibility of what I understood XXIV In order to improve my performance, next time I will …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… XXV ... exploiting listening tasks in section and of IELTS Listening Practice Tests Significance of the study By bringing out the result of the influence of using listening strategies on listening skills development:. .. DR.NGUYỄN THỊ MINH TÂM HA NOI - 2015 DECLARATIONS I, Vũ Quỳnh Anh, hereby certify that the thesis entitled ? ?An Investigation into the Influence of Using Listening Strategies on Listening Skills Development:. .. solutions for the problem 2.2 Context of the study The study was conducted in English Department, Hanoi University which offers courses on translation and interpretation training The aim of the