(Luận văn thạc sĩ) the difficulties of non major of english at haiphong foreign language center–haiphong university in learning listening skill and some suggested solutions

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THỊ PHƯỢNG THE DIFFICULTIES OF NON - MAJOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH AT HAIPHONG FOREIGN LANGUAGE CENTER - HAIPHONG UNIVERSITY IN LEARNING LISTENING SKILL AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN ANH TẠI TRUNG TÂM NGOẠI NGỮ - ĐẠI HỌC HẢI PHÕNG TRONG VIỆC HỌC KỸ NĂNG NGHE VÀ MỘT SỐ GIẢI PHÁP ĐỀ XUẤT M.A.MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HANOI - 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THỊ PHƯỢNG THE DIFFICULTIES OF NON - MAJOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH AT HAIPHONG FOREIGN LANGUAGE CENTER - HAIPHONG UNIVERSITY IN LEARNING LISTENING SKILL AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS NHỮNG KHĨ KHĂN CỦA SINH VIÊN KHƠNG CHUN ANH TẠI TRUNG TÂM NGOẠI NGỮ - ĐẠI HỌC HẢI PHÕNG TRONG VIỆC HỌC KỸ NĂNG NGHE VÀ MỘT SỐ GIẢI PHÁP ĐỀ XUẤT M.A.MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân HANOI - 2014 DECLARATION Honestly, the thesis has been resulted from my own research Therefore, all the statistic given must be reliable Moreover, all the reference information was quoted or summarized with the clear original sources which have been shown in the references part I truthfully assure that the thesis has been completed by myself Hanoi, 2014 Phạm Thị Phượng i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to send my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân, who guided me throughout the accomplishment of this research If it had not been for his kind guidance, insightful comments and valuable support, my thesis would not have been completed I also owe my gratitude to my family, who has always been very supportive with my study In addition, I am grateful to all my colleagues and students at Haiphong Foreign Language Center, who have encouraged me and shared me useful information Their cooperation helped me a lot to finish the thesis Personally, I highly appreciate all the assistance I am greatly interested in this study as it is of great help for me However, I am responsible for any remaining mistakes and short comings that are found in this work ii ABSTRACT Listening skill is one of the most neccessary skills to communicate in the real life In learning a foreign language, it is more and more important to learn this skill In fact, students often take the wrong way when listening and this leads them to the poor result Realizing the problems from teaching experiences, the author would like to a research titled “The difficulties of non-major students of English at Haiphong Foreign Language Center-Haiphong University in learning listening skill and some suggested solutions This study is an investigation into the problems experienced by non-major students of English at Haiphong Foreign Language Center-Haiphong University in learning listening skill The subjects of the study were 75 non-English major students and teachers at Haiphong Foreign Language Center (HFLC)-Haiphong University The data were collected through the questionnaires from students, and the interviews from the teachers The results of the research will point out the difficulties that learners meet when they learn the listening skill at HFLC More importantly, it helps the author find out the causes of those difficulties so that she can work out the right solutions to the problems With the hope of improving learners‟ listening competence, the author has tried her best to this thesis by her own experiences and knowledge in English teaching methodology The findings of the research will reveal the difficulties that learners experience when they learn the listening skill at the center Some conclusions were drawn; recommendations were made, some limitations were pointed out and suggestions were offered iii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3.1: Purposes of learning English at HFLC Figure 3.2: Learners' time distribution in practicing four language skills Figure 3.3: Students‟ attitude toward listening skill Figure 3.4: Students‟ time allocation for self-study Figure 3.5: What the learners before and while listening Figure 3.6: Learners‟ assessment on the listening tasks in the textbook Figure 3.7: Learners‟ interest in different listening activities Figure 3.8: Learners‟ interest in extra listening activities Figure 3.9: The objective factors affecting learners' learning the listening skill Table 1: Problems from the listeners Table 2: Problems from the listening material Table 3: Problems from environment factors iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Table of Contents i Declaration iv Acknowledgements v Abstract vi List of Figures and Tables vii PART I:INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Aim of the study and research questions The Scope of the study The method of the study The organization of the study PART II:DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 What are listening and listening skill 1.1.1 Definitions 1.1.2 The importance of the listening skill 1.1.3 Potential difficulties in listening skill 1.1.3.1 Listening problems 1.1.3.2 Language problems CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 11 2.1 An overview of the current situations of teaching and learning the English listening skill at Haiphong Foreign Language Center 11 2.1.1 Introduction 11 v 2.1.2 Resources and materials 11 2.1.3 Teachers and Teaching methods .13 2.2 Data collection 13 2.2.1 Participants .14 2.2.2 Data collection instruments 14 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 15 3.1 Intended research contents 15 3.1.1 Purposes to learn English at HFLC 15 3.1.2 Students‟ attitude toward listening skill 16 3.1.3 Students‟ strategies in listening 18 3.1.4 Learners‟ assessment on the listening task in the text book .20 3.1.5 Problems experienced by learners in learning English listening skill 23 3.1.5.1 Problems from listeners 23 3.1.5.2 Problems from the listening materials 25 3.1.5.3 Problems from environment factors 27 3.2 Summary .30 3.3 Suggested solution improving the teaching of English listening skill to learners at Haiphong Foreign Language Center 32 3.3.1 Recommendations for teaching English listening skill for nonmajor students at HFLC 32 3.3.1.1 Improving teacher‟s classroom techniques 33 3.3.1.2 Training students to become active listeners 34 3.3.1.3 Developing the listening materials 36 3.3.1.3.1 Adapting and improving listening materials .36 vi 3.3.1.3.2 Choosing supplementary listening materials 37 3.3.1.4 Improving teaching facilities and resources 37 3.3.1.5 Other problematic areas 37 3.4 Summary .38 PART III: CONCLUSION 39 Recapitulation 39 Conclusions .39 Limitations of the study 40 Suggestions for further study 40 REFERENCES 41 APPENDICES I vii PART I INTRODUCTION Rationale Listening plays a significant role in daily communication No one can deny the importance of listening skill in foreign language learning because it takes much time and energy to make progress in this skill Listening plays an important role in communication It is said that of the total time spent on communicating, listening takes up 40-50% According to Devine (1982), listening is the primary means by which incoming ideas and information are taken in Being good at communicators in foreign languages especially in English is always a desire of all foreign language learners However, it requires them to speak and to listen well in which listening is considered the most challenging skill for every learner In fact, there are many factors affecting the learners in listening acquisition They may come from the listeners (their background knowledge, their interest or their motivation…), from the listening material or from the environment factors Consequently, it is very difficult for them to master this skill With thirteen-year experience of teaching English listening skill at Haiphong Foreign Language Center and from what I observed many classes at HFLC, it can be found that many students failed in practicing listening skill Some of the students complained that they were not confident with listening tasks so they could hardly understand the spoken messages Realizing the problem from teaching experiences, I have decided to carry out a study namely “The difficulties of non-major students of English at Haiphong Foreign Language Center-Haiphong University in learning listening skill and some suggested solutions” Aim of the study and research questions The aim of the study is to probe difficulties experienced by students at Haiphong Foreign Language Center (HFLC) in learning listening skill and to offer solutions to help students overcome these difficulties PART III CONCLUSION This part includes of four main sections The first section recaptures what has been done in the study The second section presents some conclusions of the results of the study, the third section points out some limitation of the study and the last one provides some suggestions for further studies Recapitulation Obviously, learning English listening skill is really difficult for learners It requires much effort from both teachers and learners The study was carried out with the aim of investigating the difficulties that the learners meet when they learn English listening skill at Haiphong Foreign Language Center And the main aims of the study were to identify the problems experienced by the students, to identify the reasons why they met those difficulties, and to offer solutions to improving students‟ listening skill Conclusions The data analysis and findings mentioned in the previous parts leads me to conclusions which relate to teaching and learning listening skill to learners At first, the theoretical background was provided and the description of material was presented To support more information for the study, the statistics collected from the students‟ questionnaires and teachers‟ interview were conducted Listening skill is always considered to be the most difficult of all four language skills Next, the reasons for difficulties in learning listening skills are pointed out The objective reasons are spoken language characteristics Others are the problems that come from learners and teachers‟ teaching methods Then, the study has synthesized the statistics collected from the survey, the interviews and the observation According to the learners‟ feedback, it was difficult for them to learn listening skill In fact, they did not spend time effectively on it In addition, there were many factors which hindered the learners‟ listening ability Based on difficulties identified from the research, the writer suggested some techniques to help learners in learning this skill The suggestions were given in the 39 order of the stages of teaching listening skill However, when teaching the learners, the teachers have to pay attention to their motivation and enhance them flexibly Limitations Teaching listening skill is always a problem for many teachers of English because of its importance and its difficulties In her own experiences as an English teacher at HFLC, the writer found that listening is important and teaching listening skill to students is really necessary In this thesis, the writer only studied the difficulties in learning English listening skill caused by both objective and subjective factors With regard to objective factors, the writer mainly looked at the difficulties from the spoken language characteristics and teaching equipment And subjective factors concerned the teacher‟s teaching methods and the learners‟ motivation and age Then, some suggested solutions were offered in order to help teachers and learners in the language center improve their English teaching and learning Suggestions for further study As has been shown, the topic about listening skill in English has a large scope for study because the problems and solutions for teaching and learning this difficult skill are really various On the other hand, the study of teaching and learning listening skill for learners is a vital duty in improving the quality of teaching and learning English in foreign language centers in general and at HFLC in particular Nevertheless, owing to the limitation of the author‟s knowledge and experiences in teaching this skill, the thesis cannot cover all the issues relating to the topic In fact, there are other difficulties students may have experienced which have not been mentioned in this thesis It is expected that other researchers will continue to explore this topic further and find more useful and realistic solutions to the teaching and learning of English listening skill 40 REFERENCES Anderson, A and Lynch, T (1988), Listening London: Oxford University Press Berman, M (2003) Listening strategy guide Dyed international InC Brown, H.D (2001), Teaching by principles: an interactive approach to language pedagogy Second Edition Essex: Longman Buck, Gary (2001) Assessing listening: Cambridge University Press Flowerdew J and Miller, L (1996) Students perceptions, problems and strategies in second language lecture comprehension RELC Journal (2) 60 – 80 Gardner, R (1985), Social psychology and second language learning The role of attitudes and motivation London: Edward Arnold Goh.C (1997) Metacognitive awareness and second language learners ELT Journal 51 (4), 361-9 Hassan, A (2000) Learners’ perception of listening comprehension problems Language, Culture and Curriculum, 13, 13-153 Hedge, T (2000) Teaching and Learning in the language classroom Oxford University Press 10 Higgin, JMD (1995) Facilitating listening in second language classrooms through the manipulation of temporal variables Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Kent at Canterbury 11 Howatt, A and J Dakin (1974), Language laboratory materials, ed J P B Allen, S P B Allen, and S P Corder 12 Nation, I.S.P (1990), Language teaching techniques Victoria University of Wellington English Language Institute 13 Nord, J.R (1980), Developing listening fluency before speaking: An alternative paradigm, System 14 Nunan, D (1991), Language Teaching Methodology - A Textbook for Teachers New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regents 15 Rost, M (1994) Listening, London: Longman 16 Trask, R.L (2007), Language and Linguistics-The key concepts Second edition 17 Underwood, M (1989), Teaching Listening London: Longman 41 18 Wenden, A (1986) What second language learners know about their language learning A second look at retrospective account Applied linguistics (2) 186205 19 Wolvin, W, and Coakley.(1991) A survey of the status of listening training in some fortune 500 Corporation Communication Education 20 Yagang, f (1994) Listening: Problems and solutions In T Kral (ed) teacher development Making the right moves Washington DC English Language Program Division USIA Websites: http://www.academicinnovations.com/report.html#listen http://www.anglais.edunet.tn/tutorials/elt_train/pdf/teachinglistening.pdf http://www.differencebetween.net/science/nature/difference-between-listening-andhearing http://www.ehow.com http://www.esl.about.com/od/englishlistening/a/listen_tips.htm http://www/nclrc.org/essentials/listening 42 Appendix Questionnaires for learners (in English and in Vietnamese) In English This questionnaire is designed for my research into difficulties in learning English listening skill for non-major English students at Haiphong Foreign Language Center Haiphong University Your assistance in completing the survey is appreciated All the information provided by you is solely for the study purpose, and you can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data QUESTIONNAIRE (FOR LEARNERS) You attend this English course because you want a To apply for a job b To meet your work requirement c To improve English at school d Other: …………………………………………………………… Which skill you spend the most time in learning English? a Listening b Speaking c Reading d Writing Is listening the most difficult for you? a Strongly agree b Agree c Neutral d Disagree e Strongly disagree How often you self - study listening at home? a Never b Rarely c Sometimes d Often What you before listening? I a Go through the questions and guess the topic is about b Are often pre-taught some related new words c Guess the content of the listening d Do nothing just be ready to listen e Read the task instruction What you while you are listening for the first time? a Listen to word by word b Listen to the detail information c Focus on the new words d Other: ……………………………………………………………………… What you think about listening tasks given in the text book New English File-Pre intermediate by (Clive Oxenden, Christina Latham - Koenig, Paul Seligson) a Too difficult b Difficult c Appropriate d Easy What listening activities you like best? a True/ False b Complete the missing word c Choose the correct answer d Answer comprehension questions e Other: ……………………………………………………………………… What kinds of listening text you want to practice more? a Songs b Films or stories c News, speeches d Dialogues e Other : II 10 How often you encounter the following problems? Problems experienced by learners in learning Always Often Some English listening skills Never times You have to predict what the speaker talk about You have to guess unknown words while listening You have problems with various and unfamiliar accents You have problems with lacking of background knowledge The speech rate of native speakers is too fast You have problems in recognizing main points It‟s difficult for you to understand when native speakers produce spontaneous connected speech Stress and intonation make you feel hard to understand the message intended You feel stressful and nervous while you are listening You have hearing problems Environmental factors (noise, poor tape quality) prevent you from listening 11 Which of the following factors affect your learning listening skill at Haiphong foreign language center – Haiphong University? (tick off on the case you choose) a Teaching method:  good  OK  bad  too small b Classroom:  large  large enough c Curriculum:  update out of date d Number of learners in each class:  too crowded  OK d Other: …………………………………………………………… III  too few Tiếng Việt CÂU HỎI KHẢO SÁT (Dành cho học viên) Các em học viên thân mến, Những câu hỏi khảo sát nhằm mục đích thu thập thông tin để nghiên cứu thực trạng dạy học nghe sinh viên không chuyên Anh nhằm phục vụ cho đề tài nghiên cứu "Nghiên cứu khó khăn việc học kỹ nghe tiếng Anh sinh viên không chuyên Anh Trung tâm ngoại ngữ - Đại hoc Hải Phòng vài giải pháp gợi ý" Người thực nghiên cứu mong nhận hợp tác giúp đỡ bạn học viên cách trả lời câu hỏi sau cách thành thật đầy đủ Lý em tham gia khóa học tiếng Anh này: a Để xin việc b Để đáp ứng yêu cầu công việc c Để củng cố kiến thức trường d Ý kiến khác: Em dành thời gian nhiều cho việc luyện kỹ học tiếng Anh? a Nghe b Nói c Đọc d Viết Trong kỹ nghe, nói, đọc viết, nghe có phải kỹ khó em khơng? a Hồn tồn đồng ý b Đồng ý c Bình thường tồn khơng đồng ý Em có thường tự luyện nghe nhà không? a Không b Hiếm c Thỉnh thoảng d Thường xuyên Em thường làm trước nghe a Đọc qua đoán chủ đề nghe IV d Khơng đồng ý e Hồn b Thường dạy số từ có liên quan đến chủ đề nghe c Đoán nội dung nghe d Khơng làm tập trung nghe e Đọc dẫn nghe Em thường làm lần nghe đầu tiên? a Cố gắng nghe từ b Nghe thông tin chi tiết c Tập trung nghe từ d: Ý kiến khác: ………………………………………………………………… Em nghĩ nghe giáo trình New English File (Clive Oxenden, Christina Latham - Koenig, Paul Seligson) a Quá khó b Khó c Hợp lý d Dễ Em thích dạng hoạt động luyện nghe sau nhất? a Điền đúng/ sai b Điền từ thiếu c Chọn đáp án d Trả lời câu hỏi e Ý kiến khác: …………………………………………………………………… Em muốn giáo viên cho luyện nghe thêm dạng nghe nào? a Bài hát b Đoạn phim, câu chuyện c Bản tin, thuyết trình d Đoạn hội thoại e Ý kiến khác: e Ý kiến khác: V 10 Em có thường gặp phải vấn đề sau luyện kỹ nghe không? Những ván đề học viên gặp phải Thường Luôn Thỉnh Không học kỹ nghe nghe xuyên thoảng Em phải đốn người nói định nói Em phải đốn nghĩa từ chưa biết nghe Em gặp khó khăn phải nghe nhiều kiểu giọng nói đĩa Em gặp khó khăn thiếu kiến thức nghe Tốc độ nói người nói tiếng Anh ngữ nhanh với em Em gặp khó khăn việc phát ý nghe Em cảm thấy khó hiểu người ngữ nói câu nói kết nối dài Trọng âm ngữ điệu tiếng Anh gây khó khăn cho em việc hiểu thông điệp nghe Em cảm thấy căng thẳng hồi hộp nghe Em có khó khăn nghe Các yếu tố mơi trường (tiếng ồn, chất lượng băng/đĩa tồi) làm em nghe không 11 Những yếu tố ảnh hưởng đến việc học kỹ nghe em Trung tâm ngoại ngữ - Đại học Hải Phòng (đánh dấu  vào phương án em chọn) a Phương pháp dạy:  tốt  trung bình  b Phịng học:  q rộng  đủ rộng  nhỏ VI c Chương trình học:  cập nhật  lỗi thời d Số lượng học viên lớp:  đông  vừa phải  e Ý kiến khác: VII Appendix QUESTIONS TO INTERVIEW TEACHERS What are the difficulties that you face when teaching listening skill at Haiphong Foreign Language Center - Haiphong University? - Material-related problems (content of listening texts, listening tasks etc.)? - Listeners-related problems (background knowledge, motivation, etc.)? - Other types of problems (noise, poor-quality equipment, etc.)? How you teach a listening lesson to your students? - What you before listening? - Do you ask students to take notes when listening? - How many times you let your students listen to a listening text? - What kinds of material you use to facilitate and motivate your students‟ listening? - After listening, you let students role play or translate the listening text into mother tongue? In your opinion, what should you to help the students improve their listening? Do you have any suggestions to enhance your students‟ listening competence? VIII Appendix A sample of listening lesson plan When teaching the listening lesson 3A in the textbook New English File, the author suggests a lesson plan as follows Unit Lesson 3A: Modern manners - Listening (page 39) Teaching aids: - Textbook “New English File” - CD and CD player, laptop and projector Contents Pre-listening Put the sentences into the correct column: good manners or bad manners - Pay for a woman on the first date - Wait for a woman to go through the door first - Make sure a woman gets home safely at night - Always stop at pedestrian crossing -Take a present if you‟re invited to dinner at someone‟s house - Call older people by their first name - Let your children run around and be noisy - Be very affectionate to your partner - Talk on your mobile - Hoot at someone who is driving slowly - Drive with the window down and your music playing - Arrive more than 10 minutes late for a lunch or dinner - Smoke in a house where the owner don‟t smoke IX Good manners Bad manners - Use more formal language when - Call older people by their first name speaking to an older person - Let your children run around and be - Pay for a woman on the first date noisy - Wait for a woman to go through the - Be very affectionate to your partner door first - Talk on your mobile - Make sure a woman gets home safely - Hoot at someone who is driving slowly at night - Drive with the window down and your - Always stop at pedestrian crossing music playing -Take a present if you‟re invited to - Arrive more than 10 minutes late for a dinner at someone‟s house lunch or dinner - Smoke in a house where the owner don‟t smoke While - listening III Listen to four people who have lived in England answering the question ‘Are English people too polite?’ Fill a missing word La’szlo’: Well, I think (1)………… yes English people can be so polite that you don‟t really (2)……………… them For example, I (3)………….to London with some other teachers from Hungary to a (4)…………….course for teachers of English It was a (5)…………… course for foreign teachers During the course the tutors, the people who were (6)……………us, talk to us a lot about our (7)…………….and we thought we were doing really well So we were very (8)……………when some of us failed the course What had happened was that we didn‟t realize we were doing things (9)………… I think that‟s typically English I think sometimes they need to (10)……………what they think, to be more direct Paula: I think English people are so polite that it (11)………….us Latin people think that they are old I mean we‟re very (12)…………and extrovert and so when they are (13)………….and polite we think that they don‟t like us, that they‟re being (14)………… So maybe yes, they can be too polite I think they need to (15)………… more X Melik: I think English people are very polite, but I don‟t think they are too polite – I (16)……… I don‟t think it‟s a bad thing I think it‟s a good thing In my job, I have (17)…………a lot of English people and I think they‟re much more polite than we‟re, both in the (18)…………they talk and so in the way they (19)…………other people‟s opinion And their manner in general are much better OK, this isn‟t true about all English people The (19)……………hooligans and some of the (20)………… that come here to Turkey and drink too much - they are not polite - but the majority are I like it Renata: Well, I went to London a few year ago and one day, surprise, it was (21)………… and I was (22)………….along the street and everybody had an umbrella and every time someone went past me they hit me with their (23)……………and then said „ Oh, sorry‟ or „I‟m awfully sorry‟ or „I‟m terribly sorry‟ and after the tenth times this happened I just said to the (24)………….who hit me „Please stop saying sorry and just be more (25)…………… ‟ So in answer to your question, I don‟t think English people are too polite They say „sorry‟ and „thank you‟ a lot, but it doesn‟t really mean anything II Listen again and answer the questions Why was La‟szlo‟ and his friends in London? Did he and his friends think they were going to pass or fail? Why? What happened in the end? What Latin people think when the English people are polite? How does Paula discribe Latin people? What does Melikthink about the English people he has met in his job? What kind of English people does he say aren‟t polite? What happen to Renata when she was in London? Post - listening Topic to discuss: Good manner ? Bad manner ? XI ... habits in learning the listening skill and work hard The most common thing is that all of them must be aware of the importance of listening as well as learning the listening skill At this point, the. .. analyze the results of the survey and the interviews in order to find out the current state of learning listening skill at HFLC Chapter offers some solutions to improve learning English listening skill. .. ? ?The difficulties of non- major students of English at Haiphong Foreign Language Center -Haiphong University in learning listening skill and some suggested solutions This study is an investigation