The Impacts of Listening Strategy Training on 10-Grade Students’ Listening Performance at Mỹ Đức C High School: A Quasi-Experimental Study

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ************************* LÊ THỊ BÍCH HẠNH THE IMPACTS OF LISTENING STRATEGY TRAINING ON 10GRADE STUDENTS’ LISTENING PERFORMANCE AT MỸ ĐỨC C HIGH SCHOOL: A QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL STUDY Nghiên cứu ngụy thực nghiệm tác động việc rèn luyện chiến lược nghe lực thực hành nghe hiểu học sinh lớp 10 trường THPT Mỹ Đức C M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60.140.111 Hanoi – 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ************************* LÊ THỊ BÍCH HẠNH THE IMPACTS OF LISTENING STRATEGY TRAINING ON 10GRADE STUDENTS’ LISTENING PERFORMANCE AT MỸ ĐỨC C HIGH SCHOOL: A QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL STUDY Nghiên cứu ngụy thực nghiệm tác động việc rèn luyện chiến lược nghe lực thực hành nghe hiểu học sinh lớp 10 trường THPT Mỹ Đức C M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60.140.111 Supervisor: Dr Đỗ Thị Thanh Hà Hanoi – 2014 DECLARATION I, hereby, certify the thesis entitled “The impacts of listening strategy training on 10-grade students’ listening performance at Mỹ Đức C high school: a quasiexperimental study” is the result of my own research for the Minor Degree of Master of Arts at the University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, and this thesis has not, wholly or partially, been submitted for any degree at any other universities or institutions Hanoi, 10th March 2015 Lê Thị Bích Hạnh i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge my deep gratitude to all those who have supported me in doing this independent study Firstly, I would like to express my greatest appreciation to my supervisor, Dr Đỗ Thị Thanh Hà for her enthusiastic encouragement, valuable guidance, wise suggestions and useful critiques towards the completion of this study Secondly, I am extremely grateful to the staff members of the Faculty of Post graduate studies for their helpful lectures My special thanks are also sent to my lecturers, my friends, my classmates, as well as my colleagues for their invaluable comments and criticism and also for their continued interest and encouragements Thirdly, I appreciate the assistance and cooperation given to me by teachers and students at Mỹ Đức C high school Without their sincere participation, this paper would not have been possible Last but not least, I want to express my deepest gratitude to my beloved people, my parents, my husband and my children for their love, care, tolerance and encouragement ii ABSTRACT In recent years more and more studies have focused on language learning strategies and their importance, especially learning strategies in listening skill Sharing the same concern, this research aims at exploring Mỹ Đức C high school 10-grade students’ awareness of top-down and bottom-up listening strategies, from which the researcher would like to study the impacts of listening strategy training on their listening performance 70 students in grade 10 and 11 were divided into two groups: control and experimental with two research instruments – questionnaires and pretest, posttest After receiving listening strategy training sessions, participants showed a statistically significant improvement in listening performance The experimental group obtained higher mean scores in post-test in comparison with those of control group The study result also indicated that the students in experimental group became more aware of when and how to apply both strategies, especially bottom-up ones, in doing listening tasks This study suggests that explicit listening strategy instruction should be part of the ESL curriculum iii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: Teaching plan during implementation period Table 2: Bottom-up strategy use of the control group Table 3: Bottom-up strategy use of the experimental group Table 4: Top-down strategy use of the control group Table 5: Top-down strategy use of the experimental group Table 6: Bottom-up strategy use of both groups Table 7: Top-down strategy use of both groups Table 8: Descriptive statistics for the pre-test and post-test of control group and experimental group (Max score = 10) Table 9: The relationship between experimental and control group’s test scores Table 10: Pretest and posttest scores of control and experimental groups Figure 1: The difference in gain values obtained by both groups after experiment iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration i Acknowledgement ii Abstract iii List of tables and figures iv Table of content v PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Research Questions Objectives of the study Scope of the study Methodology Significance of the study Outline of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW I Theoretical background Definitions of listening Learning strategies 2.1 Learning strategies – definition 2.2 Bottom up learning strategy 2.3 Top-down learning strategies Strategy training 11 4.Listening strategy models 12 II Related studies: 15 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 17 2.1 Settings 17 2.2 Participants 17 2.3 Research methods 17 2.4 Data collection method 18 v 2.3.1 Pre-test 19 2.3.2 Post-test 19 2.3.3 Questionnaire for students 19 2.5 Training procedure 20 2.6 Data analysis methods 25 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 26 3.1 Research question 1: How far have the 10th-grade students at My Duc C high school been aware of the listening strategies? 26 3.1.1 Bottom-up strategies 26 3.1.2 Top-down strategies 28 3.1.3 Cross-comparison between the two groups 30 3.2 Research question 2: How did the training of listening strategies have impact on the students’ listening performance? 32 3.3 Discussions on the study results 35 3.4 Summary 36 PART C: CONCLUSIONS 37 Review of the study 37 Implications 37 Limitations of the study 40 Recommendations for further studies 41 REFERENCES 42 APPENDICES I 1.Questionnaire .I Pretest II Posttest IX Test results XV Lesson plans XVIII vi PART A INTRODUCTION Rationale: The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has launched Vietnam’s National Foreign Language 2020 Project (NFL2020) to build national foreign language capacity This project aims at establishing a proficiency framework compatible with the CEFR (The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages), implementing compulsory English programs beginning in grade with benchmarks of A1 for primary, A2 for lower secondary, and B1 for upper secondary, college and university graduates This means that by the year 2020, students are not only able to master reading, writing skills but also speaking and listening ones Among these skills, listening is generally considered as the most difficult skill by language learners According to Nguyễn Văn Phú (2013) on Tuoitreonline, only 2-3% of secondary teachers throughout Vietnam passed the CEFR exam, especially, the number of teachers passing the listening skill was even smaller British Council and Apollo did a research on learners’ English competence in 20 countries and found out that Vietnam rank 8th over 20 on reading and writing skills but only 19th over 20 on listening and speaking skills Listening skill is also considered a source of anxiety for learners of English (Graham, 2006: 165) This anxiety become more serious if the listeners are under the false impression that they must understand every word they hear resulting in low self-confidence in listening Many of English learners attribute their problems in listening to what they perceive as their low listening ability or difficult listening texts or tasks Such attributions indicate a sense of passivity and helplessness in language learners, thus easily resulting in their becoming demotivated and fed up with listening It is, therefore, difficult for learners to have a clear understanding of how to go about listening in a second language and to find ways to improve their performance Flowerdew and Miller (2005) argued that students should be taught how to listen by equipping them with effective listening strategies (p.69) Chamot and O‟Malley (1989) suggested that the description of learning strategies can hinge on the distinction between declarative and procedural knowledge Learners can have declarative knowledge about learning strategies through formal instruction This will encourage the learners to be aware of their existing strategies and the choices of strategies they can use with new materials Through verbalizing the strategies, “application and repeated applications of the strategies with various learning materials, the learners can gradually proceduralize the learning strategies.” (p.420) Not much research, however, has been carried out on the effects of strategy training on listening comprehension Furthermore, the few studies that have been completed in this area have produced mixed results Some studies indicated no improvement in students’ listening comprehension skills after strategy training (Ozeki, 2000) while others showed slight improvement such as in the research by Flowerdew at al (2005) Since this is still a controversial issue, it is necessary to more research on strategy training With a wide range of learning strategies to be chosen, it is difficult to cover many strategies just in a small thesis experiment Therefore, this study only focuses on the training of bottom-up and top-down learning strategies for students during the listening comprehension tasks, namely, “The impacts of listening strategy training on 10-grade students’ listening performance at Mỹ Đức C High School: A quasiexperimemtal study” Research questions: The aims are specified in two research questions: How far have the 10th-grade students at My Duc C high school been aware of the listening strategies? How did the training of listening strategies have impacts on the students’ listening performance? Objectives of the study In order to answer the above questions, the study aims at: - Investigating the learners’ perceptions regarding bottom-up and top- down listening strategies - Experimenting and investigating the effects of listening strategy training on the 10-grade students’ listening performance at My Duc C high school What kind of sport does he like? General hospital How often? Sports - What strategy should you use when you Swimming, football answer such questions? Why? Twice a week - - Play the CD twice After that ask Ss to work these questions ask for in pairs to exchange information detailed information - - Bottom up strategy because Check the answers and play the CD once Listen to answer questions and then work in pairs again to check the answer IV - After you listen: Ask Ss to work in pairs, make a conversation to get to know each other Then take turn to tell the class about what you have known about your friend V - Work in pairs and then tell the class if required Consolidation: Ask Ss some questions to recall the lesson knowledge: - What strategy have you applied today? - What kind of question have you applied that strategy? XXIV SCRIPTS: Hello, I’m Erica from Leeds I’m a freshman in a college I like sports and I go swimming after school I go about once or twice a week Hi, my name is Marti Cheen from York I’m a salesman in a big department store I like music and I often go to concerts at weekends I’m Tim Russell from Edinburgh I’m a college student College is very expensive so I have to a part-time job in a restaurant at weekends I plan to visit Europe this summer, so I have to save almost every penny for this trip as well My name is Linda from London I’m in high school at present I have a parttime job in a fast-food restaurant It’s Hamberger Heaven I want to go to a good university so I have to save all my money for college I work three hours on Saturdays and Sundays Hello, I’m Rita from Bristol I’m a receptionist at the BBC My job is to answer the phone I like to talk to the people I like to go shopping with my friends after work too My name is Chris from Leeds I’m in a bank manager in the Midland Bank I like rock music very much I have twin girls, and they loce rock music, too I’m Sue, from Manchester I’m an EFL teacher I teach in the London International School I often take my students to see films After school, I like going to dramas very much My favourite is Hamlet Hi, I’m Richard Lee from Birmingham I’m a doctor, and work in the General Hospital I love sports My favourite sport is swimming I swim twice a week I also like to play football (Li Ya Bin – 2011) XXV LESSON 3: PRACTICE – TOP-DOWN STRATEGY 10th grade students Level: practice top down strategy Topic: Aims: the lesson aims at helping the students practice top down strategies Time: 45 minutes approximately Aids: Charts, laptop with speakers, audio recordings, handouts, Source: Luyện kỹ nghe Tiếng Anh (Xuân Bá et al., 2007:35,36) Anticipated problems: Ss may find it difficult to find the main idea or to infer the situation T should activate their background knowledge thoroughly Procedure: Teacher I - Students Warm up: Have some conversations with Ss - Which famous places have you visited? Have conversations with the T What did you there? Have you ever been to Paris? II - Before you listen: Now come back to Paris What you think of Paris? - Answer questions - Match the pictures with their What are some famous places in Paris? - Here I have some pictures of some famous places in Paris Match them with their names Arc de Triomphe names XXVI Louvre Museum Eiffel Tower Notre Dame Cathedral - Stick the pictures on the board - Let the Ss work in groups then check - Ask the Ss if they know anything about these places - Tell the class if anyone know anything about these places + The Louvre, originally a royal palace but now the world's most famous museum, is a must-visit for anyone with a slight interest in art Some of the museum's most celebrated works of art include the Mona Lisa and the Venus of Milo + Arc de Triomphe is the world's largest triumphal arch, forms the backdrop for an impressive urban ensemble in Paris, designed by Jean Franỗois Thérèse Chalgrin (17391811), completed in 1833 and inaugurated in 1836 by the French king, Louis-Philippe + The Eiffel Tower is an iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris It was named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower Erected in 1889 as the XXVII entrance arch to the 1889 World's Fair, it has become both a global cultural icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world The tower is the tallest structure in Paris and the mostvisited paid monument in the world + The cathedral is widely considered to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture and among the largest and most well-known church buildings in the world The naturalism of its sculptures and stained glass are in contrast with earlier Romanesque architecture - Have Ss pronounce the names, correct - the mistakes - Answer: some famous places in Paris Ask Ss: what are you going to listen about? III - While you listen: Deliver the handouts of tasks for Ss and - Read the questions/ ask them to read through the questions/ requirements and make sure requirements there are no new words XXVIII Top down strategy - Ask them what strategy they use in these - Guess the answer - Compare their answer in kinds of task - Ask them to guess the answers Task 1: Choose the best answer: Where are the speakers now? a London b Paris c Washington What time may it be now? a a.m b 12 o’clock c p.m What is their relationship? a Friends b Colleagues c Husband and wife They …… each other? a hate b love c feel indifferent with How they feel about their trip? a Interesting b Terrible c Unsafe - Play the disk once then ask Ss to compare their answers pairs - Play the second time for Ss to check - Listen and check - Check the answers and play the disk - Give the answers: again where they are unclear - 1a; 2b; 3c; 4b; 5a Ask them to compare the result with their guess - Compare their answer with their guessing XXIX Task 2: Number the pictures in the order they plan to visit them - Deliver the pictures and ask students to guess the order of their visiting these places Eiffel Tower Louvre Museum Notre Dame Cathedral XXX - Guess the answer Arc de Triomphe - Play the disk twice - Check the answer - Listen and reorder the pictures - Give the answer after Ask them to compare with the guessed compare the result with the answers classmates - Check with the guessed answers IV After you listen: - ask Ss to make a conversation in pair to make a plan to visit some famous places they like - check one or two groups V - Work in pairs to make a conversation Consolidation: Evaluate the students’ application on top-down down strategy by asking them several questions: + In this lesson, what kind of task you have XXXI to do, listening for detail or listening for general ideas + What strategy should you use in this case? + How you apply this strategy? + Listening for general idea + Top down strategy + We should activate our understanding about the topic and raise some questions as guide for listening XXXII LESSON 3: PRACTICE – TOP DOWN AND BOTTOM UP STRATEGIES 10th grade students Level: practice top down and bottom up strategies Topic: Aims: the lesson aims at helping the students practice when to use top down strategy and when to use bottom up strategy Time: 45 minutes approximately Aids: Charts, laptop with speakers, audio recordings, handouts, Source: unit 14 - English 10 ( Hoang Van Van at al…,) Anticipated problems: Ss may find it difficult to differentiate which strategy should be used with a task T should elicit the theoretical knowledge about top down and bottom up strategies Procedure: Teacher I - Students Warm up: Game: divide the Ss into two groups and list as many sports as possible The group with more results will win the game - Ask Ss some questions: What is the most favorite and popular sport in the world? How often you watch it? XXXIII - Play the game II - Before you listen: Show the pictures of some famous - Do the matching Ask Ss who is called the king of - Pele football - Tell the T and the class if anyone football players of whom there is Pele’ and show Ss their names Ask students to match the names with the pictures Beckham, Pele, Messi, Maradona - - Ask Ss if they know anything about know about Pele Pele T may provide some information if Ss not know much about him Born on October 23, 1940, in Trờs Coraỗừes, Brazil, soccer legend Pelộ became a superstar with his performance in the 1958 World Cup Pelé played professionally in Brazil for two decades, winning three World Cups along the way, before joining the New York Cosmos late in his career Named FIFA co-Player of the Century in 1999, he is a global ambassador for soccer and other humanitarian causes - Provide some new words that may appear in the listening passage, paying attention to stress and - meaning Goal-scorer Hero Ambassador XXXIV Listen and note Brazil Kicking Retirement Promote Championship - Can you guess what you are going to - listen about III Guessing: about football team; Pele… While you listen: Task 1: You will hear some information about Pele, a famous Brazilian football player Listen and complete the table below - Ask Ss to read through the table - In this task, you listen for detail or you listen for gist? What strategy - should you use to this task? Read through the table to see what they are going to fill in Can you guess the answers? You should - guess the answers before you listen and this guessing is called top-down strategy In this Listen for detail The strategy should be used here is bottom up - Guess the answers - Listen to the tape twice then case, you should use both strategies for effective listening Now guess the answers first - Play the tape twice then ask Ss to check their answers in pairs - Play the tape one more time for Ss to check where they are unclear check the answers in pairs XXXV - Listen again for checking Answers: 1940 Joined a Brazilian football club 1962 1974 Retired Task 2: - Listen again and answer the following guessed ones questions: - Compare the answers with their Ask Ss to read through the questions and use the top down strategy to guess the answers based on their background knowledge and the previous listening T may guide Ss with some questions to guess + what are famous football players usually good at? + how long can a player play football? + where does a player usually play? + what does a player usually after retirement - Check their guessing and write it on - the B.B - Guess the answers and exchange the information in groups of table Play the tape twice for Ss to get their answers then ask them to exchange - Listen and answer the questions - Check their answers with friends their answers in group of tables - Check the answer, play the tape where the Ss are unclear XXXVI - Ask them to compare their answers and with teacher with what they guess and praise them - for their correct guessing so that they Compare the answers with what have been guessed Answers: feel confident in guessing skill As a football player, Pele was famous for his powerful kicking and controlling the ball He participated in three world cups He played for an American football club before he retired He became an international ambassador for the sport, working to promote peace and understanding through friendly sport activities IV - After you listen: Ask Ss to work in groups of three to talk about the milestones in Pele’ - life - about Pele’ life milestones Go around the class to observe the Ss’ working - V - Work in groups of three to talk Ask some groups to present Consolidation: Evaluate the students’ application on top-down and bottom up strategy by XXXVII asking them several questions: + In this lesson, what kind of task you have to do, listening for detail or listening for general ideas + listen for details + What strategy should you use in this case? - + How you apply this strategy? + use both kinds of strategies: bottom up for listening for detail and answer gap information questions and top down strategy to guess the answers based on background knowledge XXXVIII ... 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