An investigation into listening comprehension problems of the second year english students at nghe an junior teachers training college

1 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* TRẦN THỊ THANH HOA AN INVESTIGATION INTO LISTENING COMPREHENSION PROBLEMS OF THE SECOND YEAR ENGLISH STUDENTS AT NGHE AN JUNIOR TEACHERS TRAINING COLLEGE (Nghiên cứu khó khăn việc học kỹ nghe hiểu sinh viên chuyên Anh năm thứ hai trường CĐSP Nghệ An.) M.A Minor Program Thesis Field: Code: English Teaching Methodology 601410 Hanoi, 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* TRẦN THỊ THANH HOA AN INVESTIGATION INTO LISTENING COMPREHENSION PROBLEMS OF THE SECOND YEAR ENGLISH STUDENTS AT NGHE AN JUNIOR TEACHERS TRAINING COLLEGE (Nghiên cứu khó khăn việc học kỹ nghe hiểu sinh viên chuyên Anh năm thứ hai trường CĐSP Nghệ An.) M.A Minor Program Thesis Field: Methodology Code: 601410 Supervisor: Đinh Hải Yến, M.Ed Hanoi, 2010 LIST OF TABLES Page Table Learners‟ perceptions of strategies of listening comprehension 21 Table learners‟ perception of listening problems related to the listening 23 text Table Learners‟ perception of listening problems related to tasks and 25 activities Table Learners‟ perceptions of listening problems related to the listener 27 Table Learners‟ perceptions of teacher‟s teaching methods 28 Table Teachers‟ perceptions of teaching methods 30 Table Teachers‟ perceptions of learners‟ strategy uses 32 Table The expectations of the students towards teachers of listening skill 34 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS JTTC: Junior teachers training college TABLE OF CONTENT Declaration Acknowledgements Abstract List of tables List of abbreviations PART A: INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………… 1 Rationale ………………………………………………………………………… Aims of the study ………………………………………………………………… Scope of the study ………………………………………………………………… Significance of the study ………………………………………………………… Method of the study ……………………………………………………………… Design of the study ……………………………………………………………… PART B: DEVELOPMENT …………………………………………… Chapter one: Literature review …………………………………………………… 1.1 The nature of listening comprehension ………………………………………… 1.1.1 The concept of listening comprehension ………………………………… 1.1.2 The listening comprehension process …………………………………… 1.2 Potential problems in learning listening comprehension ……………………… 1.3 Strategies of listening comprehension ………………………………………… 10 1.4 Three stages of the listening session …………………………………………… 12 1.4.1 Pre-listening stage ……………………………………………………… 12 1.4.2 While-listening stage …………………………………………………… 13 1.4.3 Post-listening stage ……………………………………………………… 13 1.5 Related studies of listening comprehension problems ………………………… 14 1.6 Summary ……………………………………………………………………… 15 Chapter two: Methodology ………………………………………………………… 16 2.1 Participants ……………………………………………………………………… 16 2.1.1 Students …………………………………………………………………… 16 2.1.2 Teachers …………………………………………………………………… 16 2.2 Setting of the study ……………………………………………………………… 17 2.3 Research methods ……………………………………………………………… 18 2.3.1 Research questions ………………………………………………………… 18 2.3.2 Data collection instrument ………………………………………………… 18 2.3.3 Data analysis method ……………………………………………………… 20 2.4 Summary ………………………………………………………………………… 20 Chapter three: Data results, discussions of major findings and recommendations …………………………………………………………………… 21 3.1 Sources of listening comprehension problems experienced by students at N.A 21 JTTC ………………………………………………………………………………… 3.1.1 Learners‟ perceptions of strategies of listening comprehension ………… 21 3.1.2 Learners‟ perceptions of listening problems related to the listening text … 22 3.1.3 Learners‟ perceptions of listening problems related to task and activities… 25 3.1.4 Learners‟ perceptions of listening problems related to listener …………… 27 3.1.5 Learners‟ perceptions of teacher‟s teaching methods …………………… 28 3.2 Sources of listening comprehension problems reflected by teachers …………… 29 3.2.1 Teachers‟ perceptions of teaching methods ……………………………… 29 3.2.2 Teachers‟ perceptions of learners‟ strategy uses ………………………… 31 3.3 The expectations of the students towards teachers of listening skill …………… 33 3.4 Recommendations for improvement of the efficiency of teaching and learning of 2nd year English students at Nghe An JTTC ………………………………………… 34 3.4.1 Recommendations for teachers of English ………………………………… 34 3.4.1.1 Adapting and improving listening materials ………………………… 34 3.4.1.2 Improving teachers‟ classroom techniques ………………………… 35 3.4.2 Recommendations for students …………………………………………… 37 3.4.2.1 Improving English proficiency ……………………………………… 37 10 3.4.2.2 Improving listening strategies ……………………………………… 37 3.5 Summary ………………………………………………………………………… 38 PART C: CONCLUSIONS ………………………………………………… 40 Summary of the study …………………………………………………………… 40 Conclusions ……………………………………………………………………… 40 Limitations and suggestions for further study …………………………………… 41 REFERENCES ………………………………………………………………… 43 APPENDICES 11 PART A: INTRODUCTION RATIONALE English language teaching profession has changed tremendously over the last few decades in the light of Communicative Language Teaching approach Training learners to be able to use English for communicative purposes has become the goal In order to use English effectively, learners need to develop communicative competence Accordingly, they should be helped to develop four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing However, among the four given skills, it is now generally recognized that listening plays a key role in facilitating language learning Rost (1994, as cited in Nunan & Miller, 1995) confirmed that listening is vital in language classrooms because it provides input for learners Without understanding inputs at the right level, any kind of learning simply cannot occur Listening, therefore, is essential not only as a receptive skill but also to the development of spoken language proficiency In many colleges and universities in Vietnam, listening has played a very important part in learning a foreign language and it is recognized as the principal objective of language courses However, the teaching of listening skills is still the weak link in the language teaching process At Nghe An Junior Teachers‟ Training College, listening is treated equally as other skills in terms of time allocation In fact, it has not drawn much attention of both teachers and learners, they are generally less aware of its importance In classrooms, teachers seem to test, not to teach listening Meanwhile, students seem to learn listening, not listening comprehension Thus, students cannot listen effectively If they are asked to rank the four macro language skills: Speaking, reading, writing and listening in order of difficulty, listening skill will probably be one of those which are put at the top of the list 12 From her observation and experience in working as an English teacher for nearly 10 years, the researcher has noticed that her students have lots of difficulties in listening comprehension This becomes a strong inspiration for her to have an investigation into their listening comprehension problems through which she can identify kinds of listening problem and factors causing their difficulties This would help the researcher to work out possible solutions to help improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning listening comprehension at her college AIMS OF THE STUDY The purpose of the study is to investigate the listening comprehension problems of the 2nd year English students at Nghe An JTTC Therefore, the specific aims are: To find out kinds of listening comprehension problems encountered by nd English students at Nghe An JTTC To find out factors causing their difficulties in listening comprehension To provide some suggestions on strategies to help students overcome SCOPE OF THE STUDY The minor thesis is conducted at Nghe An JTTC in order to perceive difficulties in learning listening comprehension of the 2nd year English students The study focuses on describing the problems and factors causing the given difficulties related to strategies of listening comprehension, the listening text, tasks and activities, listener, and teachers‟ methodology SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STYDY This study points out the listening comprehension problems encountered by nd English students at Nghe An JTTC More importantly, it is a further contribution to the investigation of foreign language listening comprehension problems in actual language classroom practice Hopefully, the findings and recommendations of this study will be of some help to the improvement of the teaching and learning listening comprehension of English of Vietnamese students in general and of Nghe An college students in particular The study also gives some guidelines for teachers to help their students overcome their 13 listening comprehension problems The results of this study may also be useful for those who are interested in this field METHOD OF THE STUDY To fulfill the above aims, the study was carried out with quantitative method of data collection: A questionnaire designed for students consists of two parts  Part one aims at obtaining demographic data about the participants such as name, age, gender and the number of years they have been studying English and listening skill as well  Part two with focus on listening comprehension problems formulated from learners‟ perceptions of listening comprehension problems is based on the model advocated by Ali S Hasan (Hasan, 2000) to find out kinds of their listening comprehension problems and factors affecting their difficulties Another questionnaire was delivered to the teachers It is aimed at obtaining information concerning their perceptions of listening comprehension problems for their 2nd year students DESIGN OF THE STUDY This study is divided into three parts Part A, INTRODUTION, presents reasons for choosing the topic, aims, scope, significance, methods as well as the design of the study Part B, DEVELOPMENT, has three following chapters: Chapter one is the Literature Review which deals with theories on factors involving listening comprehension and listening comprehension problems In chapter two, Methodology, the current situation of teaching and learning listening at N.A JTTC is investigated The research methods which cover research questions, the participants, data collection instruments are presented in this chapter 41 of the topics in listening texts are familiar to students while students have limited knowledge of language Cooperative learning gives them the opportunity to share their listening strategies and learn new ones from their classmates, leading to an environment conductive to learning 40% of all the teachers state that working in pair or in group sometimes helps students understand the spoken text and 0% of students never use that However, 20% of all the teachers complain that students seldom use cooperating with peers to understand the spoken text more It proves that students need a supportive environment in listening classroom According to item 7, that all of students know the importance of taking short note of important content words and applied it in learning comprehension (40% sometimes, 20% often, and 20% seldom) This strategy can help learners encounter memory problems while listening, especially listening to a long spoken text Item indicates that psychological factors affect learners‟ listening comprehension very much They not make effort to continue listening for clarification in spite of difficulty (20% never, 20% seldom) This proves that students need a lot of encouragements for their teachers 3.3 The expectations of the students towards teachers of listening skill The students in this present study were assumed to have certain difficulties in learning listening Thus, when they were asked “what you expect your teachers of listening skill to to help you overcome the difficulties you encounter in listening comprehension?” they responded as follows: Option Raw result Final result A provide you with certain amount of words 21 27% 20 26% 45 56% 26 33% 39 50% needed for listening activities B Equip you with necessary strategies in listening comprehension C Design listening tasks being more suitable to students‟ listening levels and interests D Recommend other supplementary listening materials beside classroom activities E Explain more clearly about the nature of 42 spoken English F Be flexible in organizing listening activities 13 17% Table 8: The expectations of the students towards teachers of listening skill As can be seen from the table, the majority of all students wished to listening tasks more suitable to their interests and levels (56%) and to explain more clearly about the nature of spoken English (50%) 33% of the all students desired their teachers to recommend other supplementary listening materials beside classroom activities and 27% wished to acquire new words needed for listening tasks, it made them feel easier to get the spoken input Besides, 26% find listening strategies necessary because they were lack of good listening strategies Students also hoped that teachers were more flexible in teaching techniques (17%) so that they could help students overcome difficulties in language learning, especially in learning listening From the data collected, it can be agreed that students wished to get a great deal of support from their teachers to overcome difficulties in learning listening Accordingly, teaching styles should be varied and modified or adapted in order to suit the students‟ different learning styles and interests 3.4 Recommendations for improvement of the efficiency of teaching and learning of nd year English students at Nghe An JTTC 3.4.1 Recommendations for teachers of English Based on the findings of the study, a number of suggestions on strategies for alleviating listening comprehension problems were given to teachers of English They will be presented in details as follows 3.4.1.1 Adapting and improving listening materials It is obvious that students differ in their learning styles and ability, therefore, teachers should adopt and adapt listening materials that match their students‟ interest and background since the listening materials only become stimulating and motivating them when they are slightly challenging to what they have already known and suit their interest 3.4.1.2 Improving teachers’ classroom techniques 43 In view of the fact that many students in the study encounter various kinds of listening problems such as unfamiliar words, variety of accents, the rapid speed of delivery, native speakers‟ pronunciation, etc The study also reveals the fact that learners are in some respects poorly equipped with effective strategies The researcher advocates the following classroom techniques which can tackle learners‟ problems of listening comprehension and help them utilize listening strategies as well  Activating or buidingt students’ prior topical and linguistic knowledge Activate the schemata by encouraging the learners to think about and discuss what they already know about the content of the listening text Teachers can also provide the background needed for them to understand the text, and it can help them focus attention on what to listen for Consequently, students begin to predict what they might hear and make connections with what they already know, increasing the relevance of the information  Arousing interest and motivating students to attend to the spoken message Students will be more willing to listen actively to what the speaker says if they are able to relate the listening experience to their own lives Besides, teachers can create an environment conductive to listening and encourage effective listening behaviors that are necessary lifelong skills  Using pictures and visual aids Teacher exploit visual aids or draw pictures and diagrams related to the listening topics to aid students to guess and imagine actively Visual aids draw learners‟ attentions, increase their motivation on the topic and help them relate to content of the spoken text, thus listener overcome difficulties such as unknown words, minimal pairs of words  Encouraging prediction This technique can be employed in the pre-listening or while-listening stages Students are asked to predict what the text is about or what the speaker is going to say next In order encourage students to imagine and predict what they are going to hear, teacher may tell something about the topic of the listening text or something about the speaker(s) Besides, students can be asked to predict the grammar structures that are likely to be used in the 44 listening text or make a list of words, phrases that relate to the topic and may appear in the listening text By this way, they can familiarize students with key concepts and vocabulary before listening to spoken text When students have certain vocabulary in mind, they will be more self-confident and thus ready to listen effectively  Encouraging students to use top-down strategies Learners can focus on different parts such as vocabulary, grammar or functional phrases, sounds, however, they should skim parts of the message which are not related to their purposes and pay attention to relevant details Accordingly, the focus is placed on the ideas behind these words and how these ideas are linked together to draw conclusions  Encouraging cooperative listening The learners gather in groups or pairs to work out the spoken message together, the bond between them strengthens Cooperative learning gives them the opportunity to share their listening strategies and learn new ones from their classmates, leading to an environment conductive to learning  Providing and trying to gain as much feedback as possible During the course, the teacher should fill the gap between inputs and students‟ reply and between the teacher‟s feedback and students‟ reaction so as to make listening purposeful This not only promotes error correction but gives encouragements as well It can aid students to heighten their confidence in their ability to tackle listening problems Students‟ feedback can assist the teacher to judge where the class is going and how it should be instructed 3.4.2 Recommendations for students There are many ways for students to tackle their listening comprehension problems which will be discussed in detail below 3.4.2.1 Improving English proficiency To tackle listening difficulties, students themselves must try to improve their English If their language proficiency is improved, they are likely to overcome the difficulties such as variety 45 of accents, speech rate, native speakers‟ pronunciation, and vocabulary In class, students should participate actively in the lesson and get involved in extracurricular activities like joining an English club, talking with foreigners and working with a tutor Moreover, students can get access to authentic sources of communication themselves by watching T.V, listening to the radio and logging on the Internet By doing so, they could get used to the lively contexts in which spoken language is used 3.4.2.2 Improving listening strategies When students know how to use appropriate listening strategies, they will be able to improve their listening practices and overcome listening difficulties Below are some of the most important strategies, which should be employed by the students while engaging in a listening task  Listening for main ideas: students focus on the meanings, not just words While listening, students note down main points and key words to work out the gist of the talk  Skimming: not all words or even all ideas are essential to understand a message They should skim over parts of the message and pay attention to relevant parts only Thus sentences are not processed word by word and the focus is placed on the ideas behind these words and how these ideas are linked together to draw conclusions  Guessing from the context: guess the meaning of unfamiliar words or phrases by looking at the context of the word (the surrounding words/ideas) and using logic and knowledge of the world to figure out what the word might mean  Making inferences: students can learn to compensate for their lack of background knowledge by learning to reply on the visual or auditory cues By paying attention to maps, charts, photographs, illustrations, or the background noise, they will be able to interpret the verbal messages more successfully and draw logical conclusion  Predicting: Use clues from context and prior knowledge to predict general content before listening and predict what speakers are going to say  Taking note: write down important content words This helps students overcome memory problems, especially when listening to a long spoken text 46  Cooperating with peers: they can work jointly with their classmates to comprehend spoken text and then benefit each other by sharing the strategies they employed during the listening 3.5 Summary In this chapter the factors causing students‟ listening comprehension problems are presented The problems fall into five categorizes of causes namely learners‟ strategy, characteristics of listening text, characteristics of listening task and activities, characteristics of listener and teacher‟s methodology Based on the findings, a number of recommendations for teachers and students to reduce students‟ listening difficulties have been made As for teachers, they can adapt and improve listening materials, improving teachers‟ classroom techniques On the part of students, it is necessary for them to improve English proficiency and listening strategies 47 PART C: CONCLUSION The study is aimed at finding out learners‟ 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 listening comprehension Conclusions The study focuses on answering the three research questions raised from the actual context of teaching and learning listening comprehension at Nghe An JTTC What problems 2nd year English students at Nghe An JTTC face in listening comprehension? What are the factors causing their listening comprehension problems? What strategies should teachers and students employ in improving the effectiveness of teaching and learning listening comprehension? Being one of the teachers at Nghe An JTTC, I can clearly see that the situation of teaching and learning English Listening comprehension seems to be the weakest skill and students encounter various kinds of 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 employ in improving the effectiveness of teaching and learning listening comprehension Research results have allowed myself to arrive at the following conclusions: Students at Nghe An JTTC encounter various kinds of listening problems in learning comprehension which can be divided into five categories: strategies of listening comprehension (learning habit, teachers‟ ways of teaching, teachers‟ awareness of learners‟ way of approaching the text, learners‟ applications), characteristics of the text (unfamiliar words, the length of the spoken text, speed rate, a variety of accents, and pronunciation), characteristics of the listening tasks and activities (prediction tasks, cooperative learning, discussion after listening to the spoken text), characteristics of the listener (learning habits, and psychological factors), and teachers‟ teaching methodology 48 (offer chances 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 NA JTTC 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 49 References  Buck, G (2001) Assessing listening Cambridge Oxford: Oxford University Press  Djiwandono, P.I (2006) Cooperative listening as a means to promote strategic listening comprehension English Teaching Forum, 44(3), 32-8  Fang, XU (2008) Listening comprehension in EFL teaching US-China Foreign Language, USA Volume 6, No.1, 21-9  Flowerdew, J and Miller, L (1996) Student perceptions, problems and strategies in second language lecture comprehension RELC Journal 23 (2), 60-80  Goh, C (2000), A cognitive perspective on language learners' listening comprehension problems ELT Journal 28(1), 55-75  Hasan, A S (2000) Learners’ perceptions of listening comprehension problems Language, culture and curriculum 13 (2), 137-53  Ngee, L.C (1986) Improving listening skills: some strategies and materials Jurnal Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Bahasa, 58-70  Nunan, D (1991) Language Teaching Methodology Hertfordshire: Prentice Hall  Nunan, D & Miller, L (1995) New ways in teaching listening, Pantagraph Printing, Bloomington, Elinois USA  O‟Malley, J.M, Chamot, A.U & Kupper, L, (1989) Listening comprehension strategies in second language acquisition Applied Linguistics 10(4),418-437  Rubin, J (1994) A review of second language listening comprehension research The Modern Language Journal 78 (2), 199-221  Underwood, M (1989) Teaching listening New York: Longman  Vandergrift, L (1999) Facilitating second language listening comprehension: acquiring successful strategies ELT Journal 53(3), 168-76  Vandergrift, L Listening: theory and practice in modern foreign language competence Retrieved March 8th 2010, from http:// www.llas.ac.uk/resourses/gpg/67  Widdowson, H.G (1983) Learning purpose and language use Oxford: Oxford University Press 50  Wenden, A (1968) What second language learners know about their language learning? A second look at retrospective account Applied Linguistics (2), 186205  Yagang, F (1994) Listening: Problems and solutions English Teaching Forum, 31(2) 16-19 51 APPENDICES APPENDIX Survey questionnaire on listening skill (for students) My name is Tran Thi Thanh Hoa I am doing a research entitled “An investigation into listening comprehension problems of the 2nd-year English students at Nghe An junior teachers training college” 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 experience in listening classes Put a tick (√) to the columns that is the most appropriate to you Item Pre-listening Never Seldom Sometimes Often Always Never Seldom Sometimes Often Always information about the text improves my listening comprehension I use my experience and background knowledge of the topic to understand the spoken text Item I listen to every detail to get 52 the main idea of the spoken text When listening to English, I tend to get stuck on unfamiliar words When listening to English, I tend to get stuck on difficult grammatical structures I find it difficult to interpret the meaning of a long spoken text I find it difficult to understand well when speakers speak with variety of accents I find it difficult to understand well when speakers speak too fast I find it difficult to understand the meaning of words which are not pronounced clearly 10 I find it difficult to predict what speakers are going to say from the title of the spoken text 11 After my teacher stops the tape I find it difficult to predict what will come next 12 I find it difficult to listening activities in pair work & group work Item 13 I find it difficult to join a discussion after listening to the spoken text Never Seldom Sometimes Often Always 53 14 I feel nervous and worried when I don‟t understand the spoken text 15 I find it difficult when listening to English without transcripts 16 I find understand it the difficult spoken to text which is not of interest to me 17 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 ……………………………… 18 What you expect your teachers of listening skill to to help you overcome the difficulties you encounter in listening comprehension? G provide you with certain amount of words needed for listening activities H Equip you with necessary strategies in listening comprehension I Design listening tasks being more suitable to students‟ listening levels and interests J Recommend other supplementary listening materials beside classroom activities K Explain more clearly about the nature of spoken English L Be flexible in organizing listening activities 54 APPENDIX Questionnaire for teachers My name is Tran Thi Thanh Hoa I am conducting a research entitled “ An investigation into listening comprehension problems of the 2nd-year English students at Nghe An Junior Teachers’ Training College ” 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 listening skill Thank you very much for your cooperation Item 1.Activating prior knowledge to understand the spoken messages Scanning to get the specific information Skimming to get the main idea Using visual clues to understand the spoken text (pictures, diagrams, chart, video, etc.) Predicting general content before listening using context and prior knowledge Working in pair or in group help them understand the spoken text more Taking short note of important content words Never Seldom Sometimes Often Always 55 Continuing to listen for clarification in spite of difficulty What have you done to help your students study listening skill better? (Circle as many things as you have done) A encouraged 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 ……………………………… ... entitled ? ?An investigation into listening comprehension problems of the 2nd -year English students at Nghe An junior teachers training college? ?? which is aimed at exploring students? ?? listening comprehension. .. investigation into listening comprehension problems of the 2nd -year English students at Nghe An Junior Teachers? ?? Training College ” which is aimed at exploring students? ?? comprehension listening problems. .. exploited by teachers This fact leaves a gap for the researcher to conduct an investigation into listening comprehension problems of the 2nd year students at Nghe An junior teachers training college