An investigation into TOEIC listening comprehension problems of non-English major students

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** PHẠM HỒNG NHUNG AN INVESTIGATION INTO TOEIC LISTENING COMPREHENSION PROBLEMS OF NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS ĐIỀU TRA VỀ CÁC VẤN ĐỀ NGHE HIỂU TOEIC CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Hanoi – 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** PHẠM HỒNG NHUNG AN INVESTIGATION INTO TOEIC LISTENING COMPREHENSION PROBLEMS OF NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS ĐIỀU TRA VỀ CÁC VẤN ĐỀ NGHE HIỂU TOEIC CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Dr Tô Thi Thu Hương ̣ Hanoi - 2014 DECLARATION I hereby certify that the thesis entitled “An investigation into TOEIC listening comprehension problems of non English major students at University of Economic and Technical Industries” is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts at University of Economic and Technical Industries, and that this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other university or tertiary institution Hanoi, 2014 Phạm Hồng Nhung i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In the process of doing my research paper, I have received a lot of help, encouragement and experience from teachers and friends Especially, my graduation subject now is completed successfully thanks to all teachers‟ support at University of Economic and Technical Industries (UNETI) who did their best to help me gather data from students‟ and teachers‟ questionnaires First of all, I would like to express my sincere thank to my supervisor Dr To Thi Thu Huong who has generously given me invaluable assistance and guidance Without her help, this paper will not be successfully done Besides, my sincere thank is also extended to all the students who help me fulfill the survey questions Finally, I am grateful to my family and friends who have given me much encouragement during the time I carried out this paper ii ABSTRACT Listening skills are important for face-to-face communication, meetings, conferences, telephone conversations, etc Being able to listen well is an important part of communication for everyone, especially for students A student with good listening comprehension skills will be able to participate more effectively in communicative situations Out of all the different tests offering to certify the level of English, the TOEIC is the simplest and most practical in terms of its contents, its format, and the rapidity of results receipt Therefore, to standardize the output quality of students, in most universities including University of Economic and Technical Industries (UNETI), TOEIC is considered as a common standard of measurement for evaluation of students‟ fluency in English in the professional context However, when taking the TOEIC test, especially the TOEIC listening comprehension section, many students usually complain that instead of listening carefully they usually guess and circle the answers randomly in the end They said that they lacked knowledge, skills and strategies about listening comprehension Understanding these problems, the study investigates TOEIC listening comprehension problems encountered by a group of non English major students of UNETI 120 non English major students at UNETI who were studying in the seventh term and ten teachers of English were selected and voluntarily joined the study Data was gathered by means of questionnaires The results of the study showed that test-taking strategies, general background knowledge, linguistic ability and teaching methods were the major TOEIC listening comprehension problems encountered by non English major students at UNETI Some suggestions are made for addressing problems regarding how teachers can help their students overcome TOEIC listening comprehension problems The results of this study may also be useful for those who are interested in this field iii LIST OF ABBREVIATION UNETI: University of Economic and Technical Industries TOEIC: Test of English for International Communication ETS: Educational Testing Service ESL: English as a Second Language EFL: English as a Foreign Language L2 learners: Second Language learners iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Students‟ opinion about the role of TOEIC listening test Table 2: Students‟ opinion about the difficult level of TOEIC listening test Table 3: Students‟ opinion about the difficulty of each part in TOEIC 22 Students‟ opinions of strategies of listening comprehension Table 5: 25 Students‟ opinions of TOEIC listening problems related to background knowledge and linguistic ability Table 6: 22 22 listening test Table 4: Page 28 Students‟ opinions of listening problems related to listener 31 Table 7: Students‟ opinions of teacher‟s teaching methods 32 Table 8: The expectations of the students towards teachers of TOEIC listening skill 34 Table 9: Teachers‟ opinions of teaching methods 35 Table 10: Teachers‟ opinions of students‟ strategy uses 37 v TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Declaration i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii List of abbreviations iv List of tables v Table of contents vi PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study Aims of the study Research questions Scope of the study Method of the study Significance of the study .3 Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1- LITERATURE REVIEW Theoretical background to listening comprehension 1.1 Definitions of listening and listening comprehension 1.1.1 Definitions of listening 1.1.2 Definitions of listening comprehension 1.2 Models of listening process 1.3 Potential problems and strategies in listening comprehension 1.3.1 Potential Problems in listening comprehension 1.3.2 Listening Comprehension Strategies Overview of the TOEIC test .10 2.1 The TOEIC test 10 2.2 TOEIC Test Area 10 2.3 Test structure 11 vi 2.4 Test Scoring 12 2.5 Who takes the test? 14 2.6 TOEIC Listening Comprehension Section 15 Related studies on TOEIC test–taking and listening comprehension 16 CHAPTER 2- METHODOLOGY 2.1 The setting of the study 19 2.2 Participants .19 2.2.1 Teachers .19 2.2 Students .20 2.3 Data Collection Instruments .20 2.4 Data collection procedures .21 2.5 Data analysis 21 CHAPTER THREE – FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 Students‟ attitude towards TOEIC listening test at UNETI 22 3.2 TOEIC listening comprehension problems experienced by students at UNETI 23 3.2.1 Students’ opinions of strategies of TOEIC listening comprehension 23 3.2.2 Students’ opinions of TOEIC listening problems related to background knowledge and linguistic ability 27 3.2.3 Students’ opinions of listening problems related to listeners .30 3.2.4 Students’ opinions of teacher’s teaching methods 32 3.3 The expectations of the students towards teachers of TOEIC listening skill 33 3.4 Listening comprehension problems reflected by teachers 34 3.4.1 Teachers’ opinions of teaching methods .35 3.4.2 Teachers’ opinions of students’ strategy uses 36 3.5 Recommendations for improvement of the efficiency of teaching and learning of non English major students at UNETI 38 3.5.1 Recommendations for teachers of English 38 vii 3.5.1.1 Adapting and improving listening materials 38 3.5.1.2 Improving teachers’ classroom techniques 38 3.5.2 Recommendations for students 40 3.5.2.1 Improving English proficiency .40 3.5.2.2 Improving listening strategies 40 3.6 Summary 41 PART C – CONCLUSION Conclusion 42 Limitations and suggestions for further study 43 REFERENCES 44 Appendixes I viii PART C – CONCLUSION The study is aimed at finding out learners‟ TOEIC listening comprehension problems and factors causing the problems as well Since then, some suggestions on strategies are given to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning TOEIC listening comprehension Conclusions In general, the study has been carried with the aim to investigate the current problems in TOEIC listening comprehension of non English major students at UNETI The paper is relevant to the current situation as there has been a strong tendency to learn English for communication Therefore, it is necessary to give some suggestions on strategies to improve teaching and learning TOEIC listening comprehension Being a teacher at UNETI, I can clearly see that the situation of teaching and learning English Listening comprehension in TOEIC test seems to be the weakest skill and students encounter various kinds of TOEIC listening problems This study is done in the hope of finding out the factors causing their listening comprehension problems and contributing some recommended strategies for teachers and students to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning TOEIC listening comprehension Research results have allowed myself to arrive at the following conclusions: - Students at UNETI encounter various kinds of listening problems in listenning comprehension which can be divided into four categories: strategies of listening comprehension (learning habit, learners‟ applications), knowledge and linguistic ability (unfamiliar words, the length of the spoken text, speed rate, a variety of accents, and pronunciation), characteristics of the listener (learning habits, and psychological factors), and teachers‟ teaching methodology (offer chances 42 for students to listen for several times, exploit suitable listening material to students‟ needs and interest) - Some suggestions that could be employed for teachers and students to encounter listening comprehension problems include adapting and improving listening materials, and improving teachers‟ classroom techniques on the part of the teachers As for students, they can alleviate their own difficulties by improving English proficiency, and improving listening strategies The given recommendations are definitely practical and workable under present circumstances in terms of technical and human resources of UNETI in particular Limitations and suggestions for further study In most research projects, limitations are inevitable This study is of no exception Firstly, this research has investigated students‟ perceptions of listening comprehension problems Perceptions may, nevertheless, not always be accurate and reliable since the researcher in this current study used only one method: survey questionnaire with two groups of informants: teachers and students And so the triangulation is not strong Thus, it would be better to include class observation and other methods in a further research A study, which directly tests students‟ difficulties in listening acquisition, would also be useful for reliable data Furthermore, it is vital to carry out a study which requires students to keep their learning records of listening skill so that there will be more profound and precise understanding about difficulties of students in listening skill Secondly, since the writer‟s practical experience in teaching listening and knowledge of this field are limited, the suggestions in chapter three might be incomplete, leaving the issue open to debate Further work, therefore, should overcome this shortcoming Thirdly, given the limited scope of the current study, the investigator could not examine teachers‟ views of teaching listening comprehension This calls for further research as well 43 REFERENCES  Bostrom, R.N (1997) The process of listening In O D W Hargie (Ed), Handbook of communication skills (2nd ed.) (236-258) London: Routledge  Brown, H D (1994) Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc  Brown, J D (2001) Using surveys in Language programs Cambridge University Press  Brown, G (1992) Listening to Spoken English London: Longman Press  Buck, G (2001) Assessing listening New York: Cambridge University Press  Chiu, B E (2006) An Investigation of English Listening Strategies Used by Continuous Education Program Students in Taiwan Retrieved October 30, 2008 from http://web.nanya.edu.tw/tcof/tcrd/word  Grant Trew (2007) A teacher‟s guide to TOEIC listening and reading test preparing your students for success Oxford University Press  Hasan, A (2000) Learners‟ perceptions of listening comprehension problems Language, Culture and Curriculum, 13, 137-152  Habte-Gabr, E (2006) The Importance of Socio-affective Strategies in Using EFL for Teaching Language Teaching, Mainstream Subjects The Journal of Humanizing 8(5) Retrieved September 10, 2009, from http://www.hltmag.co.uk/sep06/sart02.htm#C1  Henner-Stanchina, C (1987) Autonomy as metacognitive awareness: suggestions for training self-monitoring on listening comprehension M‟elanges P‟edagogiques 17 Universite de Nancy 2: CRAPEL  Kelly, P (1991) Lexical ignorance: the main obstacle to listening comprehension with advanced foreign language learners International Review of Applied Linguistics, 29 (2), 135-149 44  Lu, P H (2008) English listening comprehension strategy used by students of pre-sessional courses of Northumbria University, Unpublished master thesis, Southern Taiwan University  Morley J (1991) Listening comprehension in second/foreign language instruction In M Celce-Murcia (Ed.), Teaching English as a second or foreign language (pp 81-106) Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle  Nakata, Y (1999) The effects of listening strategy training on listening competence Paper,AILA, Tokyo  O„Malley, J M., Chamot, A U., Stewner-Manzanares, G., Kupper, L., & Russo, R P (1985) Learning strategies used by beginning and intermediate ESL students Language Learning, 35, 21-46  O‟Malley, J M., & Chamot, A U (1990) Learning strategies in second language acquisition Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press  O‟Malley, J M & Chamot, A.U (2001) Learning Strategies in Second Language Acquisition Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press  Oxford, R (1990) Language learning strategies: What every teacher should know Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle  Richards J.C (1990) The language teaching matrix Cambridge University Press  Richards, J C (2008) Teaching Listening and Speaking Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press  Rost, M (2011) Teaching and researching listening (2nd edition) Harlow: Pearson  Saricoban, A The Teaching of Listening.The Internet TESL Journal, (12).(Online), (http://iteslj.org/Articles/Saricoban-Listening.html), retrieved 27 October 2011  Underwood, M (1989) Teaching listening London: Longman  Thompson, I, & Rubin, J (1996) Can strategy instruction improve listening comprehension? Foreign Language Annals, 29, 331-342 45  Vandergrift, L (1999) Facilitating second language listening comprehension: acquiring successful strategies ELT Journal, 53(3), 168-176  Vandergrift, L (2003) Listening: theory and practice in modern foreign language competence Retrieved January 4, 2009, from http://www.llas.ac.uk/resources/gpg/67  Vandergrift, L (1997) The comprehension strategies of second language (French) listeners: A descriptive study Foreign Language Annals, 30(3), 387~409 46 APPENDICES APPENDIX Survey questionnaire on listening skill (for students) My name is Pham Hong Nhung I am doing a research entitled “An investigation into TOEIC listening comprehension problems of non English major students at University of Economic – Technical Industries” which is aimed at exploring students‟ listening comprehension problems Therefore, your assistance in completing this questionnaire is greatly appreciated Please be sure that all the information will be kept confidential and be used for the research purpose only Thank you very much for your cooperation I Background information Your gender A male B female Your name (optional): ………………………………………………………… Your age: …………………………………………………………………… Your years of learning English: ……………………………………………… Your years of learning listening skill: ………………………………………… II Your attitude towards TOEIC listening test Circle the answer that is the most appropriate to you Question 1: How you think about TOEIC listening comprehension? A very important B important C Not important D Not very important Question 2: How difficult is TOEIC listening to you? A Very difficult B difficult C easy D very easy I Question 3: Which part is the most difficult in listening comprehension in TOEIC test? A Pictures description B Questions and responses C Short conversations D Short talks II III Your experience in listening classes Tick (√) to the column that is the most appropriate to you III Problems Before read Never Seldom Sometimes Often Always 24 41 46 2.5% 5% 20% 34.2% 38.3% 10 14 42 5% 8.3% 11.7% 35% 40% 10 12 20 42 36 8.3% 10% 16.7% 35% 30% 28 20 30 22 20 23.3% 16.7% 25% 18.3% 16.7% 28 24 27 21 20 23.3% 20% 22.5% 17.5% 25 24 21 29 17.5% 20.8% 20% 17.5% 24.2% 30 51 28 listening, the task instruction, go through the questions and guess what the content is Study pictures, then predict the sentences that best describe the pictures Identify the types of questions to choose the correct answers Paraphrase the questions and keep them in mind while listening Recognize linking 48 sounds, stressed word … Guess the meaning of unfamiliar words or phrases from context 10 Use my experience and background 21 IV 16.7% knowledge of the topic to understand the 5% 4.2% 25% 42.5% 23.3% 24 36 23 25 12 20% 30% 19.2% 20.8% 10% 10 23 42 33 12 8.3% 19.2% 35% 27.5% 10% 11 17 24 28 40 9.2% 14.2% 20% 23.3 33.3 % % spoken text 11 If I can‟t understand words or phrases while listening, I ignore it and keep on listening 12 While listening, I listen to every detail to get the main idea of the spoken text 13 Content of the message with unfamiliar vocabulary including jargon and idiomatic expressions interferes with my TOEIC listening comprehension 13 Content of the message with unfamiliar 11 40 17 24 14.2% 20% 28 vocabulary including jargon and idiomatic expressions interferes with my TOEIC 9.2% listening V 23.3 33.3 % % comprehension 14 Difficult grammar structures 12 30 40 32 5% 10% 25% 33.3 26.7 % % interfere with my TOEIC listening comprehension 15 Unfamiliar topics interfere with 10 18 53 36 2.5% 8.3% 15% 44.2 30% my TOEIC listening comprehension % 16 The long listening texts 19 26 31 42 1.7% 15.8% 21.7% 25.8 35% interfere with my TOEIC listening comprehension % 17 I find it difficult to understand well when 39 45 26 3.3% 5% 32.5% 37.5 21.7 % % speakers speak with variety of accents 18 I find it difficult to understand well when 15 41 52 4.2% 5.8% 12.5% 34.2 43.3 % % 29 35 speakers speak too fast 19 I find it difficult to understand the 10 40 meaning of words 5% 8.3% 33.3% VI which are not pronounced clearly 24.2 29.2 % % 20 I feel nervous and tired when I don‟t understand the 1% 9% 18% 27% 45% 1% 4% 27% 43% 25% 10% 9% 31% 27% 23% spoken text 21 I find it difficult when listening conversations or short talks without transcripts 22 I find it difficult to understand the spoken text which is not of interest to me VII 23 What have teachers of listening skill done to help you listen better or more effectively? Circle the thing(s) that your teachers of listening skill have done A Encourage you to activate your previous knowledge into listening texts B Create comfortable environment for you to exchange information before listening C Offer you as many chances to listen again as you expect D Provide you with certain key words E Explain clearly about the listening contexts F Suggest you essential listening strategies needed for each kind of listening tasks G Exploit different kinds of listening materials suitable to your listening ability and your interest H Other things that teachers have done Please specify ……………………………… 24 What you expect your teachers of listening skill to to help you overcome the difficulties you encounter in TOEIC listening comprehension? A Give you TOEIC listening techniques or strategies B Give detailed explanations about your errors C Design TOEIC listening tests to evaluate your levels at the end of each academic year D Provide you with different sources of listening VIII APPENDIX Questionnaire for teachers My name is Pham Hong Nhung I am conducting a research entitled “An investigation into TOEIC listening comprehension problems of nonEnglish major students at University of Economic – Technical Industries” which is aimed at exploring students‟ comprehension listening problems In this questionnaire, I have listed some listening strategies From your own teaching experience, would you please put a tick to the column indicating the frequency your learners use them in listening comprehension Then, please answer question to indicate which method(s) you use in teaching TOEIC listening skill Thank you very much for your cooperation Item 1.Activating prior knowledge to understand the spoken messages Never Seldom Sometimes Often Always 0% 60% 20% 20% 0% 0% 20% 20% 40% 20% 0% 20% 40% 20% 20% Predicting general content before listening using context and prior knowledge Working in pairs or in groups to help them understand the spoken text more Taking short note of important content words 0% 40% 40% 0% 20% 20% 20% 40% 0% 20% Continuing to listen for clarification difficulty in spite of IX What have you done to help your students study listening skill better? (Circle as many things as you have done) A encourage your students to activate previous knowledge into listening texts B created comfortable environment for students to discuss and exchange information before listening C offered chances for students to listen for several times D provided them with certain key words to help students listen effectively E explained listening contexts clearly to your students F suggested students some strategies needed for each kind of listening tasks G exploited suitable materials to students‟ needs and interests H Other things you have done, please specify ……………………………… X