(Luận văn thạc sĩ) current situation in teaching and learning english listening at tay ho high school in hanoi and solutions

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** NGUYỄN THỊ PHƯƠNG QUỲNH CURRENT SITUATION IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH LISTENING AT TAY HO HIGH SCHOOL IN HANOI AND SOLUTIONS (Thực trạng dạy học kỹ nghe trường THPT Tây Hồ - Hà Nội: Thực trạng giải pháp) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Major: English Teaching Methodology Code : 60 14 10 Hanoi – 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** NGUYỄN THỊ PHƯƠNG QUỲNH CURRENT SITUATION IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH LISTENING AT TAY HO HIGH SCHOOL IN HANOI AND SOLUTIONS (Thực trạng dạy học kỹ nghe trường THPT Tây Hồ - Hà Nội: Thực trạng giải pháp) Major: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: NGUYỄN THỊ VƯỢNG, M.A Hanoi - 2010 TABLE OF CONTENT TABLE OF CONTENT LISTS OF TABLES CHARPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the Study 1.2 Aims of the Study 1.3 Research Questions 1.4 Scope of the Study 1.5 Methods of the Study 1.6 The significance of the study 1.7 Design of the Study CHARPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Theoretical Background of Listening Skills 2.1.1 What is Listening Comprehension 2.1.2 The Importance of Listening in Learning Foreign Language 2.1.3 Teaching Listening Skills 2.1.3.1 Listening Skills 2.1.3.2 Potential Problems in Learning to Listen to English 2.1.3.2.1 Lack of control over the speech at which the speakers speak 2.1.3.2.2 Limited vocabulary / grammar structures 2.1.3.2.3 Learners learning habit 2.1.3.2.4 Lack of concentration 2.1.3.2.5 The size of the class 2.2 Teacher’s roles 2.2.1 A tailor 2.2.2 A stand-up comedian or a storyteller 2.2.3 A sleuth 2.2.4 An engineer 2.2.5 A spy 2.2.6 A doctor 2.2.7 A firefighter 2.2.8 A tour guide CHAPTER 3: AN OVERVIEW OF THE NEW ENGLISH TEXTBOOK “TIENG ANH 10” AND THE CURRENT SITUATION OF TECHING THE TEXTBOOK AT TAY HO HIGH SCHOOL 3.1 An overview of the new textbook ‚Tieng Anh 10‛ 3.1.1 Objectives PAGE iv v 1 2 2 3 5 7 8 9 9 10 10 10 10 11 11 11 11 11 13 13 13 3.1.2 Content of the textbook 3.2 Characteristics of listening lessons and listening tasks in the textbook 3.2.1 Characteristics of listening lessons 3.2.2 Characteristics of listening tasks 3.3 The current situation of teaching the textbook at Tay Ho high school 3.3.1 Introduction of Tay Ho high school and its students 3.3.2 English teachers and teaching methods 3.3.3 Teaching facilities 3.3.4 Time allocation for a listening period CHARPTER 4: THE STUDY 4.1 Context study 4.2 Research questions 4.3 The subjects 4.4 The data collection instruments 4.5 Data collection procedure CHAPTER 5: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS 5.1 Discuss of the results 5.1.1 Discussion of the results collected by means of questionnaire 5.1.1.1 Students’ opinion on the listening skill in general and listening lesson on the new textbook ‚Tieng Anh 10‛ in particular (Table 1) 5.1.1.2 Students opinion about the quality of the cassette player (Table 2) 5.1.1.3 Students opinion about the content of the listening (Table 3) 5.1.1.4 Difficulties faced by students (Table 4) 5.1.1.5 Students’ expectation from their teachers in teaching listening (Table 5) 5.1.1.6 The role of listening in final assessment at Tay Ho high school (Table 6) 5.1.2 Discussion of the data collected by means of the informal interview with teachers of English and classroom observation 5.1.2.1 Teachers’ opinion on the listening part in the textbook ‚Tieng Anh 10‛ (the set of standard textbooks) 5.1.2.2 Teachers’ difficulties in teaching listening skill to the th 10 form students 5.1.2.3 Teachers’ solution to overcome difficulties in teaching listening 5.1.2.4 Students’ attitude toward listening skill CHARPTER 6: FINDINGS AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS 6.1 Findings: Problems and difficulties facing 10th grade students 13 14 14 15 15 15 16 17 17 18 18 18 18 19 19 21 21 21 21 22 22 24 26 26 27 27 28 29 29 31 31 6.2 Suggestions 6.2.1 Changing the method of teaching listening 6.2.2 Training students to become active and effective learners 6.2.3 Improving teachers’ classroom techniques 6.2.4 Making advantage of teaching facilities 6.2.5 Changing the assessment ways CONCLUSION Summary of the study Limitations of the study Suggestions for further study REFERENCES APPENDIXES Appendix 1: Survey Questionnaire for Students (Original) Appendix 2: Survey Questionnaire for Students (English Translation) Appendix 3: Questions for informal interview with teachers Appendix 4: Classroom observation Appendix 5: Classroom observation 32 33 34 35 37 37 39 39 40 40 41 I I IV VII VIII XI LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Students’ opinion on the listening skill in general and listening lesson on the new textbook ‚Tieng Anh 10‛ in particular Table 2: Students’ opinion about the quality of the cassette player Table 3: Students’ opinion about the content of the listening Table 4: Difficulties faced by students Table 5: Students’ expectation from their teachers in teaching listening Table 6: The role of listening in final assessment at Tay Ho High School CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the Study With Vietnam’s entry into the WTO and opening its markets to the outside world, the demand for English speaking proficiency among people is rising In recent years, the communicative approach has become more and more widely used in teaching and learning English at tertiary education and therefore, students’ communicative competence has been stressed The needs of communication make listening teaching a priority all over the country The need for competence in listening in English learners is increasingly recognized, so listening teaching has recently attracted considerable attention However, careful observation of High School teaching practice has found that the teaching of listening skills is still the weak link in the language teaching process Despite students having mastered the basic elements of English grammar and vocabulary, their listening comprehension is often weak Through systematic study of basic English teaching stages at High School it has been recognized that while students’ integrated skills in reading, writing, translating have been improving, their listening and speaking capabilities have been left behind The key factor that has been recognized in the preliminary studies is students’ limited listening comprehension Both teachers and students recognized that the listening levels of each learner are different, particularly because English listening is affected by an array of factors Important among these factors is the necessity to emphasize to teachers and students the importance of listening, to encourage the study of listening teaching theory and to explore listening teaching methods by using the most advanced teaching methods The traditional grammar-translation method of teaching English in Vietnam has been found inadequate to the demands for producing efficient English speakers and listeners The old approach has been shown to be ineffectual Research has stimulated an entirely new conception of teaching English as a foreign language Central to the new approach is the understanding that there must be a rigorous application of the communicative approach in English classrooms English must be taught as a tool for communication It is now widely accepted that students’ listening ability must be at the core of teaching practice, and it is the area in which teachers need to concentrate their own efforts to improve their teaching This is a significant challenge for teachers of English in Vietnam; however it is crucial in the development of English language competence Fully aware of this, new English teaching syllabus and new textbooks have arrived at high school since 2006 in which the grammar and vocabulary focus were changed into a skill focus: listening, writing, speaking and reading among these listening play a very important role on language teaching and learning However, not many researchers study on the listening difficulties perceived by high school teachers and students in using the new ‚Tieng Anh 10‛ textbook Hence, it is in urgent need of taking a serious look at this issue 1.2 Aims of the study The specific aims of this study are: - To investigate the areas of difficulty that the teachers at Tay Ho High School are coping with in their daily teaching listening comprehension to the 10 th form students with the textbook ‚Tieng Anh 10‛ - To suggest some solutions to overcome these difficulties This study is carried out in the hope that the findings from the study will be of some benefits to the teachers at Tay Ho High School in their teaching listening 1.3 Research questions In order to find out the challenges that the teachers and students of grade 10 in teaching and learning listening, it is necessary to answer the following questions: What is the reality of teaching and learning teaching in grade 10 at Tay Ho high school? What are the challenges that teachers and students in grade 10 have to face? What are the solutions to improve listening skill for students of grade 10? 1.4 Scope of the study This study is limited to: - The 10th form students at Tay Ho High School - The teachers of English at Tay Ho High School - Listening comprehension in the new English textbook ‚Tieng Anh 10‛ 1.5 Methods of the study The study is designed to use both qualitative and quantitative methods Besides, many resources such as books, magazines, articles, newspapers and some sources on the internet have been read by the researcher In order to gain the most reliable results, the quantitative data will be collected through one survey questionnaires This survey questionnaire is for 200 students from 10th form graders at TH high school The data, then, will be processed and analyzed to yield conclusions for the study Along with the quantitative method, the qualitative data has been obtained by classroom observation and informal interviews with teachers of English to collect further information about the real situations of teaching and learning listening skill in grades 10 at TH high school 1.6 Significance of the study The piloted syllabus for grade 10th of high school level was designed with hopes that students could have a chance to practice listening skill as English teaching nowadays follows the communicative approach learning However, there has not been much investigation into the fact that whether lessons of listening are suitable and comprehensible for students; or whether the teaching of listening for students of grade 10 is easy- undertaken This research provides an insight into the problems that are often met by teachers teaching English for grades 10 at TH High school In addition, this research also points out some feasible solutions which are, hopefully, beneficial for both teachers and students 1.7 Design of the study The study is divided into three parts The first part ‚Introduction‛ (chapter 1) presents the rationale, the aim and objectives, the scope, the methods, significance and the design of the study The second part, ‚Development‛, consists of four chapters: Chapter provides a thorough literature review relevant to the study It presents the theoretical background: the concepts relating to listening skill, its importance to language learners and listening teaching as a second language Potential Problems in Learning to Listen to English are also mentioned in this chapter Chapter is an overview of the new English textbook ‚Tieng Anh 10‛ and the current situation of teaching the textbook at TH high school Chapter deals with the introduction of the research methods which are: research questions, subject, questionnaire, class observation and informal interview Chapter is for analyzing the data collected from survey questionnaires, interview as well as classroom observation Chapter concludes the findings the researcher has from the study and proposes some solutions to the teaching of listening skill for grade 10 at TH high school The last part of the study ‚Conclusion‛ gives a brief description of the study and states the limitations as well as recommendations for further research APPENDIXES APPENDIX SURVEY QUETIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS (ORIGINAL) Bả ng câu hỏ i nhằ m lấ y ý kiế n củ a họ c sinh lớ p 10, trư ng THPT Tây Hồ - Hà Nộ i, phầ n nghe hiể u sách giáo khoa tiế ng Anh lớ p 10 Mong em vui long đầ y đủ câu hỏ i dư i dự a tình họ c tậ p thự c tế củ a em lớ p Ý kiế n đóng góp củ a em rấ t có giá trị q trình nghiên u đánh giá nhữ ng khó khă n việ c y họ c phầ n nghe củ a giáo trình Sách giáo khoa lớ p 10 bả n đồ ng thờ i đề nhữ ng giả i pháp bả n Xin chân thành m n Hãy khoanh tròn mộ t đáp án mà bạ n cho vớ i nhấ t STT Câu hỏ i Lựa chọ n Theo em, kỹ nă ng nghe hiể u có A Rấ t quan trọ ng vai trò việ c họ c B Quan trọ ng ngoạ i ngữ C Như kỹ nă ng khác D Không quan trọ ng Nhìn chung, em thấ y tiế t nghe A Rấ t thú vị , rấ t hay lớ p … B Hay C Bình thư ng D Rấ t chán Em thấ y chấ t lư ợ ng bă ng, đĩ a nghe lớ p … A Bă ng nghe rấ t tố t, tiế ng to, rõ ràng B Bă ng nghe không tố t lắ m, rè C Bă ng rấ t tồ i, hầ u không nghe đư ợ c Nhìn chung, nộ i dung củ a A Khó hiể u nghe hiể u sách giáo khoa B Tư ng đổ i dễ hiể u Tiế ng Anh lớ p 10 … C Dễ hiể u Theo em, chủ đề củ a nghe A Quen thuộ c hiể u sách giáo khoa Tiế ng Anh B Không quen thuộ c lớ p 10 … C Có quen, có khơng Em thấ y độ dài củ a nghe A Ngắ n hiể u SGK lớ p 10 B Vừ a phả i C Dài Em thấ y tố c độ nói A Chậ m nghe hiể u B Vừ a phả i C Nhanh Em thấ y cách phát âm củ a nghe A Rõ ràng, dễ nghe hiể u B Bình thư ng C Hay luyế n láy, khó nhậ n từ Theo em, nghe hiể u … A Từ vự ng quen thuộ c, dễ hiể u B Từ mớ i vừ a phả i, đốn hiể u đư ợ c C Có nhiề u từ mớ i, khó hiể u 10 Bạ n gặ p phả i nhữ ng khó khă n A Khơng thể nghe đư ợ c họ c tiế t nghe hiể u không luyệ n kỹ nă ng lớ p nghe B Không nghe đư ợ c nhiề u chấ t lư ợ ng bă ng nghe không tố t C Không nghe đư ợ c nhiề u tố c độ cách phát âm củ a ngư i nói D Khơng nghe đư ợ c nhiề u tiế ng n bên ngồi E Có thể hiể u đư ợ c ý củ a ng làm phầ n tậ p hoặ c lấ y đư ợ c thông tin cầ n thiế t F Các phầ n tậ p nghe tẻ nhạ t 11 12 13 14 Giáo viên có cung cấ p từ vự ng A Thư ng xuyên cấ u trúc khó trư c cho em nghe B Thỉ nh thoả ng khơng? C Khơng Giáo viên có giả i thích kỹ cách làm A Thư ng xuyên tasks trư c cho em nghe bă ng B Thỉ nh thoả ng không? C Không Giáo viên có hay cung cấ p trò chơ i A Thư ng xuyên thú vị B Thỉ nh thoả ng liên quan đế n nghe để giúp em làm nghe dễ hơ n khơng? C Khơng Trư ng em có đư a kỹ nă ng nghe A Có vào kiể m tra hay không B Không APPENDIX SURVEY QUETIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS (TRANSLATED VERSION) No Questions Options In your opinion, what is the role of listening skill A Very important in language learning? B Important C As important as other skills D Not important In general, what you think about listening A Very interesting lessons in your class? B Interesting C Normal D Boring According to you, the quality of the tape used in A Good quality: loud listening lessons is … and clear enough B Not so good, noisy C Very bad quality In general, the content of the listening lessons in A Difficult to the new English textbook ‚Tieng Anh 10‛ is … understand B Rather easy to understand C Very easy to understand In your opinion, the topic of the listening lesson A Familiar in the new textbook ‚Tieng Anh 10‛ is … B Not familiar C Some topics are familiar, the others are not familiar What you think about the length of the A Short listening text in the new textbook ‚Tieng Anh B Medium length 10‛ C Long In your opinion, the speed of the listening text is A Slow … B Neutral C Fast What you think about the way of pronouncing A Clear, easy to listen of the speakers in the tape? B Normal C Unclear, difficult to recognize the words According to you, in the listening texts … A There are many familiar and simple words or phrases B There are only some new and difficult words or phrases C There are a lot of new and difficult words or phrases 10 Which are the difficulties that you often meet A Cannot hear anything when studying listening skill in your class? because I never practice listening B Cannot hear much because the tape is not good C Cannot hear much because of the speed and the voice of the speakers D Cannot hear much because of the noise outside E Can get main ideas but cannot the tasks or needed information F Boring listening tasks 11 Our teachers … present new words before asking A Always us to listen B Sometimes C Never 12 Our teachers … explain carefully how to every A Always tasks before asking us to listen B Sometimes C Never 13 14 Our teachers … provide us interesting games A Always related to the listening lessons to make them B Sometimes become easier to understand C Never Is listening skill tested in any examination at Tay A Yes Ho high school? B No APPENDIX QUESTIONS FOR INFORMAL INTERVIEW WITH TEACHERS + Question 1: ‚Do you think the new English textbook ‚Tieng Anh 10‛ is suitable to your students in the aspect of the topic, the length of the listening and the tasks given?‛ + Question 2: ‚What are the typical problems you are facing with in teaching listening with the textbook at ‚Before you listen‛ stage, ‚While you listen‛ stage and ‚After you listen‛ stage? + Question ‚Among these difficulties, what is the most difficulty you often meet when teaching listening with the text book?‛ + Question 4: ‚What have you been doing to overcome these difficulties and motivate your students in listening lesson?‛ + Question 5: ‚In general, according to your opinion, what is your students’ attitude toward listening lesson? APPENDIX CLASSROOM OBSERVATION Class: 10A4 Teacher: Mr Ngoc Stage I Warm-up Time Teacher’s activities mins Good afternoon! Sit down please - Asks Ss questions: Which word can be derived from the word ‚photo‛? Do you know the meaning of these words? Students’ activities Good afternoon - Listen to T’s questions and answer them by working in groups - Photographer - Photographic - Photography - Photogenic - Say the meaning of the words Photographer: thợ ả nh Photographic: Photography Photogenic: Ă n ả nh Photographic: Thuộ c nghệ thuậ t chụ p ả nh Photography: Nhiế p ả nh - Leads to the lesson 40 II Presentation 10 Before you listen * Activity - Asks Ss to work in pairs, fill in the blankets with suitable words - Calls one student go to the BB and give answer for activity - Work in pairs, guess the meaning of the given words, then fill in the blankets - Ss change idea with other pairs before giving report Photographic Photography Photographer Photograph Photogenic * Activity Listen & repeat - Writes down all the pronunciation of the words on the BB and asks Ss to read after - Explains the meaning of some words Stimulate: Khuyế n khích Passion: Niề m đam mê - Take note on their notebooks and read after T Surroundings Sorrow Passion Laborer Deaf Mute Exhibition Stimulate - S1: Disadvantaged class S2: The exhibition of disadvantaged students - Asks Ss to guess the content of the listening lesson through new words While you listen * Task 20 10 - ‚You will hear a passage about a Photography club While you are hearing, take note all important information to help you decide these statements are T or F.‛ - Asks Ss to read through all the statements to have general idea before listening - Goes round to control and gives help - Listen to the instruction of T - Read through all the statements and they can work with a partner to have deep understanding about all the statements and then guess T or F before listening - Listen to the tape silently and task - Take note some evidences for the answers while listening - Exchange result - Plays the tape twice - Asks Ss to take note some important evidences and exchange result with his partner T F T F T - Listen and check - Asks Ss to give evidences for each of the answers ‚Say each sentence is T or F and why?‛ * Task 10 - Plays the tape one more time to check the result ‚You will hear the passage again, then choose the best word to fill in each blanket.‛ - Asks Ss to guess the type of the missing words so that they can easily choose the suitable one while listening - Play the tape once - Asks Ss to listen - Asks Ss to exchanges answers - Listen to T’s instruction - Work in pairs, exchange idea about the type of words must be filled in the blankets - Try to give answers before listening - Listen and fill in the blankets with suitable words After that, Ss exchange answers Photographic 19 exhibition 50 beauty simple peaceful chickens stimulate 10 escape - Look at the questions and answer them After you listen 10 - Calls two Ss to go to the BB and write down the answers - Corrects the answers - Writes down some questions on the BB and asks Ss to answer them Who are the members of the club? They are disadvantaged children They are holding a picture exhibition 50 pictures What are they doing in Hanoi? How many photographs are on display? Homework (3’): - Ask Ss to review all the listening lesson - Ask Ss write a short paragraph to summary the listening content APPENDIX CLASSROOM OBSERVATION Class 10A7 Teacher: Ms Duong Stage I Warmup Teacher’s activities - Good afternoon - How are you today? - Look at the pictures on your books page 16 and answer my questions: ‚What is the man job?‛ Students’ activities - Good afternoon - I am fine - One student: He is a worker Another student: He is a riding a cyclo Yes ‚Is it a hard job?‛ II Presentatio n Prelistening - Asks Ss to look at ‚Before you listen‛ on page 16, work in pairs, ask and answer questions - Calls pair to stand up and tell in front of the class - Asks other Ss to stop discussing and listening to pair-report * Listen and repeat - Plays the tape one - Asks Ss to listen to the tape, look at the ‚Listen and repeat‛ - Look at page 16 - Work in pairs, ask and answer question * Pair - report: - S1: Have you ever traveled by cyclo? - S2: Yes, I have (No, I haven’t) - S1: When was it? - S2: When I was in Hue - S1: Is it interesting to travel by cyclo? - S2: Yes, it is (No, it isn’t) - S1: Which you prefer, going by bike or by cyclo? Give your reasons? - S2: I prefer going by… because… - Look at the book and listen to the tape - Plays the tape one more with pause and asks Ss to repeat the sound that they heard ‚Repeat the sound, please‛ - Give meaning of some words Routine: lị ch trình Pedal: Pê đan Purchase: Mua bán Whilelistening * Task - Listen again and repeat the sound loudly - Introduce the situation: Mr Lam is a cyclo driver He will talk about his morning activities - Asks Ss to work in groups of Arrange the pictures in an order that they think it is suitable - Take note - Group-report - Work in groups, arrange the pictures - Asks Ss to listen to the tape and arrange the pictures in order that they will hear - Plays the tape once - Checks Ss’ answer - Plays the tape again with pause to check - Listen to T’s introduction - Group-report G1: e-f-a-b-c-d G2: e-f-a-c-b-d - Look at the pictures, listen to the tape and put number for each picture following the order that they will hear - Put number for pictures (Give explanation if T asks) - Check answer a b c d e f - Asks Ss to read through task * Task - Plays the tape once - Read through task 2, prepare to listen to the tape one more time and decide whether these statements are T or F - Calls two Ss go to the BB and write down their answers - Check the answer (Asks Ss to give evidences for each answer - Listen and the task - Exchange answer with other Ss - Write down the answers - Check answer and give evidences - Plays the tape one more time if necessary - Asks Ss to work in pairs, using give words to make questions and answers about Mr Lam’s activities Postlistening - Goes round and control Ss’ activities - Asks Ss to base on the questions and answers to retell a story about one day of Mr Lam F T F F F F - Work in pairs, making questions and answers What is the cyclo driver’s name? His name is Lam What time does he start his work? He starts his work at a.m What time does he have his lunch? - Retell the story III Homework Learn new words by heart Do E1, 2, (page 7) - Do homework ... for listening 3.3 The current situation of teaching the textbook at Tay Ho high school 3.3.1 Introduction of Tay Ho high school and its students Tay Ho high school is located at Phu Thuong precinct,... teachers and students of grade 10 (at Tay Ho high school) in teaching and learning listening, it is necessary to answer the following questions: What is the reality of teaching and learning listening. .. textbook at Tay Ho high school 3.3.1 Introduction of Tay Ho high school and its students 3.3.2 English teachers and teaching methods 3.3.3 Teaching facilities 3.3.4 Time allocation for a listening period