Activating prior knowledge in improving listening skills of high school students

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ LAN ACTIVATING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE IN IMPROVING LISTENING SKILLS OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS KÍCH HOẠT KIẾN THỨC NỀN ĐỂ NÂNG CAO KĨ NĂNG NGHE CHO HỌC SINH TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60.14.10 Hanoi - 2013 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ LAN ACTIVATING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE IN IMPROVING LISTENING SKILLS OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS KÍCH HOẠT KIẾN THỨC NỀN ĐỂ NÂNG CAO KĨ NĂNG NGHE CHO HỌC SINH TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60.14.10 Supervisor : Dr, Huỳnh Anh Tuấn Hanoi – 2013 DECLARATION I, hereby, certify the thesis entitled “Activating prior knowledge in improving listening skills of high school students” is the result of my own research for the Minor Degree of Master of Arts at the University of Language and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, and this thesis has not, wholly or partially, been submitted for any degree at any other universities or institutions Hanoi, 2013 NGUYEN THI LAN i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge my deep gratitude to all those who have supported me in doing this independent study Firstly, I would like to express my greatest appreciation to my supervisor, Dr Huynh Anh Tuan for his valuable time and useful guidance towards the completion of this study Secondly, I am extremely grateful to the staff members of the Faculty of Post - graduate studies for their helpful lectures My special thanks are also sent to my lecturers, my friends, my classmates, as well as my colleagues for their invaluable comments and criticism and also for their continued interest and encouragements Thirdly, I appreciate the assistance and cooperation given to me by teachers and students at Giao Thuy B high school Without their sincere participation, this paper would not have been possible Last but not least, I want to express my deepest gratitude to my beloved people, my parents, my husband and my children for their love, care, tolerance and encouragement ii ABSTRACT In recent years more and more studies have focused on language learning strategies and their importance, especially learning strategies in listening skill Sharing the same concern, this research aims at providing some information relating to the perception of activating prior knowledge in improving listening skill to high school students Firstly, the author briefly reviewed some literature concerning this issue Then data were collected by two instruments, namely questionnaires for both students and teachers, and class observations Nine teachers and 221 students in grade 10 and 11 were sampled The Microsoft Excel was undertaken to analyze the data The final results indicated that the teachers and students had inadequate knowledge about the role of activating prior knowledge in listening lessons The study also showed the difficulties that students encounter due to lack of prior knowledge in listening Lastly, the study offered some implications for activating students’ prior knowledge in teaching and learning listening skill iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration ………………………… …………………………… i Acknowledgements……………………………………… …… ii Abstract………………………………………………… ……… iii Table of contents…………………………………….………………… iv List of tables and figures……………………………………………… vii PART I: INTRODUCTION Rationale…………………………………………………………… Aims and objectives of the study………………………………… .,,, Scope of the study………………………………………………… .2 Significance of the study …………………………………………… Research methodology………………………………………………… Design of the study……………………………………………………… ,.3 PART TWO DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW I THEARETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Theories on listening comprehension 1.1.1 The concepts of listening comprehension 1.1.2 The processes of listening comprehension ………………………… 1.2 Theories on activating prior knowledge in the pre- listening stage 1.2.1 Definitions of activating prior knowledge in the pre- listening stage……,,8 1.2.2 Roles of activating prior knowledge in the pre- listening stage …………,9 1.2.3 Activities to activate prior knowledge in the pre- listening stage .10 1.2.4 Factors affecting the choice of pre-listening activities 11 1.3 Schema 1.3.1 Definitions of schema 12 1.3.2 Characteristics of schema 13 iv 1.3.3 II Types of schema 13 LITERATURE REVIEW ………… ……………………… 14 CHAPTER RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2.1 Research questions 16 2.2 Research approach…………………………………………… 16 2.3 Data collection methods……………………………………….…… 16 2.3.1 The questionnaire for the teachers……………………………….… 17 2.3.2 The questionnaire for the students………………………….… 17 2.3.3 Classroom observation 18 2.4 Data collection procedure 2.4.1 The setting of the study 18 2.4.2 Participants’ background information……………………………….19 2.4.2.1 The teachers……………………………………………… 19 2.4.2.2 The students……………………………………………….… 19 2.4 Procedure…………………………………………………… 20 2.5 Data analytical units 20 CHAPTER3 DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS 3.1 DATA ANALYSIS OF THE TEACHERS’ SURVEY QUESTIONAIRE AND THEIR PERFORMANCE IN CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET 3.1 1.The teachers’ attitudes toward the difficulties that high school students encounter when their prior knowledge is not activated 21 3.1.2 The situation of applying the techniques of activating prior knowledge in the pre-listening stage at Giao Thuy B High School 23 3.1.3 Teachers’ comments on the roles of activating prior knowledge in prelistening activities… ……………………… 26 3.2 DATA ANALYSIS OF THE STUDENTS’ SURVEY QUESTIONAIRE AND THEIR PERFORMANCE IN CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEETS 3.2.1 The students’ attitudes toward the difficulties that they encounter when their prior knowledge is not activated 28 v 3.2.2 The students’ attitudes toward the situation of applying the techniques of activating prior knowledge in pre-listening stage at Giao Thuy B high school 30 3.2.3 Students’ comments on the roles of activating prior knowledge in prelistening activities……………………………………………………… .33 3.3 SUMMARY………………………… …………………… 35 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 4.1 BENEFITS OF ACTIVATING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE TO TEACHING LISTENING 4.1.1 For the teachers…………………………………………… 37 4.1.2 For the students……………………………………… 37 4.2 RECOMMENDATION 4.2.1 To the curriculum designers …………… 39 4.2.2 To the teachers…………………………….… 39 4.2.2.1 Raising awareness of the role of pre listening activities……… 40 4.2.2.2 Exploiting background knowledge… 40 4.2.2.3 Improving pre-listening activities in the material 40 4.2.2.4 Using pre-listening activities appropriately and flexibly .41 4.2.3 To the students…………………… 43 PART THREE CONCLUSIONS REVIEW OF THE STUDY…………………………… 44 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY………………………………… 45 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH…………… …… 45 REFERENCES……………………………………… 46 APPENDIX……………………………………………………………………………….I vi LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Tables Table 1: Teachers’ remarks about activities used to motivate students’ prior knowledge in the pre listening stage (appendix 3, page V) Table 2: Students’ attitudes toward activities teachers carry out in the pre listening stage (appendix 3, page V) Figures Figure 1: Teachers’ comments on the difficulties in activating prior knowledge in pre-listening stage (appendix 4, page VI) Figure 2: Teachers’ comments on the difficulties students encounter if their prior knowledge is not activated in the pre-listening stage (appendix 4, page VI) Figure 3: Teachers’ comments on the frequency of activating student’s prior knowledge (appendix 4, page VII) Figure 4: Teachers’ remarks about the problems when motivating prior knowledge (appendix 4, page VII) Figure 5: Teachers’ remarks about the importance of activating prior knowledge in the pre-listening stage (appendix4, page VIII) Figure 6: Teachers’ remarks about the benefits of activating students’ prior knowledge (appendix4, page VIII) Figure 7: Students’ opinions whether it difficult when listening to a lesson if prior knowledge is not activated or not (appendix4, page IX) Figure 8: Students’ opinions about the difficulties students encounter when their prior knowledge is not activated (appendix4, page IX) Figure 9: Students’ attitudes toward the currency of being motivated prior knowledge in the pre listening stage (appendix4, page X) Figure 10: Students’ attitudes toward the duration of the pre listening stage for activating prior knowledge (appendix4, page X) vii III F: Others Please specify What is/ are the benefits of activating your prior knowledge in the prelistening stage? A help us concentrate on learning English B help warm the learning environment up C help us get familiar with some new words or phrases in ongoing lesson D help ease the difficulty of the listening E help us listen actively What are your suggestions to make activating prior knowledge more effective in the pre-listening stage …………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… IV APPENDIX LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Activities teachers carry out to motivate students’ prior knowledge in the pre listening stage Activities A Predicting the content of the listening passage B Pre-teaching new vocabulary or grammar structures C using audio visual aids to introduce the topic of the listening passage D organizing discussions about the content of the listening task E Previewing the listening task F Brainstorming to some learned words that related to the topic G Eliciting to main information that students may listen in the listening lesson H Using games to introduce the topic of the listening passage Table 2: Activities teachers carry out in the pre listening stage Activities A Predicting the content of the listening passage B Pre-teaching new vocabulary or grammar structures C using audio visual aids to introduce the topic of the listening passage D organizing discussions about the content of the listening task E Previewing the listening task F Brainstorming to some learned words that related to the topic G Eliciting to main information that students may listen in the listening lesson H Using games to introduce the topic of the listening passage V APPENDIX LIST OF FIGURES Figure1: Teachers’ comment on the difficulty in activating prior knowledge in prelistening stage The difficuty in activating priorknowledge in pre-listening stage 100% 67% 50% 22% 0% very difficult 11% quite difficult 0% not verydiifcult Not difficult at all Figure 2: Teachers’ comment on the difficulties students encounter if their prior knowledge is not activated in the pre-listening stage A =.Students cannot complete difficult tasks B = Students cannot deal at speed with unfamiliar sounds, words and structures C = Students cannot absorb knowledge about the content of the listening task D = Students get difficulty in determining the meaning of the words in context Figure 3: Teachers’ comment on the frequency of activating student’s prior knowledge VI Figure 4: Teachers’ remark about the problems when motivating prior knowledge P roblems when motivating prior knowledge A- designing techniques is difficult B - designing activities is time-consuming C - handling activities is out of control D - the activities used sometimes are not interest Figure 5: Teachers’ remark about the importance of activating prior knowledge in the pre-listening stage 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% important important important important at all Figure 6: Teachers’ remark about the benefits of activating students’ prior knowledge A=Help students concentrate on the listening task B= Help warm up the listening activities C= Help students get familiar with some new words or phrases in the task D= Help ease the difficulty of the listening E= Help students listen actively VII Figure 7: Students’ opinion whether it difficult when listening to a lesson if prior knowledge is not activated or not 80% 74% 70% 60% 50% 40% 26% 30% 20% 10% 0% yes no Figure 8: Students’ opinion about the difficulties students encounter when their prior knowledge is not activated A = can't complete difficult tasks 80% B = can't deal at speech with unfamiliar sound, words, structures 60% C = can't absorb the listening task's 40% content D = get difficulty in determining 20% words in context 0% Figure 9: Students’ attitude toward the currency of being motivated prior knowledge in the pre listening stage the currency of being motivated prior knowledge in the pre-listening ativities 52% very often VIII Figure 10: Students’ attitude toward the duration of the pre listening stage for activating prior knowledge the duration for activating prior knowledge in the prelistening stage 55% A within minutes 18% 27% 18% A B at least minutes 55% C from to 10 minutes 27% B C Figure11 Students’ comments on the importance of activating prior knowledge in the pre-listening stage 60% 52% 50% 40% 30% 25% 20% 10% 10% 0% important important important very Figure 12: Students’ comments on the benefits of activating prior knowledge the benefits of activating prior A=Help concentrate on the listening task B= Help warm up the listening activities C= Help get familiar with some new words or phrases in the task D= Help ease the difficulty of the listening E= Help listen actively IX APPENDIX OBSERVATION SHEET Date…30/08/2013………………… School Giao Thuy B…………… UNIT 1: A DAY IN THE LIFE OF Teacher: TO THI HUONG (the name of the teacher has been changed) Observer : NGUYEN THI LAN Teaching activities to activate prior- knowledge in the pre- listening stage Activities A: Predicting of the content of the listening passage B: Pre-teaching new vocabulary or grammatical structures C: Using audio-visual aids to introduce the topic of the listening passage D: Discussing the topic of the listening passage E: Previewing the listening tasks F: Brainstorming to some learned words that related to the topic G: Eliciting to main information that students may listen in the listening test H: Using games to introduce the topic of the listening passage within…13……minutes Use of teaching aids Teaching aids Text book, chalk, board Sub-board Handout Computer aid Others X Seating arrangement/ grouping techniques Grouping techniques Individually Pair work Group work How does the teacher perform in the pre-listening stage? How to perform Designed techniques are interesting enough Performing activities is time-consuming Handling the activities is out of control The activities used are sometimes not of the students’ interests Students’ performances during the lesson Students’ performances Students concentrate on listening lesson Students are eager to listen to listening tasks Students get familiar with some new words or phrases in lesson Students can the given tasks easily Students listen more actively General comments The teacher should pay attention to cultivating information from the picture in task as it can help students to listen more actively XI APPENDIX OBSERVATION SHEET Date…15/09/2013………………… School: Giao Thuy B…………… UNIT 4: SPECIAL EDUACTION Teacher: PHAM NGOC HUY (the name of the teacher has been changed) Observer : NGUYEN THI LAN Teaching activities to activate prior- knowledge in the pre- listening stage Activities A: Predicting of the content of the listening passage B: Pre-teaching new vocabulary or grammatical structures C: Using audio-visual aids to introduce the topic of the listening passage D: Discussing the topic of the listening passage E: Previewing the listening tasks F: Brainstorming to some learned words that related to the topic G: Eliciting to main information that students may listen in the listening test H: Using games to introduce the topic of the listening passage within…15……minutes Use of teaching aids Teaching aids Text book, chalk, board Sub-board Handout Computer aid Others XII Seating arrangement/ grouping techniques Grouping techniques Individually Pair work Group work How does the teacher perform in the pre-listening stage? How to perform Designed techniques are interesting enough Performing activities is time-consuming Handling the activities is out of control The activities used are sometimes not of the students’ interests Students’ performances during the lesson Students’ performances Students concentrate on listening lesson Students are eager to listen to listening tasks Students get familiar with some new words or phrases in lesson Students can the given tasks easily Students listen more actively General comments The teacher should explain the meaning of the root “ photo” so that the student can guess the meaning of the of the other in the same root XIII APPENDIX OBSERVATION SHEET Date…31/08/2013………………… School: Giao Thuy B…………… UNIT 2:PERSONAL EXPERIENCE Teacher: MAI CONG THANH ( the name of the teacher has been changed) Observer : NGUYEN THI LAN Teaching activities to activate prior- knowledge in the pre- listening stage Activities A: Predicting of the content of the listening passage B: Pre-teaching new vocabulary or grammatical structures C: Using audio-visual aids to introduce the topic of the listening passage D: Discussing the topic of the listening passage E: Previewing the listening tasks F: Brainstorming to some learned words that related to the topic G: Eliciting to main information that students may listen in the listening test H: Using games to introduce the topic of the listening passage within……13…minutes Use of teaching aids Teaching aids Text book, chalk, board Sub-board Handout Computer aid Others XIV Seating arrangement/ grouping techniques Grouping techniques Individually Pair work Group work How does the teacher perform in the pre-listening stage? How to perform Designed techniques are interesting enough Performing activities is time-consuming Handling the activities is out of control The activities used are sometimes not of the students’ interests Students’ performances during the lesson Students’ performances Students concentrate on listening lesson Students are eager to listen to listening tasks Students get familiar with some new words or phrases in lesson Students can the given tasks easily Students listen more actively General comments The teacher has a good way of exploiting the given picture in the text book to activate students’ prior knowledge XV ... to find out the students? ?? view of the advantages of activating prior knowledge in improving listening skill In question (What is/ are the benefits of activating prior knowledge in the pre- listening. .. listening skills of my students, I have decided to the following research entitled: ? ?Activating prior knowledge in improving listening skills of high school students? ?? Aims and objectives of the... ? ?Activating prior knowledge in improving listening skills of high school students? ?? is the result of my own research for the Minor Degree of Master of Arts at the University of Language and International