An exploratory study on the use of information technology in teaching english listening skills at huong son high school

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY NGUYEN TIEN DUNG AN EXLORATORY STUDY ON THE USE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN TEACHING LISTENING SKILLS AT HUONG SON HIGH SCHOOL MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION Nghe An, 2017 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY NGUYEN TIEN DUNG AN EXLORATORY STUDY ON THE USE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN TEACHING LISTENING SKILLS AT HUONG SON HIGH SCHOOL Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Code: 60140111 MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION SUPERVISOR: Tran Ba Tien, Ph.D Nghe An, 2017 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby certify that this thesis entitled “An exploratory study on the use of information technology in teaching English listening skills at Huong Son high school” is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts at Vinh University No material in this thesis has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university and neither does this thesis use and contain previously published material or written by another person Author Nguyen Tien Dung i ACKOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Dr Tran Ba Tien, my supervisor, for his invaluable guidance, comments, correction, and most of all his kind encouragement throughout the work I also would like to express my sincere thanks to teachers of Foreign Language Department for their kind encouragement and suggestions I am appreciative of all my teachers and my students at Huong Son High School where I have gathered information for my study Without their help, this study could not have been successful I am indebted to my family members whose support and encouragements greatly contributed to the completion of my study Vinh, July 2017 Nguyen Tien Dung ii ABSTRACT Information Technology (IT) is an important element in the education scenario in order to prepare the citizens for the future The quality of teaching is often related to the use of IT in teaching and learning Hence, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has implemented various programs to promote the use of IT pin teaching and learning The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the use of IT in teaching English listening skills at Huong Son high school To achieve the aims, in this study the researcher used qualitative and quantitative research method, including the use of survey questionnaires and interview The study was conducted with ten teachers and two hundred students at Huong Son high school, Huong Son district, Ha Tinh province, Vietnam The data from survey questionnaires, information collected from interviews was discussed and interpreted statistically The findings reveal that although teachers were quite positive attitudes about IT integration, there were several challenges that were still holding them back from fully utilizing the ITs Issues such as inadequate infrastructure, lack of knowledge and skills on how to integrate IT tools, their own attitudes and beliefs, were challenges that the teachers seemed to point out as major impediments to the smooth integration of IT Considering the data gathered, it is hoped that this thesis will be useful for teachers in using IT in teaching English listening skills at Huong Son high school in particular and at other high schools in general iii LIST OF TABLE AND CHART Table 1: Distribution of respondents by gender Table 2: Distribution of respondents by age Table 3: Distribution of respondents by teaching experiences Table 4: The degree held by the participants Table 5: IT Ownership Table & Chart 1: Teachers’ and students’ attitude towards using IT in listening lessons Table & Chart 2: Teachers’ Internet skill Table & Chart 3: Teachers' frequency in using IT in their teaching Table 9: Administrators’ frequency in encouraging teachers to use IT Table 10: Colleagues’ frequency in appreciating the value of using IT Table 11: Teachers’ frequency in using computers to design English listening lessons Table 12: The utilized IT devices Table 13 & Chart 4: Teachers’ and students’ assessment on the effectiveness of your English listening lessons with the help of IT Table 14 & Chart 5: Teachers’ and students’ perception towards the importance of using IT in teaching listening skill Table 15: Teachers’ and students’ perceptions toward the benefits of using IT in teaching English listening skill Table 16: Difficulties confronted by the teachers in using IT in their teaching Table 17: Difficulties confronted by the students in learning listening skill with technology Table 18: Teachers’ suggestions to enhance the effectiveness of using computers in teaching listening skill iv APPENDICES Appendix A: Teacher questionnaire Appendix B: Student questionnaire Appendix C: Teacher interview Appendix D: Student interview v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS IT : Information Technology CALL : Computer Assisted Language Learning EFL : English as Foreign Language CLT : Communicative Language Teaching ALM : Audio Lingual Method TPR : Total Physical Response vi TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i AKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF TABLE & CHART iv APPENDICES v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi TABLE OF CONTENTS vii Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Method of the study 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Significance of the study Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Foreign Language Teaching 2.2 Information technology 10 2.2.1 Definition 10 2.2.2 Kind of technology available to language learning and teaching 10 2.2.3 Technology in language teaching and learning 11 2.2.4 The use of using IT in teaching and learning English listening skill 13 2.3 CALL 14 2.3.1 Behavioristic CALL 15 2.3.2 Communicative CALL 16 2.3.3 Integrative CALL 17 2.3.4 Uses of CALL to teach listening skill 18 2.4 Listening skill 18 2.4.1 Listening and hearing 18 vii 2.4.2 Definitions of listening 19 2.4.3 Listening skill 20 2.4.4 The process of listening 21 2.4.5 Types of listening 23 2.4.5.1 Extensive and intensive listening 23 2.4.5.2 Discriminative listening 25 2.4.5.3 Informative listening 25 2.4.5.4 Relationship listening 25 2.4.5.5 Appreciative listening 26 2.4.5.6 Critical listening 26 2.4.6 Strategies for Developing Listening Skills 27 2.4.6.1 Top-down strategies 27 2.4.6.2 Bottom-up strategies 27 2.4.6.3 Listening for Meaning 28 2.4.7 Stages in listening tasks 28 2.4.7.1 The pre-listening stage 28 2.4.7.2 The while-listening stage 29 2.4.7.3 The post-listening stage 30 Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 The setting of the study 31 3.1.1 IT in FL education at Huong Son high school 31 3.1.2 The teaching EFL at Huong Son high school 32 3.2 Research methods 32 3.2.1 Participants of the study 33 3.2.2 Measurement instruments 33 3.2.2.1 Survey questionnaire 34 3.2.2.2 Interview 34 3.3 Procedure 35 viii these problems will be considered in the future researches in the field Therefore, many suggestions are given to increase the effectiveness of using IT in teaching English listening skill at Huong Son high school The teachers and students listed some of suggestions to the groups of people in the survey questionnaires To the administrators, the teachers suggested that they should provide more IT tools, build more labs and projector rooms, pay more attention to the content of the lessons encourage teachers to use computer more often and provide teachers with training courses about using IT in English listening teaching To the teachers, they should focus more on the content of lessons not for presenting slides, give students time to copy the important slides, use computer more often, get used to using IT in teaching English as a daily routine, try to draw students' attention when using IT in teaching English, use suitable teaching aids and play the role of an organizer in teaching computer-assisted lessons Teachers should become confident in using information technical facilities for creating and using IT lesson plans in listening teaching To the students, they suggested that they should copy the important information on the slides and consider the computer as a mean of supporting learning not for entertainment, pay more attention to the content of the lesson, apply the benefits of the Internet to develop skills and prepare for the coming lesson well It is hoped that the teachers and students at Huong Son high school can realize the status of using IT to teach English and these suggestions above can help them advance the effectiveness of computer-assisted EFL We also hope that the study might be benefit for both students and teachers at Huong Son high school in teaching and learning English The results of the study lay foundation for further research in a wider range of population and varying English skill The study is hoped to increase the interest of the use of new IT tools in English teachers for better quality of education in Vietnam 5.2 Implications The findings of the study implicate that: 71 The findings of the study imply that IT can serve as an effective tool to help teachers to teach English listening skill better However, technology is merely a tool, not a method, so it should be used to serve the purpose of teaching and learning - Although the importance of using IT in teaching English listening skill has acknowledged, the current situation of using this method in English listening skill teaching at Huong Son high school is still not really effective as expected The teachers need to have an official IT training so that they can have a good ability in using IT tools to apply them to promote the quality of the lessons - The administrators also play a very significant role in ensuring the success of English listening lessons with the help of IT They need to know how teachers use IT in their teaching By knowing this, they will then know what needs to be done in order to better support teachers in their English teaching - Using IT in English listening teaching still faces many difficulties, although it was assessed by the students and the teachers to be quite effective It is necessary to be paid much more attention and to be put more effort into by administrators, teachers and students to find the most appropriate methods and IT tools to enhance the effectiveness of using IT in teaching English 5.3 Limitations of the study Limitations are inevitable in most studies so this study presented in this thesis is of no exception - Due to the limitation of time, the researcher could only investigate the use of using IT in teaching English listening skill but not others English skills in particular such as reading, writing, speaking - This study involved a small number of English teachers in a high school Results not necessarily to using IT in teaching at all of the schools Some findings may be useful for future research or as a starting point for planning using IT in teaching English at other schools 72 5.4 Suggestions for further research The findings and limitations of the study indicate some suggestions for further research - The study considered the use of IT in teaching English listening skill at Huong Son high school only The future research which looks at respondents at different high schools with a bigger sample would be helpful - The present research aims at investigating the use of IT in teaching English listening only, future studies should investigate the use of IT in teaching the other English skills such as speaking, writing, reading skill or grammar in order to deeply evaluate the effectiveness of the approach for each skill of English - The present research aims at investigating the teachers' use of IT in teaching English listening skill, future studies should investigate more about students' use of IT in learning English as well - The future studies should investigate the effectiveness of each IT tool to the teachers’ lesson such as the effectiveness of using PowerPoint or language software in teaching English Although this study has made some contribution, the topic needs 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Please tick  or complete the spaces where appropriate For questions 6, 7, 10, and 11 you may choose more than one option Your gender: Male Female How long have you been teaching English? years Do you have a computer or smart phone with internet access at home? Yes No How long have you been using computers? _ year(s) Do you like using information technology in teaching English listening skills? Yes No How you rate your internet/IT skills? Very good Good Normal Bad How often you use computers in English listening lessons? Frequently Sometimes Seldom 78 Never How often does your principal encourage you to use information technology in teaching English listening skills? Frequently Sometimes Seldom Never How often your colleagues appreciate the value of using information technology in your teaching English listening skills? Frequently Sometimes Seldom Never Which stages you use computers to design English listening lessons? Pre-listening While-listening Post-listening Which tools you usually use to assist your English teaching? Overhead projectors Internet PowerPoint projector Language labs CD/DVD player/ Cassette player Microsoft Office TV Language teaching/learning software Others? In your opinion, the use of information technology in teaching English listening skill is Very important Important Unimportant Not important at all How can you assess the effectiveness of computers in assisting your English listening skill lessons compared with traditional teaching method? Very effectively Quite effectively Not very effectively Not effectively at all Effectively 10 What benefits you have when you use information technology in teaching English listening skill lessons? Making the lessons more interesting and attractive Making the lessons more diverse Making the teacher easier to control the lessons in the classroom Making students more active in 79 learning Helping the students understand the Drawing the students' attention in the lesson better lesson Others? 11 What are the obstacles of using information technology in your teaching English listening skill lessons? Taking a lot of time to prepare the lesson Wasting more time to operate computer Making the students noisier Making the students more neglectful of the lesson Lack of the care from the board of principal Lack of supporting facilities Lack of skill in using computer Lack of teacher training workshops Others? 12 Do you have any suggestions for the use of computers in teaching English to make the lessons more effective? To the administrators (or your school): To the teachers: To the students: 80 APPENDIX B CÂU HỎI KHẢO SÁT (Dành cho học sinh) Bản câu hỏi điều tra thiết kế cho nghiên cứu luận văn thạc sĩ việc ứng dụng công nghệ thông tin việc giảng dạy kỹ nghe hiểu Tiếng Anh trường THPT Hương Sơn Chúng cám ơn bạn hỗ trợ hoàn thành khảo sát Tất thông tin bạn cung cấp cho mục đích nghiên cứu chúng tơi cam kết bảo mật thông tin cá nhân Chân thành cảm ơn hợp tác giúp đỡ bạn! Giới tính: Nam Nữ Tuổi:…… Lớp:…… Bạn học Tiếng Anh bao lâu? …… năm Bạn sử dụng thiết bị, dụng cụ CNTT bao lâu? …… năm Bạn có sở hữu máy tính điện thoại thơng minh khơng? Điện thoại thơng minh: Máy tính: Có Khơng Có Khơng Bạn đánh dấu vào phương án mà bạn lựa chọn Đối với câu hỏi 5, 8, bạn đưa nhiều lựa chọn Bạn có thích học tiết học kỹ nghe Tiếng Anh có sử dụng trang thiết bị CNTT hỗ trợ khơng? Có Khơng Bạn đánh giá kỹ sử dụng máy tính Internet nào? Rất tốt Khá tốt Bình thường 81 Tồi Giáo viên bạn có thường ứng dụng CNTT vào tiết dạy kỹ nghe hiểu không? Thường xuyên Thỉnh thoảng Hiếm Không Bạn có thường sử dụng trang thiết bị CNTT vào việc học kỹ nghe hiểu không? Thường xuyên Thỉnh thoảng Hiếm Không Những thiết bị CNTT thường giáo viên bạn sử dụng tiết học kỹ nghe hiểu Tiếng Anh? Máy chiếu Mạng internet Máy chiếu power point Phòng máy học ngoại ngữ Đài nghe đĩa CD/DVD Phần mềm soạn thảo, trình chiếu văn Ti vi Phần mềm dạy/ học ngôn ngữ Thiết bị khác? Theo ý kiến bạn việc ứng dụng CNTT vào giảng dạy kỹ nghe hiểu có vai trị nào? Rất quan trọng Quan trọng Không quan trọng Không quan trọng chút Bạn đánh việc ứng dụng CNTT vào việc giảng dạy kỹ nghe hiểu Tiếng Anh so với phương pháp giảng dạy truyền thống? Rất hiệu Hiệu Hiệu Kém hiệu Theo bạn ứng dụng CNTT vào giảng dạy kỹ nghe hiểu tiếng anh có lợi ích gì? Giúp người học hiểu tốt Giúp người học giao tiếp tốt với giáo viên học Giúp người học giao tiếp, hợp tác làm việc tốt với bạn lớp 82 Hiệu tốt từ phản hồi nhanh chóng từ giáo viên nhờ có CNTT Giúp người học kiểm sốt tốt hoạt động học tập Giúp cho học trở nên thú vị Giúp người học hứng thú với học nghe hiểu Tiếng Anh Giúp người học cải thiện kỹ nghe hiểu thân Theo bạn trình dạy học kỹ nghe hiểu Tiếng Anh có ứng dụng CNTT gặp phải khó khăn gì? Nó địi hỏi tơi phải có nhiều kỹ sử dụng thiết bị CNTT, mạng Internet Lớp học trở nên xáo trộn, ồn thiếu tập trung Chi phí sử dụng thiết bị CNTT cao, đặc biệt sử dụng mạng Internet Rất khó để hoạt động nhóm bên lớp học Ý kiến khác: 10 Bạn nêu chiến lược, giải pháp để việc ứng dụng CNTT vào giảng dạy kỹ nghe hiểu Tiếng Anh đem lại hiệu tốt hơn? Đối với ban giám hiệu Đối với thầy cô Đối với học sinh 83 APPENDIX C INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS Why you not like use IT tools in your listening lessons? What are the major reasons limiting school teachers in using technology in their classrooms? What are your perspectives about using IT in teaching English listening skill at your school? What recommendations you have to improve English listening lessons at your school? 84 APPENDIX D CÂU HỎI PHỎNG VẤN CHO HỌC SINH Tại bạn lại khơng thích học tiết học kỹ nghe có ứng dụng thiết bị CNTT? Những lợi ích mà bạn có học tiết học kỹ nghe Tiếng Anh có sử dụng thiết bị CNTT gì? Bạn phải đối mặt với khó khăn học kỹ nghe Tiếng Anh có hỗ trợ CNTT? Bạn có muốn tiếp tục học tiết học nghe Tiếng Anh có hỗ trợ CNTT khơng? Vì sao? 85 ...MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY NGUYEN TIEN DUNG AN EXLORATORY STUDY ON THE USE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN TEACHING LISTENING SKILLS AT HUONG SON HIGH SCHOOL Major: Teaching. .. entitled ? ?An exploratory study on the use of information technology in teaching English listening skills at Huong Son high school? ?? is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts at. .. interested and motivated in learning English listening skill lessons 1.2 Aims of the study This study aims at studying the use of IT in teaching English listening skills at Huong Son high school