Common mistakes made by pre intermediate students in TOEIC listening tests and some suggested solutions

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NHỮ HÀ PHƯƠNG COMMON ERRORS MADE BY PRE-INTERMEDIATE STUDENTS IN THE TOEIC LISTENING TEST AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS NHỮNG LỖI SINH VIÊN TRÌNH ĐỘ TIỀN TRUNG CẤP HAY MẮC KHI LÀM BÀI THI NGHE TOEIC VÀ MỘT SỐ GIẢI PHÁP ĐỀ XUẤT M.A MINOR THESIS Major: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10 HANOI – 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements i Abstract ii List of figures, tables and appendices iii List of abbreviations iv PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study Aims and objectives Significance of the study Scope of the study Methods of the study Organization PART B: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Listening 4 1.1 Listening Definition Listening Comprehension Factors affecting learners’ listening comprehension Error 11 Error definition 11 2 Classification of errors 12 2.3 Different approaches towards the study of error 13 The TOEIC test 14 Overview of the TOEIC test 15 Overview of the TOEIC listening test 16 Related studies of listening comprehension and TOEIC listening errors 20 PART C: METHODOLOGY 22 ii Selection of subjects 22 Data collection instruments 22 2.1 Students’ listening test papers 22 2.2 Questionnaires 23 2.3 Semi-structured interviews 23 Research methods 24 Procedures of data analysis 24 PART D: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Findings from the Questionnaires and Interviews 26 26 1.1 General information of the participants 26 1.2 Learners’ perceptions of the TOEIC listening test 28 1.3 Learners’ perceptions of the causes of common errors when listening TOEIC test 29 1.4 Test-taking strategies applied by students in TOEIC listening 33 Findings from the analysis of students’ TOEIC listening test papers 35 Recommendations 42 PART E: CONCLUSION 46 Conclusion 46 Limitations of the study 47 Suggestions for further study 48 REFERENCES APPENDICES iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research would not have been completed without support from a number of people My lecturers at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, friends and family have given me support and have in one way or another contributed to the work present here First and foremost, I would like to heartily express my deepest appreciation and gratitude to my supervisor, Ms Phan Thi Van Quyen, M.A who is always willing to work hard to give her expert guidance, knowledge, insight and time She followed the research from the initial stage giving support and constructive criticism I am very grateful and have learnt much from her My particular thank goes to all students who were enthusiastic participants in the study And I am immensely grateful to my friends who nonstop encourage me to continue the research Moreover, without the well of love and support from my family this thesis would not have been as successful Nhu Ha Phuong iv ABSTRACT Phuong, N.H (2012): Common errors made by pre-intermediate students in the TOEIC listening test and some suggested solutions A Master’s Thesis submitted to Vietnam National University, University of Foreign Languages and International Studies In Vietnam nowadays or Haiphong’s institutions in particular, a new standard for English proficiency is set, that is the requirement of TOEIC certificate Thus, many foreign language centers emphasize the development of teaching and learning TOEIC While efforts have been made, far less attention is paid to the common errors made by students in TOEIC test To bridge the gap, this thesis aims to explore the errors made by preintermediate students in the TOEIC listening test and to find out the solutions regarding this issue This work hopes to both contribute to the existing body of TOEIC research as well as to pave the way for future studies in this field v LIST OF FIGURE, TABLES & APPENDICES Figure 1: Information sources in comprehension Table 1: Factors influencing listening comprehension (Teng) Table 2: Categories of barriers reported in learning the listening strategies Table 3: Learners by age, gender and occupation Table 4: Learners’ experience of learning English in years Table 5: Learners’ purposes of taking TOEIC preparation course Table 6: Learners’ evaluation of the level of difficulty of TOEIC listening test Table 7: Learners’ evaluation of the most difficult part of TOEIC listening test Table 8: Learners’ feelings when doing TOEIC listening test Table 9: Causes of TOEIC listening errors Table 10: Strategies used by learners when taking TOEIC listening test Table 11: The percentage of wrong-answers in each TOEIC listening test Table 12: Types of errors in TOEIC listening test and their percentage Appendix 1: Questionnaire for student respondents Appendix 2: TOEIC listening test sample and its tape script vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS TOEIC: Test of English for International Communications HFLC: Haiphong Foreign Language Centre vii PART A: INTRODUCTION This initial part states the problem and the rationale of the study, together with the aims, objectives and the scope of the whole paper Above all, it is in this chapter that the research questions are identified to work as clear guidelines for the whole research Statement of the problem and Rationale for the study: Facts have shown that English proficiency tests such as the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC), the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), and the International English Language Test System (IELTS) are currently enjoying a surge in popularity in both workplace and universities, especially the TOEIC test In other words, many colleges and universities award credits in English courses to students who reach test score requirements, and an increasing number of companies are using these scores as one criterion for selecting new recruits and promoting employees Specifically, in Haiphong, the three biggest universities namely Vimaru (Vietnam Marine time University), Haiphong University and HPU (HaiPhong Private University) are forcing their students to have at least TOEIC 450 as a crucial requirement to graduate HPU also announced the target score for Vietnamese English teachers as TOEIC over 700 Some companies in the region like Vietnam register of shipping or Internal Relations Office demand their employees to have TOEIC at least 380 Yet, to many TOEIC students, listening is a nightmare and most failing in TOEIC, TOEFL or even IELTS are generally weak at listening Obviously, achieving language proficiency means mastering the four skills and listening is considered to be one of the most problematic Establishing reputation for being a reliable place providing and training English courses for such a long time, Haiphong Foreign Language Centre has attracted thousands of learners to register TOEIC courses since they were first introduced in 2010 Identifying the demands of studying TOEIC in Haiphong as well as the teaching situation, “Common errors made by pre-intermediate students in the TOEIC listening test and some suggested solutions” was conducted to gain insights into students’ problems when listening TOEIC practice tests with the hope to contribute to the improvement of TOEIC teaching in Haiphong Foreign Language Centre as well as other educational institutions Objectives of the study: The purpose of the study is to explore the following objectives:  To explore the students’ perceptions of the TOEIC listening test  To investigate the errors that pre-intermediate students at Haiphong Foreign Language Center often make when taking the TOEIC listening test  To suggest solutions to avoid errors based on the results of the study The research questions, therefore, are addressed as below: What are pre-intermediate students’ perceptions of the TOEIC listening test? What strategies these students often apply when doing TOEIC listening test? What are the common errors when taking the TOEIC listening test made by pre-intermediate students? Significance of the study: With the above objectives, the study primarily displays insightful knowledge of errors conducted by pre-intermediate students as well as their difficulties or strategies in listening TOEIC Pedagogically, the findings of the study are believed to be useful for both TOEIC teachers and learners Scope of the study: The research focuses mainly on the analysis of the data collected from the students’ TOEIC listening test papers and the survey questionnaire distributed to TOEIC students at Haiphong Foreign Language Centre Methods of the study: Both quantitative and qualitative approaches, including a survey questionnaire, students’ TOEIC listening test papers and semi-structured interviews, are employed to collect data for the study and the major method used is the quantitative one Firstly, the analysis of students’ TOEIC listening test papers is conducted to find out the common errors as well as the current situation of learning this skill Then, the data is also collected through survey questionnaire, informal interviews and discussions with these TOEIC learners Organization: Part A- Introduction describes the study’s rationale, aims, objectives, research questions, scope, methods and significance Part B- Theoretical Background lays the theoretical foundation for the research Part C- Methodology details the research methods that have been used and the procedures of conducting the study Part D- Results and Discussion presents the research’s findings about the errors of pre-intermediate students when listening TOEIC test and then explains the causes of these errors This explanation will lead to some possible implications behind the findings In this section, I would like you to answer the questions by putting a tick in the box that best indicates your ideas In your opinion, the TOEIC listening test is………………: □ Easy □ Suitable □ Difficult □ Others (please specify):……………………………………………… In your opinion, the most difficult part in the TOEIC listening comprehension is ……… □ Part □ Part □ Part □ Part How you often feel when listening TOEIC? (more than one answer) □ Comfortable □ Nervous □ Confident □ Confused □ Uncomfortable □ De-motivated/ Bored □ Motivated □ Unable to concentrate II In your opinion, the errors you often make when listening TOEIC test are mainly due to…………(more than one answer) □ Poor quality listening equipment □ Physical noise in or outside the examination room □ Only listening once □ Different accents, stress and intonation □ Similar-sound words □ Unfamiliar topics □ Too long listening tests □ Speaker’s fast speech □ Limited background knowledge/ vocabulary □ Poor concentration □ Lack of test-taking strategies If you have any other difficulties, please specify them: ……………………………………………………………………………… Section III: Strategies applied by students in TOEIC listening test In the following section, you can put more than one tick for each statement Please put a tick at any response that you find suitable Which strategies you often employ when listening TOEIC test? □ Use pictures to predict what you will hear □ Identify the types of Questions in Part □ Guess the topic in Part 3, □ Paraphrase the questions □ Guess the meaning of vocabulary in context □ Recognize linking sounds, stressed words, intonation, and so on especially in Part & □ Listen for general ideas □ Listen for details □ Make inferences □ Make sensible guess when you cannot answer the questions □ Others (please specify):………………………………………… Thank you for your cooperation III Appendix 2- Listening test 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 ... courses since they were first introduced in 2010 Identifying the demands of studying TOEIC in Haiphong as well as the teaching situation, ? ?Common errors made by pre- intermediate students in the TOEIC. .. the causes of common errors when listening TOEIC test 29 1.4 Test-taking strategies applied by students in TOEIC listening 33 Findings from the analysis of students? ?? TOEIC listening test papers... the TOEIC listening test Needless to say, TOEIC listening is a kind of listening comprehension The TOEIC listening test includes 100 questions with a time limit of 45 minutes It is divided into