A study on the attitudes of 12th grade students in listenning lessons at a high school in bac ninh province

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES faculty OF POSTGRADUATE studies ĐỖ THU HÀ TH A STUDY ON THE ATTITUDES OF 12 GRADE STUDENTS IN LISTENING LESSONS AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN BAC NINH PROVINCE (Nghiên cứu thái đô ̣của hoc ̣ sinh lớp 12 giờhoc ̣ nghe Tại một trường THPT ở tỉnh Bắc Ninh) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD CODE : ENGLISH METHODOLOGY : 60.140.111 Hanoi, 2013 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES faculty OF POST-GRADUATE studies ĐỖ THU HÀ A STUDY ON THE ATTITUDES OF 12 TH GRADE STUDENTS IN LISTENING LESSONS AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN BAC NINH PROVINCE (Nghiên cứu thái đô ̣của hoc ̣ sinh lớp 12 giờhoc ̣ nghe Tại một trường THPT ở tỉnh Bắc Ninh) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD CODE SUPERVISOR : ENGLISH METHODOLOGY : 60.140.111 : DR MAI THI LOAN Hanoi, 2013 DECLARATION Do Thu Ha, hereby certify that my M.A thesis entitled “A study on the th attitudes of 12 grade students in listening lessons at a high school in Bac Ninh province” is the result of my own research in the fulfillment of the requirement for Degree of Master of Arts at the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies – University of Languages and International Studies, Hanoi I commit that this thesis has not been submitted anywhere for any degree Hanoi, 2013 Đỗ Thu Hà i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Mai Thi Loan, for her invaluable inspiration, assistance, guidance and encouragement during the time I have tried to complete this thesis She has been willing to give help and advice whenever I expect I wish to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to all lectures and the staff of Department of Post Graduate Studies at University of Languages and International Studies, Hanoi for their interesting and helpful lectures and suggestions for the topic of my study I am in debt of many authors’ works and ideas, which enhance me to complete my study with sharp evidences My appreciation and gratitude are also extended for the teachers and students of grade 12 at Que Vo High School, who participated in doing the survey and responding to my interviews Last but not least, I wish to express special thanks to my husband and my beloveds for their everlasting, care and encouragement ii ABSTRACT In recent years, though the importance of listening in English learning has been acknowledged by researchers and educators all over the world, there remained a sad reality of English listening learning and teaching at Que Vo high school, Bac Ninh province Most of the students possess negative attitudes towards learning listening skill th The study aims at exploring the attitudes of 12 grade students, reasons for these attitudes and their expectation during their English listening learning and proposing some suggestions for teachers to enhance students’ positive attitudes in listening lessons Three instruments, including questionnaires for students, class observations and interview questions with teachers, were employed to achieve the purposes of the study The subjects involved in this study were 120 students, including 50 males and 70 females belonging to two different fields of study, namely Natural Science and Social Science They were invited to participate in the survey questionnaire Besides, six teachers of English agreed to join the study to support the researcher better her research th It was induced in the study that most students of 12 grade at Que Vo High School exhibited negative attitudes to learn listening skill, which resulted from the teachers’ behaviors, teaching methods and infrequent use of teaching aids, students’ lack of vocabulary, the gender and the field of study Based on the findings, some suggestions were given to teachers with the hope that they will collaborate with the school to make certain positive changes to this problematic reality iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv PART A: INTRODUCTION .1 Rationale Aims of the study The research questions Significance of the study Scope of the study Method of the study .3 Design of the study PART B: THE STUDY CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Theoretical background of attitude 1.1.1 Definition of attitude 1.1.2 Language attitude 1.1.3 Aspects of language attitude 1.1.4 The role of attitude in language learning and teaching .8 1.2 Theoretical background of listening skill 1.2.1 Definition of listening and listening comprehension 1.2.2 The listening process 10 1.3 Review of previous studies related to language learning attitudes 12 1.4 Summary 13 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 14 2.1 The setting of the study 14 2.1.1 The school 14 2.1.2 The curriculum and text book 14 2.2 Participants .15 2.2.1 The teachers 15 2.2.2 The students 15 2.3 Data collection instruments 16 iv 2.4 Data collection procedure 17 2.5 Summary 17 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 18 3.1 Data analysis on the questionnaires for students 18 3.1.1 Students’ attitudes towards learning English 18 3.1.2 Students’ attitudes towards learning listening skill 19 3.1.2.1 Students’ favorite English lessons .19 3.1.2.2 Students’ perception on the importance of learning listening 20 3.1.2.3 Students’ amount of time practicing listening………………………………20 3.1.2.4 Students’ behaviors in listening lessons 21 3.1.2.5 Students’ feelings in listening lessons .22 3.1.3 Students’ perception on factors affecting their attitudes towards learning English listening skill .23 3.1.3.1 Demotivational factors to learn listening skill of students 23 3.1.3.2 Motivational factors to learn listening skill of students 26 3.1.3.3 The teachers’ use of teaching aids and motivational strategies in listening lessons 27 3.1.4 Students’ expectation on learning listening skill 28 3.1.4.1 Students’ anticipation from the teachers 28 3.1.4.2 Students’ anticipation with the teachers’ use of motivational strategies during listening lessons 30 3.1.4.3 Students’ expectation from the school 31 3.2 Data analysis on class observations 31 3.3 Data analysis on teachers’ responses from the interviews .36 3.4 Summary 38 PART C: CONCLUSION 39 Summary of major findings 39 1.1 Findings from questionnaires for students .39 1.2 Findings from class observations .40 1.3 Findings from interview questions with teachers 40 Suggestions for teachers 40 Recommendations for further studies 42 Conclusion 42 REFERENCES 43 v APPENDIX APPENDIX APPENDIX APPENDIX vi PART A: INTRODUCTION In this part, the researcher will present the rationale of the study, the aims, the research questions, the significance, the scope, the method and the design of the study Rationale Over the last few decades, many researchers have paid more and more attention to students’ attitude, the role of students’ attitude towards language learning and teaching It has been concluded in most of the studies that students’ attitude is an integral part of learning because there is a relationship between students’ attitude towards language learning and their language learning achievement Particularly, positive attitude could facilitate language learning while negative attitude may hinder it Consequently, it is worth doing research on students’ attitudes towards learning a foreign language and factors affecting such attitudes in order to enhance their learning success and achievement Besides, as listening skill, together with speaking skill, is considered the most important skills of the four basic skill in learning English, hence, to be able to listen and speak effectively is very essential for all English language learners According to Hubbard, John, Thornton & Wheller (1995), (quoted from Pangsapa, 2006: 111), listening is even more significant than speaking when one wants to be a successful communicator in English Supposing that you master English speaking proficiency, you can still get failure in interacting with others and make them confused if you have a poor listening skill However, the researcher has experienced the teaching career for six years, she has also had chance to work in two high schools where she has noticed that listening lessons have been neglected which results from the test – based teaching method Particularly, most of the teachers ignore listening and speaking lessons in order to focus on reading comprehension, grammar and vocabulary The students, therefore, merely spend most of their time learning what their teachers ask them, which includes new words, grammar rules to get good marks in their final exams Despite the crucial role of attitude and listening skill in language learning as Question 8: Do these following factors encourage you to learn listening skill? Items I want to listen to and understand English songs and watch foreign films with English subtitle I want to get a good I want to study English people and culture I want to learn the pronunciation of native English speakers and to be native – like Question 9: How often does your teacher use these following teaching aids in listening lessons? Items Authentic listening (daily conversations,native speaker’s voice) Cassette tapes/ disc Teacher’s voice (teacher read the listening passage) CD/ VCD/ projector Only tasks given in the textbook Adapt tasks relevant to your students’ level Handout (extra tasks to help X your students thoroughly the understand listening passage) Pictures/ board/ video clips Music (songs, ) Part C: Students’ expectation in listening lessons Question 10: What you expect from your teacher in listening lessons? My teacher give me positive feedbacks The teacher will be more friendly in order to foster encouraging class atmosphere The teacher will be fairer in accessing my learning outcomes Teacher will make use of teaching aids and motivational strategies more frequently to motivate us to learn listening skill Teacher will adapt listening tasks to make them suitable for my level Teacher sometimes find familiar listening topics of our interest to motivate us Teacher will provide us with vocabulary knowledge XI tasks before each listening class Question 11: At which stage your teacher often motivate you? Warm – up Pre – listening While – listening Post - listening Question 12: What changes you desire from your school (the facilities and materials) You can have more than one choices a You want your school equip you all a modern room for learning listening skills b You expect the quality of cassettes and disc will be improved good enough and there are enough cassette as well as disc for all classes c You really want to have more reference books in English, especially books training listening skills for you to practice after each lesson APPENDIX CLASS OBSERVATION SHEETS CLASS OBSERVATION Time of observation: 45 minutes Date: August 23 rd, 2013 Place: 12A1 Stage Warm – up (8 minutes) XII Pre – listening (7 minutes) Pre listening (23 minutes) XIII Post – listening (7 minutes) (The teacher keeps smile on his lips all the time and gives compliments to students when they give correct answers The researcher finds a good interaction between teacher and students) CLASS OBSERVATION Time of observation: 45 minutes Date: August 24 th, 2013 Place: 12A3 Stage Warm – up Prelistening XIV (10 minutes) While – listening (25 minutes) - Asks Ss to individually then compare the answers with a partner - Plays the tape again, has students - Give answers correctly listen and check the answers Calls some Ss to give the answers (does not require evidence) - Checks and gives feedback *Task 2: Note down two things that are different about Paul’s and Andrea’s families - Asks students to read through the behaviors questions XV Post – listening (10 minutes) (The teacher seems to be serious and unfriendly and the students are not interested in the lesson About a third of the students join the listening actively while most of them not) CLASS OBSERVATION Time of observation: 45 minutes rd Date: September , 2013 Place: 12A15 Stage Warm – up Pre – listening (15 minutes) - Leads in - Pre – te students appear in - Explain and Vietname _ Asks st new wor XVI equivalent While – listening (20 minutes) Task 1: Lis between P decide wh true (T) or - Asks stud and get th read the lis - Asks stu with a partn - Calls on s only (not a students w notebook - Reads the and give th - Asks stud and self – c - Correct an Post – listening (13 minutes) - Asks students importance of fa life - Ask Ss to work the questions: T family in a perso - Asks some st their discussion class - Give student fe (The teacher is pretty cold and strict, she just convey the lesson step by step following the textbook, no new things added during the lesson The students are so XVII passive, just sit silently, when being asked to discuss, they not join the activity, but talk about stuff, out of topic) APPENDIX INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS AND TRANSCRIPTIONS Question 1: Do you think listening is very important in students’ learning English? Why (not)? All six teachers gave positive comments on the role of listening in students’ learning English, they realized and acknowledged the significance of learning to listen English, which led to students’ later success in their learning English and future career Teacher 1: “Of course, it is important, especially when the students entered universities because all universities require a certain proficient level in English and those who are good at listening and speaking English will be highly appreciated.” Teacher 2: “I think our students will be at a disadvantage compared with those who are proficient at listening and speaking, for example, many of my students overcome the university entrance exams with excellent results; however, because of being bad at listening and speaking skills, they can not enter the top classes.” Teacher 3: “I acknowledge its importance; but it is not necessary now, I just want them to be good at grammar, reading comprehension and vocabulary first, they can train listening skills after taking university entrance exams.” Teacher 4: “I think that it is very important, and the school should pay deserving attention to it, but the fact is not that” Teacher 5: “Important, but for what while tests and exams don’t check it, I have to guarantee the goals the school demands” Teacher 6: “Certainly, it is significant, as the result, although our school XVIII doesn’t pay attention to it, I always try my best to teach all listening lessons, and I hope that it can help something for the students” Question 2: Do your students enthusiastically join listening activities during listening lessons If not, what they often do? Teacher 1: No, they sit silently and obey my requests during the lessons That’s enough Teacher 2: Yes, most of my students actively join listening tasks They even practice listening at home with BBC news or their favorite songs Teacher 3: Yes, most of them are interested in learning listening skill and they can understand thoroughly the content of listening passage Teacher 4: No, they just what I ask them reluctantly and wait for short breaks Teacher 5: Of course no they sometimes talk, private things or something else Teacher 6: Do you daydream? They never possess positive behaviors during listening, they don’t want to learn English, or if yes, they try to learn reading and grammar only The tests don’t check this skill, you know? Question 3: In what way you often conduct your listening lessons? Do you often use teaching aids and motivational strategies to encourage your students to learn? Teacher 1: I just try to go through the curriculum and cover all tasks I not have much time for this skill I think the topic is quite good and tasks are ok, so I need not to replace them Teacher 2: Following textbook, but sometimes I find extra listening tasks and students to practice at home Teacher 3: I teach vocabulary and elicit complex structures at the beginning of listening lesson, and conduct tasks as designed in the text book Teacher 4: The tasks in textbook are quite difficult for my students, so I sometimes adapt them to suit my students’ level XIX Teacher 5: I mainly follow tasks in textbook because I not have much time focusing on this skill Question 4: What difficulties you have to encounter when teaching listening skill? Teacher 1: There are only two cassettes working at the school, I have to spend time teaching grammar and reading to help students get good results in tests and exams (whisper: If I don’t want to be reprimanded) Teacher 2: I can not teach listening very often because there is no cassette Teacher 3: I have to spend time on grammar and reading, teaching listening is worthless Teacher 4: I have to read listening passage myself, so I am very tired Teacher 5: No cassette, so how I can teach listening skill? Do I have to read it my self? It makes me tired Teacher 6: The Board ask us leave out those subjects, which are not checked in tests and exams Question 5: If listening is properly valued and invested at your school, what strategies you will apply to enhance your students’ positive attitudes towards learning listening skill? Teacher 1: I will use games at warm up stage I will divide my class into two to four groups with mixed levels of students and the best group can ask the others whatever they want Students like to compete, you know? Sometimes I tell them very short stories, but leave the ending and have them discuss, which may enhance their critical thinking and imagination Teacher 2: Of course, I will use games or students favorite songs in warm-up stage Students seem to be more active in competitive environment Thus, friendly competitions should be integrated during the lessons Teacher 3: The warm – up stage is very important in arousing students’ activeness, so I will let them play games or listen to music (their favorite songs) at this stage I will organize my class into groups with a variety of level to encourage them work together and support one another Students can learn much from others by teamwork Students who are not good at English are Natural Science students; XX consequently, they are very intelligent and possess creative ideas They can share ideas and those who are better at English will help them express ideas in English Therefore, they will form a strong group Teacher 4: I will let students complete the gaps in the lyrics of their beloved songs and let them play games This will encourage them and prepare them good feelings for the next stages Group work should be considered and applied to foster mutual learning Teacher 5: Games should be included in warm up stage Moreover, students should be engaged in all listening activities As a result, I will ask them the different part of a task and they have to work together to share ideas to complete the whole task Teacher 6: I will design tasks with different level to ensure that all my students can contribute to complete the task Weak students will feel more confident and will therefore participate more actively in the listening tasks Good outcomes will facilitate positive attitude and motivation to learn, right? XXI ... MAI THI LOAN Hanoi, 2013 DECLARATION Do Thu Ha, hereby certify that my M .A thesis entitled ? ?A study on the th attitudes of 12 grade students in listening lessons at a high school in Bac Ninh province? ??... actually says, constructing and representing meaning, negotiating meaning with the speaker and responding, and creating meaning through involvement, imagination and empathy In other words, linguistic... theoretical background of attitude, considering the definition of attitude, language attitude and aspects of language attitude It also deals with the theoretical background of listening and listening