Teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards listening activities in the piloted english 10 textbook a survey at bien hoa gifted high school, ha nam

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* ĐỖ THU HƯỜNG TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS LISTENING ACTIVITIES IN THE PILOTED ENGLISH 10 TEXTBOOK: A SURVEY AT BIEN HOA GIFTED HIGH SCHOOL, HA NAM THÁI ĐỘ CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VÀ HỌC SINH VỀ CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG NGHE TRONG SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TIẾNG ANH 10 THÍ ĐIỂM: MỘT KHẢO SÁT TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT CHUYÊN BIÊN HÒA, HÀ NAM M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HANOI - 2017 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* ĐỖ THU HƯỜNG TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS LISTENING ACTIVITIES IN THE PILOTED ENGLISH 10 TEXTBOOK: A SURVEY AT BIEN HOA GIFTED HIGH SCHOOL, HA NAM THÁI ĐỘ CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VÀ HỌC SINH VỀ CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG NGHE TRONG SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TIẾNG ANH 10 THÍ ĐIỂM: MỘT KHẢO SÁT TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT CHUYÊN BIÊN HÒA, HÀ NAM M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Dr Dương Thị Nụ HANOI - 2017 DECLARATION I hereby certify that the thesis entitled “Teachers and students‟ attitudes towards listening activities in the piloted English 10 textbook: A survey at Bien Hoa gifted high school, Ha Nam” is my own study in the fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts at Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Hanoi National University - Vietnam Hanoi, 2017 Signature Đỗ Thu Hường i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis would not have been fulfilled without the support, assistance and encouragement of a number of people First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Dương Thị Nụ, for her professional guidance, valuable advice and continuous support throughout this study Her wholehearted support has enabled me to develop an understanding of the subject and greatly contributes to the accomplishment of this thesis Second, I am very grateful to many of the teachers in Post-Graduate Studies Department, College of Foreign Languages and Studies, Vietnam National University of Hanoi for their beneficial lessons from which I developed a good research method and created meaningful ideas for my study Furthermore, I am thankful to the participants in this study for their cooperation and contribution This study would not have been successful without their help and enthusiasm Finally, I would like to show my profound gratitude to my beloved family, who are always by my side, supporting and encouraging me Had it not been for their assistance, this study would not have been possible ii ABSTRACT English has increased its importance in people‟s life and work over the last years As an international language, it is widely used in all fields throughout the world In Vietnam, English is taught as an important part and a compulsory subject in most high schools A new set of textbooks for the Vietnamese upper secondary school, which follows the systematic, cyclical and theme-based curriculum approved by the Minister of Education and Training, has been designed to develop students‟ communicative competence in listening, speaking, reading and writing This research aims at exploring the BHGHS teachers and students‟ attitudes towards listening activities in listening section of the piloted English 10 textbook, then suggesting some feasible measures to develop listening teaching and learning The data will be collected by means of survey questionnaire and interview It is hoped that when successfully conducted, the research will be useful to English teachers and learners of grade 10 at Bien Hoa gifted high school as well as those who are concerned about this issue iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii LIST OF CHARTS viii LIST OF TABLES ix PART – INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Aims of the study Research questions Scope of the study Significance of the study Methodology of the study .3 Structure of the study PART – DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Communicative language teaching (CLT) 1.1.1 Definition 1.1.2 Main characteristics of CLT 1.1.3 CLT in teaching listening 1.2 Listening skill .6 1.2.1 Definition of listening .6 1.2.2 Definition of listening comprehension 1.2.3 The importance of listening in language learning .8 1.2.4 Listening processes 1.2.5 Difficulties students usually encounter in the process of listening 12 1.2.6 Listening activities 13 iv 1.3 Attitudes .20 1.3.1 Definition 20 1.3.2 Components of attitudes 21 1.4 Textbook recordings 22 1.4.1 Definition of textbook .22 1.4.2 Textbook recordings – a good source of listening 22 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 23 2.1 Research context 23 2.1.1 The institution 23 2.1.2 The teachers 23 2.1.3 The students 23 2.1.4 The listening materials 24 2.2 Research method .24 2.2.1 Participants 24 2.2.2 Instruments 25 2.2.3 Data collection 26 2.2.4 Data analysis 26 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 27 3.1 Findings by means of the survey questionnaire and discussion 27 3.1.1 Students‟ attitudes towards listening skill in language learning .27 3.1.2 Students‟ attitudes towards listening activities in the listening section of the textbook .29 3.2 Findings by means of the survey interview and discussion .36 3.2.1 Teachers‟ attitudes towards listening skill 36 3.2.2 Teachers‟ attitudes towards listening activities in the listening section of the textbook .37 3.3 Main findings………………………………………………………………….39 PART – CONCLUSION 40 Conclusions 40 v Pedagogical implications of the study 41 Summary of the study 44 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study 45 REFERENCES 46 APPENDIX I APPENDIX V APPENDIX IX vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS BHGHS: Bien Hoa gifted high school E10: English 10 Ts: Teachers Ss: Students CLT: Communicative language teaching EFL: English as Foreign Language vii LIST OF CHARTS Chart 1: Students‟ perceptions on the importance of listening skill Chart 2: Students‟ perceptions on learning listening skill Chart 3: Students‟ interest in learning listening skill Chart 4: Students‟ frequency of practicing listening skill Chart 5: The benefits students get from using pre-listening activities Chart 6: Students‟ frequency of lacking confidence and interest in the post-listening phase Chart 7: Students‟ options to improve listening activities viii Next, the teacher need to get their students well-prepared for listening lessons Giving practice in linguistic knowledge (elision, linking sounds, colloquial words) helps reduce the difficulties in listening Reading supplementary materials suggested by the Ts helps broaden background knowledge and improve vocabulary Besides, the Ts should design listening exercises for the Ss to at home or recommend listening sources for them to practice listening In addition, the Ts should suggest extra listening classes be organized in the afternoon so that the Ss have more opportunities to practice and develop their language knowledge in general and their listening skill in particular Last but not least, the Ts should be ready to adapt some while- and postlistening activities which are not very suitable with the Ss‟ levels or not very interesting Adaptation is considered as making changes to materials in order to improve them more congenial for a particular type of learners Most Ts adapt materials every time they use a textbook in order to maximize the value of the book for their particular learners For instance, the post-listening activity in unit “Work with a partner Tell him/ her about your favourite music Give reasons.” may be adapted by adding some cues like kind of music, favourite musician/ singer/ music band, favourite song/ piece of music, reasons These cues simplify the activity and help the Ss be involved in more confidently Another example is activity in the listening lesson of unit The task of answering questions is quite long and difficult In this case, the Ts can transform it in the activity of using the given words to fill in the summary It is quite ideal as a post-listening activity Summary of the study The current survey research has been carried out to explore the attitudes of the teachers and non-English majored students at BHGHS towards listening activities in the new E10 textbook This study has been worked out with an analysis of the teachers as well as the students‟ attitudes to listening skill, the difficulties they encounter during listening lessons based on this textbook, their attitudes towards listening activities in the textbook and their suggestions for more effective listening lessons 44 Based on the research instruments, survey questionnaires and survey interviews, this study has discovered the significant findings with a help to improving the English listening teaching and learning at BHGHS It is hoped that the study will be beneficial for both learners and teachers at Bien Hoa gifted high school in teaching and learning listening skill The study is also hoped to be worth reading for those who are concerned with listening skill Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study The present study has several limitations that can be noticed for future research on teachers and students‟ attitudes towards listening activities in the piloted English 10 textbook First, the size of the sample population is quite small The participants are only 70 students and teachers The findings may, to some extent, not be generalized to all the teachers and students Second, the participants in the study were limited to teachers and 10 th form students at BHGHS A replicate study should focus on examine teachers and students of other forms or/and at other upper-secondary schools Moreover, there are a lot of components of attitudes but the researcher explores attitudes based on analyzing opinions, feelings and behaviors, to some extent Further research should be done to get better insights into attitudes Finally, because of the limitation of knowledge and experience of the researcher, the suggestions in the last part are likely to be subjective and incomplete Therefore, future work and effort should be made to overcome this shortcoming All the existing limitations of the study call for further study Hopefully, more research will be carried out to improve listening activities in the textbook and increase the effectiveness of the textbook 45 REFERENCES Adelmann, K (2012) The art of listening in an educational perspective listening reception in the mother tongue Education Inquiry, 3(4):513–534 Anderson, A., & Lynch, T (1988) Listening Oxford: Oxford University Press Baron, R.A & Byrne, D (1984) Social psychology understanding human interaction Boston: Allyn & Bacon Berne, J E (1998) Examining the relationship between L2 listening research, pedagogical theory, and practice Foreign Language Annals, 31(2), 169-181 Boyle, J P (1984) Factors Affecting Listening Comprehension ELT Journal, 38(1), 34-38 Buck, G (2001) Assessing listening Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Canh, L V., & Barnard, R (2009a) Teaching grammar: A survey of teachers‟ attitudes in Vietnam The Journal of Asia TEFL, (3), 245-273 Eagly, A H., & Chaiken, S (1993) The psychology of attitudes Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Fazio, R.H (1995) Attitudes as object-evaluation associations: Determinants, consequences, and correlates of attitude accessibility In R.E Petty & J.A Krosnick (Eds.), Attitude strength (pp 247-282) Graham, S & Macaro, E (2008) Strategy instruction in listening for lowerintermediate learners of French Language Learning, 58(4):747-783 Hamouda, A (2013) An Investigation of Listening Comprehension Problems Encountered by Saudi Students in the EL Listening Classroom International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development 2(2), 113-155 Harris, T L & Hodges, R E (Eds.) (1995) The literacy dictionary: The vocabulary of reading and writing Newark, Delaware: International Reading Association Helgesen, M (2003) Listening In D Nunan (Ed.), Practical English Language Teaching (pp 23-43) New York: McGraw-Hill Ma, T (2010) “Communicative listening training in English - features, strategies and methods” Journal of Language Teaching and Research 1(4):464-472 46 Malhotra, N.K., (2005) “Attitude and affect: new frontiers of research in the 21st century” Journal of Business Research, 58(4), pp.477–482 Morley, J (1990) Trends and developments in listening comprehension: Theory and practice In J E Alatis (Ed.), Georgetown University round table on languages and linguistics 1990: Linguistics, language teaching and language acquisition: The interdependence of theory, practice and research (pp 317337) Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press Littlewood, W (1981) Communicative language teaching: An introduction Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Lynch, T (2004) Listening- A Course in Listening to Lectures and Note-taking Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Nunan, David (1991) “Communicative tasks and the language curriculum” TESOL Quarterly 25 (2), 279-295 O'Malley, J M., Chamot, A U., & Kupper, L (1989) “Listening Comprehension Strategies in Second language acquisition” Oxford Journal, 10(4), pp.418437 Purdy, M (1997) What is listening? In M Purdy & D Borisoff (Eds.), Listening in everyday life: A personal and professional approach (2nd ed.) (pp.1-20) Lanham, MD: University Press of America Richards, J., Platt, J, and Platt, H (1992) Dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics London: Longman Rost, M (1994) Introducing listening London: The Penguin Group Rost, M (2001) Teaching and researching listening London: Longman [42] Rost, M (2002) Teaching and researching listening London: Longman [43] Tomlinson, B (ed.) (1998) Materials Development in Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Thompson, I., & Rubin, J.(1996) “Can strategy instruction improve listening comprehension?” Foreign Language Annals, 29 (3), 331-342 Underwood, M (1989) Teaching listening New York: Longman Inc Ur, P (1984) Teaching listening comprehension Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 47 Vandergrift, L (1997) The Comprehension Strategies of Second Language (French) Listeners: A Descriptive Study Foreign Language Annuals, 30(3), 387-409 Vandergrift, L (1999) “Facilitating second language listening comprehension: acquiring successful strategies” ELT Journal, 53(3), 168-176 Vandergrift, L (2004) Listening to Learn or Learning to Listen? In Cambridge University Press (Ed.), Annual Review of Applied Linguistics (2004) (pp 325) Cambridge University Press, USA Vandergrift, L (2013) Teaching listening In: Chapelle, CA (Ed.) The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics New York: Blackwell Publishing Walker, N (2014) Listening: the Most Difficult Skill to Teach Encuentro, 23, 167175 Wilson, JJ (2012) How to teach listening Pearson Education Limited Wolvin, A D & Coakley, C G (1988) Listening (3rd ed.) Dubuque, IA: Wm C Brown Yagang, F (1994) Listening: Problems and Solutions In T Kral (Ed.), Teacher Development: Making the Right Moves Washington, DC: English Language Programs Division, USIA Ziane, R (2011) The Role of Listening Comprehension in Improving EFL Learners’ Speaking Skill Case Study: Second Year Students (LMD) at Biskra University Master‟s Dissertation, Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Faculty of letters and Foreign Languages, English Devision, University of Biskra Algeria http://www.garph.co.uk/IJARMSS/Mar2014/1.pdf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textbook https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-language/pre-listening-in-englishlistening-teaching-english-language-essay.php 48 APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE (For students) This survey questionnaire is designed for my study “Teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards listening activities in the Piloted English 10 textbook: A survey at Bien Hoa Gifted High School, Ha Nam” Your assistance in fulfilling the following questions is greatly appreciated Please put a tick (√) to indicate your choice For some questions, you can choose more than one option Thank you very much for your help How important is listening skill in your English learning? A Very important C Not very important B Important D Not important What you think about learning listening skill? A Very difficult C Not very difficult B Difficult D Easy How much you feel interested in listening skill? A Very much B Rather C Little D Not at all How often you practice listening skill after school? A Often B Sometimes C Rarely D Never What are the difficulties you have experienced when learning listening based on the piloted English 10 textbook? (You can choose more than one option) A Lack of vocabulary and grammatical structures B Lack of concentration C Lack of background knowledge D Poor tape quality E Long listening F Speed of speech G Different accents H Linguistic features (elision, linking words, colloquial words) I Noise J Poor facilities How is the quality of the textbook recordings? A Very good B good C Not very good D Poor Are the listening topics in the textbook suitable with your levels and interesting? (Tick Yes or No to clarify your answers) I Unit Listening topic Suitable Yes Family life Family life-Changing roles Your body and The food pyramid No Interesting Yes you Music Inspirational music For a better Help the needy community Inventions Flying cars Gender equality Same work-same pay Cultural diversity Cultural diversity New ways to Triple “E” at your learn fingertips Preserving the Preserving the natural environment environment 10 Ecotourism Ecotourism in the Mekong Delta Are you satisfied with listening lessons in class? A Very satisfied B Satisfied C Not very satisfied D Not satisfied In general, listening activities in the listening section of the textbook are: A Very suitable and interesting C Interesting but difficult B Suitable and interesting D Boring and difficult 10 In listening lessons, you usually A take part in all activities eagerly and actively B participate eagerly and actively in only some activities you like C participate in no activity D other things not related to listening lessons 11 These are pre-listening activities in the listening section of the textbook Please tick the appropriate box according to the level of necessity: Very necessary, Necessary, Not very necessary, Not necessary II No Pre-listening activities A Looking at the pictures, diagrams or graphs or listening to pieces of music about the topic of the listening lesson B Answering some pre-listening questions relating the content of the passage: True/ False questions, Yes/ No questions Open-ended questions C Discussing the questions relating to the topic of the passage in pairs or in groups D Predicting the content of the listening text through pictures E Reviewing new vocabulary and structures relating to the content of the text (Doing matching, using dictionaries) 12 What benefits you get from these pre-listening activities? (You can choose more than one option) A Being more interested and motivated to learn listening skills B Feeling more confident in learning listening C Understanding listening lessons better and getting better results D Communicating more E Enriching vocabulary and grammatical structures F Nothing Other ideas…………………………………………………………………… 13 These are while-listening activities in the listening section of the textbook Please tick the appropriate box according to the level of suitability with your levels: Very suitable, Suitable, Not very suitable, Not suitable While-listening activities A Ticking words and phrases that are heard B Answering multiple-choice questions C Answering true/ false questions D Filling in the missing information E Writing answers to questions F Completing tables, charts and diagrams 14 These are post-listening activities in the listening section of the textbook Please tick the appropriate box according to the level of difficulty: Very difficult, Difficult, Not very difficult Easy III Post-listening activities A Making questions and answering the questions based on the content of the listening B Answering the questions C Writing the sentences or paragraphs related to the listening topic D Doing speaking tasks related to the listening topic 15 How often you lack confidence and interest when doing post-listening activities? A Often B Sometimes C Rarely D Never 16 What should be done to improve listening activities in the listening section of the textbook? (You can choose more than one option) A Introducing new vocabulary and grammatical structures in various ways (using synonyms and antonyms, using visual aids like pictures, maps, videos) B Using games as a pre-listening activity to increase students‟ interest and motivation C Reducing the number of while- and post-listening activities D Adapting some while- and post-listening activities to make them more suitable Other ideas…………………………………………………………………… IV APPENDIX INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (For Teachers) This survey interview is designed for my study “Teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards listening activities in the Piloted English 10 textbook: A survey at Bien Hoa Gifted High School, Ha Nam” Your assistance in fulfilling the following questions is greatly appreciated Thank you very much for your help How important you think listening skill is in language learning? How much you feel interested in teaching listening skill? Do you often design supplementary listening activities for your students? Why (not)? What are the difficulties you have experienced when teaching listening based on the piloted English 10 textbook? What you think of the quality of listening recordings and the listening topics? Unit Listening topic Family life Family life-Changing roles Your body and you The food pyramid Music Inspirational music For a better community Help the needy Inventions Flying cars Gender equality Same work-same pay Cultural diversity Cultural diversity New ways to learn Triple “E” at your fingertips Preserving the environment Preserving the natural environment 10 Ecotourism Ecotourism in the Mekong Delta Do you think pre-listening activities in the text book are effective? Why (not)? Do you often add any other pre-listening activities? Pre-listening activities A Looking at the pictures, diagrams or graphs or listening to pieces of music about the topic of the listening lesson B Answering some pre-listening questions relating the content of the passage: True/ False questions, Yes/ No questions Open-ended questions C Discussing the questions relating to the topic of the passage in pairs or in groups V D Predicting the content of the listening text through pictures E Reviewing new vocabulary and structures relating to the content of the text (Doing matching, using dictionaries) Which pre-listening activities you find the most effective in teaching listening skill? Do you think while- and post-listening activities are suitable with your students‟ level? Do you follow the while – and post listening activities suggested in the textbook and how often you adapt them? While-listening activities A Ticking words and phrases that are heard B Answering multiple-choice questions C Answering true/ false questions D Note-taking/ Filling in the missing information E Writing answers to questions F Completing tables, charts and diagrams Post-listening activities A Making questions and answering the questions based on the content of the listening B Answering the questions C Writing the sentences or paragraphs related to the listening topic D Doing speaking tasks related to the listening topic In your opinion, what should be done to improve listening lessons? VI APPENDIX CONTENTS OF LISTENING ACTIVITIES - LISTENING SECTION, ENGLISH 10 Unit/ Topic/ Pre-listening activities While-listening activities Post-listening activities Sub-topic Family life – - Look at the chart and discuss - Listen and decide whether the Family life- the changes in the weekly hours statements are true or false Changing roles of basic housework by married - Work in pairs Match the word/ men and married women in the phrase with its appropriate USA Guess the reasons for the meaning changes - Listen again and answer the - Answer the questions questions Your body and - What you usually have for - Listen and decide whether the - Write some sentences to describe you – The food lunch or dinner? Do you care statements are true or false the plate you have just made in the pyramid about the nutritional value of - Listen again and divide the plate previous activity the things you eat? into sections and label which food - Look at the picture What should be in each section you think the listening is about? Music – - Do you know these artists? - Listen to the conversation - Work with a partner Tell him/ her Inspirational What are their names? between Anna and Nam What about your favorite music Give music - Listen to the song excerpt are the speakers talking about? reasons IX For a better Tell your partner what you Circle the best answer thought about and how you felt - Listen again and give short while listening to it answers to the questions - Discuss the questions with a - Listen and decide whether the - Work in groups Ask and answer statements are true or false the questions community – Help partner - Match the words with their - Listen again and choose the best definitions answer Inventions – - Look at the picture and - Listen and answer the questions - Do you want to own a flying car Flying cars discuss with a partner what this - Listen again and complete the like Mr Brown? Why or why not? flying car can and cannot information about the flying car Is there a way to solve the problem the needy - Listen and tick the words or with the car that Mr Brown phrases that you hear discusses? Gender equality - Look at the picture The man - Listen and decide whether the – Same work- and the woman the same statements are true or false same pay work, but they look different - Listen again and complete the Why? Tell your partner missing information, using no - Listen and repeat the more than three words or following words Do you know numbers - Ask and answer the questions each word‟s meaning? Use a dictionary if necessary Cultural - You are going to listen to a - Listen and check your answers X - Work in pairs Name three things diversity – talk about the wedding - Listen again and complete the you have learnt about the Amish Cultural diversity traditions of the Amish missing information, using no wedding customs Did you find community living in more than three words anything unusual or interesting? Pennsylvania, the USA Make Tell your partner your own predictions about them by deciding whether the statements are true or false New ways to - Look at the picture with the - Listen and decide whether the - Work in groups Ask and answer learn – Triple “E” caption “Digital English at statements are true or false the question at your fingertips school and at home” What are - Listen again and complete the What you think of studying the students doing? What sentences, using no more than English with modern technology? you think you are going to three words Explain your opinion - Ask and answer the questions listen about? Preserving the - Look at the photo and - Listen to a student‟s talk What environment – describe what you see is he talking about? Tick the Preserving the correct box natural - Listen again Tick the words environment you hear Look up the meanings of these words in a dictionary - Listen again Complete the sentences with one or two words from the talk XI 10 Ecotourism – - What you know about the - Listen to a news report and - Work with a partner Which of the Ecotourism in the Mekong Delta? Work with a choose the caption that best activities mentioned in the previous Mekong Delta partner Look at the pictures summarizes the main idea activity would you enjoy doing the and decide which activities - Listen again and answer the most if you took a tour to the tourists can there questions Mekong Delta? - Listen again and complete the notes about the two farmers‟ ecotourism places of tourists XII ... DECLARATION I hereby certify that the thesis entitled “Teachers and students‟ attitudes towards listening activities in the piloted English 10 textbook: A survey at Bien Hoa gifted high school, Ha. .. to achieve the mentioned aims, the following questions have been proposed:  What are the Ts and Ss‟ attitudes towards listening skill?  What are their attitudes towards listening activities in. .. participating in an interview, or attending a seminar, lecture or listening to a speech In short, the communicative approach had a noticeable impact on the way in which listening was taught and