An exploratory study on the teaching and learning at post listening stage by international standard program students, ULIS VNU

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES BÙI THỊ HẰNG AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON THE TEACHING AND LEARNING AT POST-LISTENING STAGE BY INTERNATIONAL STANDARD PROGRAM STUDENTS, ULIS-VNU (NGHIÊN CỨU THỰC TRẠNG DẠY VÀ HỌC Ở GIAI ĐOẠN SAU KHI NGHE CHO SINH VIÊN NHIỆM VỤ CHIẾN LƯỢC TRƯỜNG ĐHNN, ĐHQGHN) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10 Hanoi- 2013 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDY BÙI THỊ HẰNG AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON THE TEACHING AND LEARNING AT POST-LISTENING STAGE BY INTERNATIONAL STANDARD PROGRAM STUDENTS, ULIS-VNU ((NGHIÊN CỨU THỰC TRẠNG DẠY VÀ HỌC Ở GIAI ĐOẠN SAU KHI NGHE CHO SINH VIÊN NHIỆM VỤ CHIẾN LƯỢC TRƯỜNG ĐHNN, ĐHQGHN) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10 Supervisor: Dr Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Quỳnh Hanoi- 2013 DECLARATION I certify that this thesis entitled: “An exploratory study on the teaching and learning at post-listening stage by International Standard Program students, ULIS-VNU” which is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, is the result of my own work I have provided fully documented references to the work of others The material in this thesis has not been submitted for any other formal course Bui Thi Hang Hanoi,2013 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My words of thanks go to all the people who have contributed to the accomplishment of this graduation paper First of all, it is with affection and appreciation that I would love to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor Dr Nguyen Ngoc Quynh, without whose valuable advice and enthusiastic guidance, this research would not have become a reality Secondly, I would be honestly grateful to Mrs Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, M.A my old teacher as well as my beloved colleague, who was very busy with her work but still spent precious time discussing and sharing her teaching experiences relating to my research field Also, I owe a great debt to my family, teachers and friends for their continuous support, advice and encouragement whenever I was in need of Last but not least, my sincere thanks are warmly sent to the teachers of ISP division and ISP students who enthusiastically and patiently helped me collect significant data for the study ii ABSTRACT The recent education reform, most obviously in ELT has brought a new identity to the teaching procedure of language skills, comprising three stages: Pre, While and Post stage However, the importance of the post stage tends to be lowered as the optional part of an English lesson and poorly or even ineffectively carried out due to a number of factors Post-listening stage is not excluded In response to this depressing fact, “An exploratory study on the teaching and learning at postlistening stage by International Standard Program students, ULIS-VNU” was initiated, carried out and completed Taking into consideration the importance of post-listening stage as well as the research gap in this field, the paper focuses primarily on the current situation of teaching and learning at this phase, especially the utilization of follow-up activities, students‟ preferences and their perceived benefits of these activities In an attempt to realize aforementioned objectives, this graduation paper is conducted by means of class observation, teachers‟ interview and survey questionnaire which are described in detail in chapter after the theoretical background knowledge of the subject matter has been provided in chapter The findings presented in chapter reveal that post-listening activities have been widely conducted but not as effectively as expected mostly due to the lack of time and students‟ enthusiasm The most preferable follow-up activities were reflection and creative tasks Also, there was a mismatch between teachers‟ objectives for postlistening stage and students‟ perceived benefits of the activities carried out during this stage It is the great ambition of the researcher that this study will function as a useful reference for teachers of English who take interest in the subject matter iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND TABLES CLT: Communicative Language Teaching ELT: English Language Teaching ISP: International Standard Program ULIS: University of Language and International Studies VNU: Vietnam National University Table 1: Post-listening form and activities in accordance with ISP teachers‟ objectives Table 2: Types of post-listening activities exploited in observed classes Table 3: Frequency of the utilization of post-listening activities Table 4: Students‟ preferences for post-listening activities iv TABLE OF CONTENTS PART A: INTRODUCTION 1.Rationale 2.Aims of the study 3.Methods of the study 4.Significance of the study 5.Scope of the study 6.Organization of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.The nature of listening 1.1.What is listening? 1.2.The process of listening 1.3.The importance of listening skill in 1.4.The relationship between listening 2.The teaching of listening in Communicative Language Teaching 3.Teaching listening procedure 3.1.Pre-listening 3.2.While-listening 3.3.Post-listening 4.An in-depth overview of post-listening activities 4.1.Purposes of post-listening activitie 4.2.Factors affecting the choice of pos 4.3.Forms of post-listening activities v 4.4.Integration in post-listening activit Related studies Summary CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY Setting 1.1.Introduction of International Stand 1.2.Listening materials Participants 2.1.ISP Teachers 2.2.ISP students Data collection instruments 3.1.Classroom observation 3.2.Interview 3.3.Questionnaires Data Collection Procedures Data Analysis Procedure CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Research question 1- The general situation of teaching and learn listening stage for ISP students in ULIS, VNU 1.1.Teachers‟ objectives for conductin 1.2.Duration of post-listening stage 1.3.Types of exploited post-listening a 1.4.Students‟ participation during pos 1.5.Teacher‟s perceived difficulties in Research question 2- Students‟ preferences for post-listening acti vi Research Question 3- Students‟ perceived benefits of post-listening activities 34 Summary 35 PART C: CONCLUSION 37 Conclusions 37 Recommendations for overcoming difficulties 39 Limitations of the study 41 Suggestions for further studies 41 REFERENCES 43 APPENDICES I vii PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale The ultimate goal of teaching and learning English for International Standard Program students is learners‟ ability to use English for communicative purposes In an attempt to obtain this aim, together with learning English grammar and pronunciation, students have chances to practice the four fundamental skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing, among which listening makes a significant contribution to the process of language acquisition In fact, the listening score of ISP students has always been disappointing and alarming The theory, which was initiated by Rixon (1981) as a result of Task-based Language Teaching and later supported by Underwood (1989), is that every listening section is subdivided into three main parts: pre-, while-, post-listening Nevertheless, in reality, the problem is that the teaching and learning of listening skill for ISP students appear not to be effective as not all the teachers cover the three stages of a listening class, most notably the post-listening stage The main focus of almost all listening lessons is to make students listen to the text with exercises to be completed during the while-listening stage Noticeably, the post-listening stage is said to be ineffective and irrelevant to what students have listened to or even ignored in some listening classes notwithstanding that this stage is as important as all other stages In addition, most of the activities at this stage are initiated and controlled by the teachers and listening skill is frequently isolated from other language skills In terms of pedagogical view, there has been a lack of proper research interests and investigations into the post-listening stage even though studies on pre-listening and while-listening strategies as well as activities have been constantly carried out This stems partially from the inherent conception that the post-listening stage merely deals with checking listening comprehension exercises students‟ English competence Ideas from teachers‟ interview shows that the listening topic and content determine the kind of post-listening activities conducted during the last stage For example, it is advisable to organize reflection and creative task to wrap up the lessons which tackle with familiar, practical topics and real-life situations However, language focus and comprehension review appear to be take effect for lessons with academic topics and chronological order One more important thing is that the level of difficulty of these activities may increase with students‟ proficiency to create a challenging motivation for students in learning listening skill Limitations of the study Notwithstanding the researcher‟s considerable effort, the study inevitably exposes certain shortcomings due to the limited number of participants and the time constraint One of the most obvious drawbacks of the study is the limited number of participants The quantity of research participants, including 10 surveyed teachers and 70 surveyed students remained comparatively modest Besides, observations in only ten ISP classes were not adequate enough to evaluate the current situation of teaching and learning at post-listening stage The second limitation of this research was time constraint leading to the fact that the study fails to have a deeper insight into problems encountered by teachers in implementing post-listening stage for ISP students Therefore, all comments and suggestions are highly appreciated Suggestions for further studies On the whole, all the issues relating to listening procedure cannot be covered in this study Due to aforementioned limitations, the paper only sets the first step in the research on post-listening stage which has not been adequately investigated so far Inevitably, further studies with broad scope of topic and population as well as thorough data analysis are highly recommended To be more specific, the scope of 41 other studies may touch upon the remained stage of a listening lesson, namely prelistening and while-listening stage Integration of listening and other skills demonstrated at post-listening stage can be a good source of research Besides, since the paper focuses on the real exploitation of post-listening activities among nonspecializing students of English, other researchers may investigate different objects in other teaching contexts 42 REFERENCES Brown, H D (2007) Principles of Language Learning and Teaching NY: Pearson Longman Brown, H D (1994) Teaching by principles: An interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy: Pearson Hall Regents Brown, G & Yule, G., (1983), Teaching the Spoken Language, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Brownell, J (1996) Listening: Attitudes, principles, and skills Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon Brumfit, C J & Johnson K (1979) The Communicative Approach to Language Teaching: Oxford University Press Burns, A (1999) Collaborative action research for English language teachers Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Byrnes H (1984) The role of listening comprehension: A theoretical base Foreign Language Annals, 17: 317-329 Dunkel, P (1986) Developing Listening Fluency in Language Learning The Theoretical Principles and Pedagogical considerations The Morden Language Journal, 70(2), 99-106 Gass, S M (1988) Integrating research areas: A framework for second language studies Applied Linguistics 9:198-217 Harmer, J (2001) The practice of language teaching, Third Longman 43 ed Harlow: Janset, M A & Pekin, A (1985) The Process of Listening Applied Linguistics Retrieved October 24, 2013 from http://www.ingilish.com/listeningactivities.htm Mendelsohn, D J & Rubin, J (1995) A guide for the teaching of second language listening San Diego, CA: Dominie Press Mowbray, G & George, J (1992) Objectives set for after-listening Regina, SK Saskatchewan Education Retrieved March 27, 2013 from http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/listening/liindex.htm Nguyen, T.T.V (1999) Integrating of listening and speaking in listening lessons at non-professional universities Hanoi: Faculty of English Language Teacher Education, University of Languages and International StudiesVietnam National Univerisity Nunan, D & Miller, L (Eds.) (1995) New ways in teaching listening Alexandria, VA: TESOL Peterson, P W (1991) A synthesis of methods for interactive listening In M Celce-Murcia (Ed.), Teaching English as a second or foreign language Boston MA: Heinle & Miller Rixon, S (1981).The design of materials to foster particular linguistic skills The teaching of listening comprehension London: The British council Rost, M (1990) Listening in Language Learning London: Longman Saricoban, J L (1999) The Teaching of Listening Hacettepe University, Beytepe-Ankara, Turkey Retrieved June 15, 2013 from http://iteslj.org/Articles/Saricoban-Listening.html Tchudi, S & Mitchell, D (1989) The interaction of Listening and Speaking in Language Learning, HarperCollins Publishers, Inc Retrieved September 8, 2013 from http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/docs/mla/speak.html 44 Underwood, M (1989) Teaching Listening, NY: Longman Vo, T.A (2002) Research on improving the method of teaching listening skills to th 10 form students at the FLSS-CFL-VNU, Hanoi Hanoi: University of Languages and International Studies- Vietnam National Univerisity Wolvin, A D & Coakley, C G 1992 Listening Dubuque, IA: William C Brown 45 APPENDICES INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS I am doing these interview questions in the completion of a research about post-listening stage among ISP listening lessons I would be grateful if you could answer all the questions honestly Thank you very much ******************** Do you often carry out post-listening activities in your listening lessons at ISP division? If not, why? What are your specific purposes for conducting post-listening stage? Are they the same for all listening lessons? By which activities can you achieve these objectives and which ones you frequently apply in reality? In your opinion, what are the factors affecting your objectives and choices of post-listening activities? What are the difficulties that you encounter while conducting post-listening stage for ISP students? What are possible solutions to overcome those difficulties? THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME! I QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS (English version) My name is Bui Thi Hang, a post-graduate student of Vietnam National University, University of Languages and International Studies This survey questionnaire is designed to collect information for my M.A thesis entitled “An exploratory study on the teaching and learning at post-listening stage by International Standard Program students, ULIS-VNU” Your assistance will contribute greatly to the success of my research Thank you very much for your support and cooperation! ************************* Please circle the letters(s) that you choose or fill in the missing information In a listening lesson, does your teacher ask you to further task after checking your listening comprehension? A Yes B No 2&3 What kind of activities you after finishing listening comprehension? After that, put a tick (V) on the activities which you would like to join most (You can circle more than one option Post-listening activities A Vocabulary check B Grammar and pronunciation revision II C Summarizing the main points D Giving personal ideas about the speaker‟s attitude or an issue raised in the listening text E Working in pairs/groups to discuss the related topic F Writing a reflection about an issue raised in the text G Reading related text and give reflection H Role-playing the real-life situation I Problem-solving/Decision making Other activities: _ Do you think these activities have a good influence on your English study? A Yes B No, because……………………………………………………………… If yes, what are the good influences? A Reinforcing the language gained from the text B Fostering students‟ ability to retain the information C Developing students‟ response and creative thinking D Improving other language skills Others………………………………………………………………… THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP! III PHIẾU ĐIỀU TRA (SINH VIÊN) Chào em! Cô tên Bùi Thị Hằng, học viên cao học trường Đại học Ngoại Ngữ, Đại học Quốc Gia Hà Nội Cô soạn thảo phiếu điều tra nhằm thu thập số liệu cho đề tài khoá luận mà tơi nghiên cứu có tên là: “Nghiên cứu thực trạng dạy học giai đoạn sau nghe cho sinh viên thuộc chương trình đào tạo Nhiệm vụ chiến lược Trường Đại Học Ngoại Ngữ- ĐHQGHN” Rất mong em nhiệt tình giúp đỡ hồn thành phiếu điều tra để kết thu xác có giá trị Xin chân thành cảm ơn hợp tác em! ******************** sau Trong học nghe, thầy có tiến hành hoạt động em hồn thành tập nghe sách hay khơng? A Có B Khơng 2&3 Các hoạt động sau thường xuyên tiến hành sau em hoàn thành tập nghe giáo trình? Sau đó, em đánh dấu hoạt động mà em yêu thích cột bên cạnh trình bày lí có (Có thể chọn nhiều đáp án) Các hoạt động A Kiểm tra từ vựng xuất nghe B Củng cố ngữ pháp, ngữ âm xuất nghe C Tóm tắt lại ý nghe D Trình bày ý kiến, quan điểm cá nhân nội dung nêu IV lên nghe E Thảo luận chủ đề liên quan theo cặp, nhóm F Viết đoạn/ văn trình bày ý kiến cá nhân G Đọc đọc có liên quan cho ý kiến H Đóng kịch mơ lại nội dung nghe I Nêu cách giải cho vấn đề nêu lên nghe Hoạt động khác (nếu có) Theo em, hoạt động có tác động tích cực việc học kĩ nghe em hay khơng? A Có B Khơng Lí là…………………………………………………… Nếu có, tác động cụ thể hoạt động trên? (Có thể chọn nhiều đáp án) A Giúp em ghi nhớ lâu ngôn ngữ sử dụng nghe B Giúp em ghi nhớ thông tin nghe C Giúp em phát triển tư phản ứng sáng tạo với thông tin nghe D Giúp phát triển kĩ khác, đặc biệt kĩ nói V Các tác động khác (nếu ………………………………………………………………………… XIN CHÂN THÀNH CÁM ƠN SỰ GIÚP ĐỠ CỦA CÁC EM! VI có) OBSERVATION CHECKLIST Date Group Level Lesson Course book Number of students Observed Post-listening stage class Language Focus Comprehension Review Type of activity Creative Task Other Source of the activity VII Activ Te pa (T inv T’s Other comments: VIII ... and learning at postlistening stage by International Standard Program students, ULIS- VNU? ?? was initiated, carried out and completed Taking into consideration the importance of post- listening stage. .. conduct a study titled ? ?An exploratory study on the teaching and learning at post- listening stage by International Standard Program students, ULIS- VNU? ?? She desires to take a closer look into the current...VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDY BÙI THỊ HẰNG AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON THE TEACHING AND LEARNING AT POST- LISTENING STAGE