Developing listening skills through gap fill tasks for the first year non english major students

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES - NGÔ THỊ HÀ DEVELOPING LISTENING SKILLS THROUGH GAP-FILL TASKS FOR THE FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT (NGHIÊN CỨU NÂNG CAO KỸ NĂNG NGHE QUA HOẠT ĐỘNG NGHE ĐIỀN THƠNG TIN CỊN THIẾU CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT KHÔNG CHUYÊN ANH TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC TÀI NGUYÊN VÀ MÔI TRƯỜNG HÀ NỘI) M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 6014.0111 HANOI – 2013 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES - NGÔ THỊ HÀ DEVELOPING LISTENING SKILLS THROUGH GAP-FILL TASKS FOR THE FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT (NGHIÊN CỨU NÂNG CAO KỸ NĂNG NGHE QUA HOẠT ĐỘNG NGHE ĐIỀN THƠNG TIN CỊN THIẾU CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT KHÔNG CHUYÊN ANH TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC TÀI NGUYÊN VÀ MÔI TRƯỜNG HÀ NỘI) M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 6014.0111 SUPERVISOR: Prof Dr HOÀNG VĂN VÂN HANOI - 2013 DECLARATION I hereby declare that this thesis is the result of my own research and that the substance of the thesis has not, wholly or in part, been submitted for a degree to any other university or institution Hanoi, December, 2013 Ngô Thị Hà i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis has been accomplished with the help and encouragement of many people I would like to express my deep gratitude to all of them First and for most, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân His profound knowledge in both linguistics and language teaching methodology has been of great benefit to me Without his precious guidance, insightful comments and suggestions, and invaluable encouragement, my thesis might not have been finished I would also like to send my deep thanks to the staff of the Faculty of Post-graduate Studies for their help and to all the lecturers for their interesting lectures and supports, which are really useful for this research Besides, my special thanks should also be expressed to my colleagues and students at HUNRE Their cooperation brought great contribution to the success of my study Last but not least, my sincere thanks were sent to my family and my friends for their encouragement and moral supports Without them beside me, I might not have completed the research ii ABSTRACT This research was conducted with the purpose to investigate the effect of using gapfill tasks on developing students‟ listening skills The study was carried out in form of an action research The subjects of the study were 45 first-year non-English major students from class DH2K1 of Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Environment (HUNRE) Data were collected through talks with students and colleagues; document analysis (course books and results of the first semester); teaching and learning diaries, and pre and post tests The research was conducted during nine weeks Initial investigation of the study showed that almost students at HUNRE found listening challenging and many difficulties perceived by students were revealed Among those, the biggest problems were of the unsuitability between the listening tasks and students‟ level To better the situation, an action plan was made with focus on using gap-fill tasks to help students develop their listening skills The intervention was fairly successful in improving students‟ listening skills Their listening ability was upgraded and they also felt more interested in listening lessons Basing on the findings of the research, some conclusions were drawn out Recommendations, limitations and suggestions were also discussed It is hoped that the present study will be helpful for English teachers who share the same wish to help students solve their problems in learning listening skills at HUNRE Ngô Thị Hà iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS HUNRE: Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Environment L2: second language TESOL: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages GE: General English ESP: English for Specific Purpose NCE: New Cutting Edge MA: Master PhD: Doctor of Philosophy iv LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLE CHARTS Chart 1: Students‟ results of the first semester Chart 2: Results of the pre-test Chart 3: Results of the three meetings Chart 4: Students‟ comments about vocabulary of the recordings Chart 5: Students‟ comments about the grammar‟s difficulty of the recordings Chart 6: Students‟ comments about the length of the recordings Chart 7: Students‟ comments about the speed of the recordings Chart 8: Students‟ comments about the level of tasks‟ difficulty Chart 9: Students‟ comments about their accomplishment of the tasks Chart 10: Results of the post test Chart 11: Students‟ improvement through tests TABLES Table 1: List of topics conveyed in each module of the course books Table 2: List of listening tasks in each module of the course books v TABLE OF CONTENT Page Declaration i Acknowledgements .ii Abstract iii List of abbreviations iv List of Charts and Tables v Table of Content vi PART I: INTRODUCTION 1.Rationale of the study 2.Aims of the study 3.Research questions 4.Scope of the study 5.Methodology 6.Design of the study PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERARUTE REVIEW 1.1 Listening skills 1.1.1 Definitions of listening and listening comprehension 1.1.1.1 Listening 1.1.1.2 Listening comprehension 1.1.2 Listening skills in learning a foreign language 1.1.3 Difficulties in learning listening skills 1.1.4 Listening material 1.1.5 Listening tasks 11 1.1.5.1 Definition of task 11 1.1.5.2 Types of listening tasks 11 1.2 Gap-fill tasks 13 vi 1.2.1 Gap-fills tasks in learning listening skills 13 1.2.2 Types of gap-fill exercises or tests 14 1.3 Previous studies 17 CHAPTER II: THE METHODOLOGY 18 2.1 Context of the study 18 2.1.1 An overview of teaching and learning English at HUNRE 18 2.1.2 Facilities and learning condition 19 2.2 Course books analysis 20 2.3 The Participants 20 2.4 Data collecting instruments 21 2.4.1 Talks with colleagues and students 21 2.4.2 Pre-test 21 2.4.3 Learning diaries 21 2.4.4 Teaching diaries 22 2.4.5 Post-Test 22 2.5 The research procedure 22 2.5.1 Phase 1: Diagnosing 22 2.5.2 Phase 2: Action Planning 23 2.5.3 Phase 3: Taking Action 24 2.5.4 Phase 4: Evaluating 24 2.5.5 Phase 5: Specifying Learning 25 2.6 Summary 25 CHAPTER III: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 26 3.1 Diagnosing data 26 3.1.1 Analysis of the text book 26 3.1.2 Analysis of talks with colleagues 28 3.1.3 Analysis of talks with students 29 3.1.4 Analysis of the students‟ results of the first semester 30 3.1.5 Analysis of the pre-test 30 vii 3.1.6 Concluding remarks 31 3.2 Action planning 31 3.2.1 Meeting 32 3.2.2 Meeting 33 3.2.3 Meeting 33 3.3 Taking action phase 34 3.3.1 Results of the exercises in four meetings 34 3.3.2 Results of learning diaries 35 3.3.3 Results of teaching diaries 39 3.3.4 Results of post-test 40 3.4 Action research evaluation 40 3.4.1 Students‟ improvement through tests 40 3.4.2 Students‟ involvement in listening tasks 41 3.5 Major findings and discussions 41 3.5.1 Effect of gap-fill tasks on developing students‟ listening skills from perspective of the students 42 3.5.2 Effect of gap-fill tasks on developing students‟ listening skills from the perspective of the teacher 42 PART III: CONCLUSION 43 3.1 Recapitulation 43 3.2 Conclusion 44 3.3 Recommendations 44 3.4 Limitation of the study 45 3.5 Suggestions for further study 46 REFERENCES 47 APPENDICES I viii APPENDIX 3: NHẬT KÝ HỌC TẬP Bài: …………………… / Ngày học: …………………… I Những khó khăn em gặp phải học Lượng từ vựng nghe  Quá nhiều  Vừa phải  Khá  Bình thường  Dễ  Vừa phải  Khá ngắn  Vừa phải  Khá chậm Ngữ pháp nghe  Khó Độ dài nghe  Dài Tộc độ nghe  Nhanh Độ khó nhiệm vụ nghe  Khó  Bình thường  Dễ Mức độ hồn thành nhiệm vụ nghe  Hoàn thành hết II  Hồn thành số  Khơng hồn thành Hiệu học nhiệm vụ điền khuyết Mức độ tham gia em vào nhiệm vụ học  Tham gia đầy đủ  Tham gia số  Không tham gia Mức độ hứng thú em nhiệm vụ  Rất hứng thú  Bình thường  Khơng hứng thú Mức độ hài lòng em nhiệm vụ  Rất hài lòng  Hài lịng  Khơng hài lịng Em cho biết tính hiệu nhiệm vụ thân em  Rất hiệu  Hiệu III Đánh giá chung em học hôm XVI  Không hiệu …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… ……… XVII APPENDIX 4: TEACHING DIARY Unit: ………………… / Date: …………………… I Difficulties met by students in the lesson: Lexis of the recordings ………………………………………………………………………………… Grammar points in the recordings ………………………………………………………………………………… Length of the recordings: ………………………………………………………………………………… Speed of the recordings ………………………………………………………………………………… Tasks‟ difficulty: ………………………………………………………………………………… II Effectiveness of the gap-fill tasks and the lesson: Students‟ involvement in the tasks:  All students  Some students  A few students Students‟ interest in the tasks:  Interested  Normal  Uninterested Students‟ satisfaction with the tasks:  Satisfied  Not very satisfied  Unsatisfied  Quite effective  Ineffective Effectiveness of the lesson  Effective III General evaluation: …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …… XVIII …………………………………………………………………………………… … …………………………………………………………………………………… … XIX APPENDIX 5: PRE-TEST ENGLISH LISTENING TEST Time: 30 minutes Full Name: ………………………………………………… / Class: ………… Task I: Listen to Shona telling about her best friend and choose the best answer to complete the sentences about her talk You will listen three times Her best friend name is …………… A Nancy B Kristy C Julia D Sophie They know everything about each other because………… A they are the same age B they are in the same class C they grew up together D they live near each other When Shona has problems, her best friend often ………… A gives her advices C gives her money C goes out with her D comes to visit her Shona and her best friend now………… A live in the same town B live in different towns C work together D work for different companies Both of them are …………this summer A traveling abroad B changing their job C visiting their school D having a baby Task II: Listen to a short talk and choose one of the following words to complete the text (There are more words than needed) You will listen three times accurate average analyzing five working aware Study seeing important measure weather paid charts check significant I have always interested in environment When I was a child, I used to collect rain water in the garden and 1…………… how much it had rained I even used to make …………… of how much rain I had collected I doubt that my measurements were XX very 3……………, but I used to enjoy it I still measure rainfall However, nowadays I get 4…………… for it because I work as a meteorologist for an environmental organization I am responsible for 5…………… precipitation in the Dartmoor region of the United Kingdom I analyze 6…………… monthly rainfall and compare this to the previous year‟s rainfall I have been 7…………… an overall drop in average precipitation over the last 8…………… years Although the reduction is currently very slight, it is 9…………… and could lead to a serious drought over time I believe that people should be made 10…………… of this kind of environment change Task III: Listen to the conversation and fill in each gap with one suitable word You will listen three times A: Assistant C: Customer A: Can I help you? C: How much are these _? A: They are £ C: Have you got them in a size ? A: Just a minute Yes, here you are Size 3b C: Thank you Can I try them _? A: Yes, of course The changing rooms are _there C: Thank you Later… A: How are ? C: They‟re fine, thanks I‟ll _ them A: Do you want anything _? C: No, thanks A: That‟s £ _ then, please C: Here you are A: Thank you That‟s £ 2.50 10 _ C Thank you Good bye A: Good bye! XXI APPENDIX 6: POST-TEST ENGLISH LISTENING TEST Time: 30 minutes Full Name: ………………………………………………… / Class: ………… Task I: Listen to Micheal telling about his best friends and choose the best answer to complete the sentences about her talk You will listen three times His good friends‟ names are………… A Liam and Azam B Dave and Thomas C Dave and Azam D Liam and Thomas They become friends when they were……… A very small B at primary school C at high school D at university Micheal and his good friends now………… A live in the same city B live in different cities C work for the same company D work in the same city They meet each other………… A Once a week B Once a month C Once a year D everyday They often meet at………… A Dave‟s house B Azan‟s house C Micheal‟s house D a cafe Task II: Listen to a short talk and choose one of the following words to complete the text (There are more words than needed) You will listen three times an cities look names wanted school top peaceful bottom wonderful stars used Speak write university I have been teaching astronomy at a private 1…………… for almost 15 years I have always wanted to be an astronomer Astronomers 2…………… at the stars and planets through giant telescopes Even when I was a child, I 3…………… to go outside at the night to look at the stars I learned the 4…………… of the most important stars before I learned how to 5…………… The university where I work XXII as an astronomy teacher has a giant telescope It is inside an observatory at the …………… of a small mountain near my university Usually, I go there on the weekends and watch the 7…………… Observatories with telescopes need to be in very …………… dark places like mountains because the lights from the …………… can make the stars very hard to see I get such a 10…………… feeling when I look at the night sky Task III: Listen to the conversation and fill in each gap with one suitable word You will listen three times A: Assistant C: Customer A: Can I help you? C: How much is this _? A: It is £ C: Have you got them in a size? A: Just a minute Yes, here you are 3b C: Thank you _can I try it on? A: The changing rooms are over there, _ to the jeans C: Thank you Later… A: How is it? C: It‟s fine, thanks I‟ll _ it A: Do you want anything else? C: Yes, can I have this _? A: That‟s £ _ then, please C: Do you take _ cards? A: certainly, could you sign here, please? There you are That‟s your 10 _ C Thank you Good bye A: Good bye! XXIII APPENDIX 7: PREPARATION FOR MEETING MODULE 2: IMPORTANT FIRSTS I Pre-Listening Match the phrases with suitable pictures Pictures Phrases the first day at secondary school A went shopping with father had party with friends thought of a new house B felt nervous standing in a crowded room waving C she smiled back walking down the road 10 choosing different kinds of candy D Describe those pictures by your own words II While-Listening Listening to the recording for the first time and choose the pictures that illustrated the stories Gap-filling: a Listen and choose the given words in the box to complete the text Fine memory nervous Waved House outside walking Smiled secondary I particular remember my first day at (1) school…um… It is very clear in my memory … I was very very (2) in the morning…and my friend and I, went out of our (3) because we lived next door to each other, and we were (4) down the road, it was a Monday morning, um…in September…how long ago? 1990, it was…um…and my mother came XXIV (5) with me and she took out a video camera and filmed me as I walked down the road, and I turned round and (6) …um… I was very nervous but had a big (7) …um…I got to school and everything was (8) But recently she has shown me the video that she took and I was very embarrassing b Listen to the recording and fill in the gaps with one suitable word Well, one thing I‟ll never (1) is the first time I met the woman who became my (2) I was working in a ski resort in Yugoslavia and we had a get (3) for the staff I was shy, you know, I didn‟t like to go up and (4) people… It was a crowded room surrounded by a crowd of people I really wanted to go up and (5) her but I just couldn‟t – well, I felt strange… I didn‟t know what to so I just (6) there and then she happened to (7) around and so I smiled… that was all I could do, and she smiled back… and well… (8) years ago Ten years ago we got married III Post-Listening Look back the full-filled texts in part II and work in pair to discuss the following questions about each stories When and where did it happen? Who else in the stories? How did they feel? What happened in the end? XXV APPENDIX 8: PREPARATION FOR MEETING MODULE 3: AT REST, AT WORK I Pre-Listening Words Game: Complete these words ARC_ _ _EC_ JO_ _N_LI_T PSY_ _ _LO_ _ _T E_ _INE_R _CT_R D_C_OR L_ _Y_R D_ _V_R S_ _G_R _USI_ _AN F_R_ER _UR_E W_ _TE_ F_ _ _B_ _L_R _ _AC_ER Group work: Write down some common activities for these jobs Example: A singer: + vocalize (luyện thanh); + remember a lot of songs; + practice everyday; + travel a lot; + work in the evening; Group work: Write some characteristics that you need to have when doing these jobs Example: A singer: + have a good voice and sing well; + confident and outgoing; + hardworking; + good looking (maybe); II While Listening Listen to four people talking about themselves and complete the texts friends help high music interested 1Hi! My name is Morgan and I‟m from Australia…from a place called Brisbane I‟m still at _school I love all the usual things really…like _, going to the movies…but most of all I love people, I‟m really _ in people and making _ One day, er, my ambition is to something that can really _ people, I‟d like to study for that myself office work XXVI independent twenty 2Well, I‟m Luke I‟m from England…I‟m _ years old…yeah, money is quite important to me when it comes to _ Also, I‟d like to work for _ I…I don‟t want to work in an _, I‟m not into computers and that I like to be more _, I don‟t want to be in one place all the time… 3My name is Carmen and I come from Mexico I‟m at _ right now studying English and _…I want to meet people from all over _, that‟s why I study languages I like reading too…and _ people…I want to go to every continent, maybe learn some more _…maybe Chinese or something… 4Hi I‟m Jong I am _ years old, from Seoul in South Korea, and I am studying _ right now I am studying really hard and trying to _ my English… when I finish my studies, I hope I will get a good _ I want to maybe become a _ one day…I like to work hard, I‟m a very ambitious person Look back the full-filled texts above and discuss the possible jobs for those people Listen to each person talking about the job they want to in real life Compare with your guess III Post Listening Work in group, share your friends about your interest and the job you want to in the future XXVII APPENDIX 9: PREPARATION FOR MEETING MODULE 4: SPECIAL OCCASIONS I Pre-listening Label the photos using words or phrases in the box Red envelope Wine Biscuits New clothes Decorating house Special meal Presents Firework XXVIII Clock strike II While Listening Listen choose one word in the box to complete the passage ring comes evening door much ready luck warmth spending Scotland seven wait KAREN: Um…one of the most important days for me really is New Year, because New Year in _ is really very, very important…in fact, it‟s not so _ New Year‟s Day, the first of January, but it‟s the _ before, New Year‟s Eve… so on the thirty-first of December, at about _ o‟clock in the evening, the cleaning begin, and I remember when I was a child, my mother _ hours cleaning the house to make sure that everything would be special, and _ for the New Year… and then when it gets to twelve o‟clock, and the bells start to _, the first thing my mother does is go to open the _ to let the New Year in…and then everyone has something to drink and we _ for the first foot The first foot is the first person who 10 _ to your house in the New Year, and they are very, very special because they bring you 11 _ for the whole year, and the first foot has to bring three very important things They bring shortbread, which is a special kind of biscuits, they bring coal, for 12 _, and they bring something to drink… XXIX Listen and fill in the missing words in the passage JOHNNY: Chinese New Year is never on the _ day every year because we follow a special calendar which follows the _ So sometimes it‟s at the end of January and sometimes it‟s at the _ of February At Chinese New Year we like to _ our new clothes and we also like to eat special food which has special _, such as Chinese mushrooms and oysters and _ sweets; hopefully they bring us lots of good luck and lots of _ Now, it‟s special for _ because they get little red envelops of money from adults, so what they is they go to adults, they _ “Happy New Year‟ and they get a little envelop and because I‟m not 10 _, I get the little red envelop, too III Post Listening Talking about an occasion in your country by ask and answering the following questions: When does it happen? What are the special food or drink on this occasion?s What people often on this occasion? What other customs? XXX ... of using gapfill tasks on developing students? ?? listening skills The study was carried out in form of an action research The subjects of the study were 45 first- year non- English major students. .. one of the measures to help the students improve their listening skills Thus, I decided to apply gap- fill tasks with the hope to improve their students? ?? listening skills Before taking the intervention,... content using their ears only Thus, the tasks were redesigned in the form of gap- filling, including banked gap- filling and open gap- filling a Banked gap- filling The first story was given in form of