A study on how to improve TOEIC listening comprehension skills for English majors at Thuongmai University

A study on how to improve TOEIC listening comprehension skills for English majors at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve TOEIC listening comprehension skills for English majors at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve TOEIC listening comprehension skills for English majors at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve TOEIC listening comprehension skills for English majors at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve TOEIC listening comprehension skills for English majors at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve TOEIC listening comprehension skills for English majors at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve TOEIC listening comprehension skills for English majors at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve TOEIC listening comprehension skills for English majors at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve TOEIC listening comprehension skills for English majors at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve TOEIC listening comprehension skills for English majors at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve TOEIC listening comprehension skills for English majors at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve TOEIC listening comprehension skills for English majors at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve TOEIC listening comprehension skills for English majors at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve TOEIC listening comprehension skills for English majors at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve TOEIC listening comprehension skills for English majors at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve TOEIC listening comprehension skills for English majors at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve TOEIC listening comprehension skills for English majors at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve TOEIC listening comprehension skills for English majors at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve TOEIC listening comprehension skills for English majors at Thuongmai University A study on how to improve TOEIC listening comprehension skills for English majors at Thuongmai University

ABSTRACT Today, TOEIC certification plays an important part in the resume of employees It reflects the level of proficiency in communicating in English in activities such as business, commerce, tourism In particular, listening comprehension skills in the TOEIC test is considered the hardest part Therefore, it is extremely necessary to practice listening comprehension skills while still in school Recognizing the importance of listening comprehension skills in the TOEIC test, the study was launched with the desire to point out common mistakes while doing the listening comprehension section of English Faculty students at Thuongmai University and propose some solutions to improve their listening comprehension skills Hopefully, this article will partly help students studying for the TOEIC exam as well as preparing to enter the TOEIC exam 1 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT In fact, we cannot deny that every success is associated with support or assistance, whether more or less, directly or indirectly by others First of all, I would like to express my special thanks to all teachers in English Falculty at Thuongmai University for their dedicated knowledge years ago which is not only a foundation for the research but also a precious knowledge for me to step into life in a solid and confident way I also sincerely thank the supervisor Ms Pham Minh Hong for her valuable guidance, constructive suggestions, and unconditional support during the time I tried to complete this research I have made this graduation report in nearly weeks This is the first time I’ve experienced in these fields, my knowledge is still limited so that I could not avoid difficulties and mistakes I hope to receive comments from you to enhance my experience Finally, I wish you good health, happiness, and success in your life Sincerely thanks! Hanoi, December 3rd, 2020 Student Ho Thi Phuong Anh 2 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 3 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 4 4 LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS 5 5 CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale Have you ever wished to be paid a desirable salary after graduating? Have you thought about working and learning experience from foreign experts? Have you imagined that you would travel around the world and make friends with everyone on this earth? It is extremely incredible! Come back to real life, you are an intern, your English is zero If I am an employer, the first sentence I want to tell you is sorry, you are disqualified! This situation proves that English is an indispensable factor in daily life and work of each individual It is considered a bridge of languages between countries around the world, having a positive effect on exchanging and cooperating with people of countries Therefore, in an increasingly social society with international integration, English is a compulsory and important condition for students in the process of communicating and applying for jobs Today, the criteria for evaluating English abilities are becoming more and more difficult The A, B, C certificates used for people who want to find jobs are replaced by IELTS, TOEFL or TOEIC TOEIC, along with other requirements for candidates, is preferred by most companies to assess the English language proficiency of their employees Therefore, many people are trying their best to achieve success on the TOEIC test They have to pass sections: Listening and Reading At Thuongmai University, English Faculty students must achieve TOEIC 800 or IELTS 6.5 to be eligible to graduate Although they have not taken the TOEIC exam preparation course, they studied many subjects majoring in economic English The vocabulary that they have accumulated is very close to the TOEIC test Therefore, to take a TOEIC exam, most students of English faculty can study at home by themselves or take a course at an English center However, I realize that not all of them can well in the listening part Everyone who took the TOEIC test recognized that listening skills are really difficult to conquer, some not know how to improve, some cannot hear because of poor vocabulary Even some who have listening skills, still not get high scores For all reasons, I decided to conduct the topic: “A study on how to improve TOEIC listening comprehension skills for English majors at Thuongmai University” From there, several solutions are proposed to improve their listening comprehension skills 1.2 Previous studies Several studies stress the importance of listening skills in language learning Rost (2001) and Morley (2001) stated that listening is the most critical skill in language learning because it is the most widely used language skill in healthy daily life According to Krashen (1985), listening skill is an essential element in obtaining understandable input which provides the environment that facilitates learning and acquisition (Rost, 2001) and development of other communicative skills (Cheung, 2010; Hasan, 2000; Rost, 2001) Rubin (1994) reviewed the factors that affect listening comprehension and reported five elements, namely: text characteristics, interlocutor characteristics, task characteristics, listener characteristics, and process characteristics Further studies supported her findings on barriers to listening comprehension Of particular relevance to this study are the findings of Underwood in 1989 Underwood (1989) suggests seven potential problems that could hinder listening comprehension According to Underwood “many language learners believe that the greatest difficulty with listening comprehension, as opposed to listening comprehension, is that listener cannot control how quickly a speaker speaks” Another problem is the lack of opportunity for the learners to have the words repeated In short, the previous studies in writing skills have revealed some errors and mistakes in listening comprehension and pointed out some solutions, but not at all, especially, for English majors at Thuongmai University To make the problem more detailed and close to Thuongmai University’s English faculty student, I decided to conduct this study 1.3 Aims of the study This study is implemented to find out the answers to research questions: How is the attitude of students of English faculty with listening comprehension skills? What are the factors that improve TOEIC listening comprehension skills for students of English faculty? What are some solutions to improve TOEIC listening comprehension skills for students of English faculty? All of the reasons I mentioned in section 1.1 (Rationale) show that the purpose of this study is: - Finding out the common problems in the TOEIC listening comprehension section that students of the English Faculty at Thuongmai University have to face up with - Proposing some solutions to help English majors improve their situation Research subjects 1.4 This study research about how to improve English listening skill in TOEIC tests of English faculty’s students at Thuongmai University, I determined that the research subject of study is listening comprehension skills when English majors doing TOEIC test Scope of the study 1.5 As the title of the study has indicated, the author only focuses on the TOEIC listening comprehension skills Besides, because the time and scope of the paper is limited, I can only conduct a survey on 50 students at Thuongmai University (students of English Faculty) The reason for my choice of students of English Faculty: • • They study for the TOEIC exam for the goal of 800 points They concern about how to improve the listening skills of the TOEIC test than anyone and suggests solutions for them Research methodology 1.6 To complete this graduation paper, a series of methods have been applied: • Collected references, books, and websites related to the TOEIC test and documents were analyzed in detail to form the theoretical background of this paper • A survey questionnaire is conducted for English major students at Thuongmai University, questionnaire included closed and open-ended questions The purpose for mixing of both closed and open-ended responses is that the former is easier to collate and analyze and the responses to the latter will provide more flexibility so that the respondent can give more accurate answers 1.7 Organization of the study  Chapter - Overview of the study This chapter shows the rationale, previous studies, and the aims of the study Besides, it provides the research subjects, the scope, the methodology and the organization of the study  Chapter - Literature review This chapter aims to clarify the theory of listening skill and its features: • • •  Theoretical background Listening comprehension-related problems Factors affecting English majors’ listening comprehension skill Chapter - Data analysis and research findings Basing on the data collected from the survey questionnaire, the issues will be analyzed in depth in order to provide realistic information about some common difficulties in listening part in TOEIC tests for English major students Specifically, I express how to collect and process the data as well as show the results of the survey and analyze them This chapter also offers some suggestions to solve the problems which are mentioned above and in order to help students have good TOEIC results  Chapter – Recommendations and suggestions The researcher gives some recommendations to these problems from the results of chapter CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Theoretical background 2.1.1 Definition of listening skill The definition of listening has evolved over the years Moreover, the nature of the listening process and specific skills involved in listening comprehension have been the subject of several studies In the language classrooms, the listening process can be demonstrated by students hearing oral speech, dividing sounds, classifying them into lexical and syntactic units, and comprehending the message Chastain (1971) defined listening as the understanding of native speech at normal speed According to Morley (1972) listening pertains to auditory discrimination, aural grammar, selection of necessary information, remembering it, and connecting it to the process between sound and form of meaning Listening is an essential part of the communication process Students spent the majority of each school day listening and much of what students know is acquired through listening It is a term daily used without giving it much thought Yet, listening is a vital mental capacity one of the principal ways through which we understand and take part in the world around us (Rost, 1994) as he quoted: “Listening is considered to be a part of oracy, a capacity to formulate Thought verbally and to communicate with others, so it is the skill that underlines all verbal communication” It is suggested that listening can be done in a narrow and limited way, or it can be done in a way that enriches communication (Goodith, 2001), as it was said: “Listening is not merely not talking…it means taking a vigorous human interest in what is being told us You can listen like the blank mall or like a splendid auditorium where every sound comes back fuller and richer” (Miller, Goodith, 2001, 48) In my opinion, listening is a vital component of oral communication or the interactive process in which the individual takes the roles of speaker and listener through a verbal and non-verbal component It is the ability to identify and understand what the speaker is saying through understanding his accent, pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and grasping his meaning 10 their listening comprehension as average (42%) and good (44%) and only 5% chose “Bad” and 9% chose “Very good” This can be explained by the fact that English majors of TMU know TOEIC quite early, and they started studying for this certificate when they were second-year students • The difficulties in doing listening comprehension section in the TOEIC test No Difficulties Percentage Quickly forget what is heard 80% Not recognize or understand the meaning of words because of accents and fast speed Understand the message but not the intended message 90% Neglect the next part while thinking about the meaning Unable to form a mental, feel nervous at all 60% 70% 80% Table 3.1: The difficulties in doing listening comprehension section in the TOEIC test As mentioned previously, there are a number of difficulties that the respondents had to encounter when taking the TOEIC listening test Looking at the information shown in the table, it is astonishing to find out that major the students (90%) significantly get into trouble with recognizing the words, “speakers’ pronunciation” like accents, stress, intonation, and linking sounds, the speed of the speaker 80% suggest that they quickly forget what is heard 70% said that they understand the message but not the intended message Besides, 60% of students agreed they neglect the next part while thinking about the meaning while 80% unable to form a mental, feel nervous at all • The factors leading to the TOEIC listening comprehension difficulties Chart 3.6: Factors leading to the listening comprehension difficulties of the learners From the charts, we see that background and cultural knowledge is a major factor affecting listening comprehension skills in TOEIC These are subjective reasons coming from learners Recognizing these reasons is a good step for students to make positive changes Besides, speech speed and pronunciation are also factors 26 that 15% of students think is also an influence 8% of them think that the inability to concentrate makes it difficult to listen well The remaining students think the problem is related to the following factors: Noises, poor tape quality, and long material, long time of listening without break-time, or bad health • Strategies applied by students when taking the TOEIC listening test: No Strategies Percentage Predict what you will hear by using pictures 100% Identify the types of questions in part 100% Ignore incomprehensible word and keep on listening 42% Guess the topic in part 3,4 88% Guess the meaning of vocabulary in context 78% Recognize linking sounds, stress words, intonation 84% Table 3.2: Strategies applied by students when taking the TOEIC listening test In the TOEIC listening section, it is significant to know about some strategies that help students beware of test traps and direct them to the right answer All of the students (100%) have the habit to see photos and predict what they will hear based on the pictures, identify the types of questions to choose the correct answer in Part A considerable number of them (88% and 78%) apply the tips guessing not only the topic in parts but also the meaning of vocabulary in context A considerable number of them (84%) apply the tip recognizing linking sounds, stress words, intonation 3.4.3 The results of interview questions • Ways to improve listening skills on the TOEIC test Chart 3.7: Ways to improve listening skills on the TOEIC test All respondents say that all three ways (Learning vocabulary and enrich necessary knowledge, Practicing regularly with sample TOEIC tests and English programs, such as: watching English movies, listening to English news and music every day, Joining a course in English centers) help students improve their listening comprehension skills on the TOEIC test We can see that 100% of students choose “All of them are correct” Therein, in order to get a high point in the listening 27 comprehension section of the TOEIC test, they need to combine many different methods logically • The reality of applying these above ways to improve listening comprehension skills in TOEIC Chart 3.8: The reality of applying these above ways to improve listening comprehension skills in TOEIC From the above data, we see that most students are aware of the importance of listening comprehension skills in TOEIC, so they are always looking for ways to improve this skill 98 students out of 100 students is a big number Only students have not applied the above methods because they are still not interested in TOEIC and are focusing on other goals • The effect of learning vocabulary and enrich the necessary knowledge Chart 3.9: The effect of learning vocabulary and enrich the necessary knowledge This figure shows and indicates “The effect of learning vocabulary and enrich necessary knowledge” in proving listening comprehension skills on the TOEIC test No one rated “Inefficient” and “Quite efficient” while 95% of them suppose that it is extremely efficient and the left chose “efficient” Indeed, this result shows that vocabulary plays an important role in the TOEIC test Having a wealth of vocabulary will help you take the test easier • The effect of practicing regularly with sample TOEIC tests and English programs Chart 3.10: The effect of practicing regularly Nearly the same as “The effect of learning vocabulary”, the effect of practicing regularly with sample TOEIC tests and English programs also has similar survey results While no one chooses “Inefficient” and “Quite efficient” 91% of students choose “Extremely efficient” and the rest choose “Efficient” (9%) • The effect of joining a course in English centers Chart 3.11: The effect of joining a course in English centers 28 It can be seen from the above figure, joining a course in an English center has a different rating among students 5% of students say taking a course in English centers is not efficient Besides, nearly half of the students said this way was very effective (45%) This shows that subjective factors still have a great influence on student learning outcomes The remaining 30% say that it is efficient and the rest say it was quite efficient (20%) 3.4.3 The results of interview questions This is some response to the unique interview question: Most students think that teachers play an important role in teaching learners tips and how to apply them to the listening task Particularly, Teachers should:  Give them TOEIC techniques or strategies  Give detailed explanations about their errors  Design TOEIC listening tests to evaluate their levels at the end of each academic year  Provide them with different sources of listening Overall, listening is essential both in language learning and in the international communication environment Students should devote time to practicing listening and develop learning autonomy English Faculty - students at Thuongmai University know about TOEIC quite early and they start to study when they are second-year, even first-year students In the listening comprehension section, students meet lots of difficulties There are many causes for these difficulties in terms of subjectivity and objectivity However, some of them have adopted some ways to improve their listening comprehension skills and bring quite a high efficiency 29 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS The solutions for improving listening comprehension skill 4.1 4.1.1 Solutions for students • Learning by heart vocabulary day by day The famous linguist David A Wilkins (1972) once said: “Without grammar, very little information can be conveyed But without vocabulary, no information can be conveyed” The above judgment shows that vocabulary is always the most important factor when learning a language However, each person's learning style will determine the outcome If you just dive into taking notes in a stereotype, or learn words in a typographic memory, you will quickly forget Especially, the listening comprehension section in the TOEIC tests includes a large number of new words, new phrases, synonyms So if you have poor vocabulary, you can hardly achieve high scores in this section The first way for English majors in TMU to learn vocabulary effectively is through books Currently, there are many useful books about vocabulary in the TOEIC tests such as 600 Essential Words for the TOEIC, 3420 TOEIC vocabulary words, Check your vocabulary for TOEIC, Prep for the new TOEIC Voca – Phrase… These books contain vocabulary from many fields, especially economics, very close to the TOEIC tests Besides, they can also learn vocabulary through applications on smartphones There are lots of useful apps that are free: Enny, Quizlet, 3000 TOEIC reading… By learning vocabulary on their phone, they can study anywhere, anytime, even when they are on their way to school by bus which is very convenient Besides, try watching International TV Program Choose the programs we interest in and watch them Continually watching, we will understand the content, the story, and know more vocabularies Moreover, the programs are mostly entertaining and funny so they won’t make you bore When we watch TV Series, we can try watching it twice, the first time without Sub-Title and the second time with Sub-Title After watching the second time, we will understand more If we practice like this over and over, we will get both accent and vocabulary • Do Practice Tests Under Test Conditions While you are preparing for the TOEIC, you must constant practice under 30 test conditions That means taking practice tests with the same time limits and surroundings as if it were the real exam So you need to take all parts of the test to get used to the quick transitions, fast pace, and the tricks that can appear in the test This will also teach you how to manage your time, which is especially important for the listening section since you have no control over the speed of the questions Try the following:     Using a sample listening test, start by stopping the recording after each question Choose the answer that you think is correct and then check if it is right Make sure you know why an answer is correct or incorrect Gradually build up the speed by doing each section without pausing the recording Then, work your way up to doing the whole test There’s a free sample listening test on the TOEIC website, and you’ll find links to the various parts of the practice exam throughout this post Starting the test like this, you will also be able to see which areas you need to focus your studies on But don’t forget that it is important to start doing tests in actual test conditions as soon as possible • Joining a course in English centers Because English majors in TMU are not taught TOEIC in school, studying at an English center is necessary They can also practice TOEIC by themselves at home, but it will not work unless they have a great determination If they study at home, no one will correct them Meanwhile, in English centers, some teacher who almost reach the TOEIC score will help them see the mistake they encounter while doing the test and help them correct it Moreover, at the centers, they will have a short test before they start studying The center will usually take them to take an exam to assess their English level so that they can arrange a class that is appropriate for their level, and students with the same level will be easier to review and exchange Since then, each class will have a study path to suit the ability of the students This is an ideal opinion to improve the TOEIC listening comprehension skill 4.1.2 Solutions for teachers The skills of students will not be improved the best without teachers Teachers play such a significant hero in building up their skills By each lesson, the teachers 31 show his students the ways in each stage of listening comprehension Generally, there are three stages: pre-listening, while-listening, and post-listening Furthermore, he or she will advise their students with the syllabus they can selfstudy at home In short, this research of mine does not focus on how teachers carry out their lessons but it is a chance to understand more about the student’s problems From that, teachers can have many efficient solutions in their own teaching methods 4.1.3 Particular solutions for each part in TOEIC tests  Part 1: In the first part of the TOEIC listening section, you will see a series of photographs and then listen to four sentences You have to choose the sentence that best and most truthfully describes the picture The best way to answer the questions for this part is to look at the picture completely and find out what’s happening • • Think to yourself: who, what, where, why? Before the recording starts, look at the photo and make as many sentences as you • can in your head about what is happening in the photo When the recording starts, decide if each sentence you hear is false, maybe true, or true You might find that writing an X, question mark, and check mark on the page • with your finger helps you remember each one Even if you are sure that one answer is correct, listen to the other answers to make sure and check your answer If you are not sure and still have two or three options, just decide using feels right, and then move on to the next question Often the choice that you feel is right the first time (a “gut instinct”) will be the correct answer, and it won’t help to think about the question any longer  Part 2: Our tip for the second part of the exam is to take what you already know and use prediction skills to imagine the correct answer before hearing the different options This makes it easier to answer the question correctly This part of the TOEIC listening section is made up of 30 different questions You will be asked a question about almost anything, and you’ll need to choose the best answer from 32 three options The TOEIC listening is only heard once, and it can be rather fast in some places So be sure to watch out for: • • • • words that sound similar but have different meanings wh - questions: who what, when, where, why, what tag (tail) questions yes/no questions that may not have yes/no answers Keep in mind the question as you listen to the possible answers Choose the answer that makes the most sense If in doubt, guess You don’t lose any points for a wrong answer When studying for this section it’s a good idea to play the recording and listen to the question After you’ve heard it, pause the recording and brainstorm a few answers to the question This will help activate your knowledge and prepare you for the three different answers After you’ve come up with a few ideas, continue to play the rest of the recording so you can identify the correct answer easier  Part 3: The third part of the test is a little longer and you might feel a little tired when you get to this part of the exam But here you will need to focus and pay attention because you will want to actively listen for the answers to the questions as the recording is playing When you are studying for this section, it’s best to look at the questions before you listen to the dialogue Listen to the dialogue and then write down your answers to the questions based on what you have heard Next, see if your answers match any of the multiple -choice options This will help you focus and learn to actively listen for details in the talks During the actual test, try and read the questions before you listen to the recording If you still have time, also try and read the multiple -choice answers  Part 4: Part four is the hardest section to well in when it comes to the TOEIC listening It’s very easy to fall behind because there are no breaks between the questions, and the recording is quite fast This exercise will encourage you to skim through the questions and the answers as quickly as possible When you get faster, you will have a better chance of keeping up with the speed of the recording When you are taking the actual exam, pay attention to the context Try to read the question 33 beforehand and find the keywords if you have time Listen to the entire talk before choosing an answer If you find yourself running out of time, just guess an answer Don’t miss out on information for the next question while you are trying to figure out the previous one Some suggested books and courses for learners to improve listening skill in the 4.2 TOEIC tests  Barron's 600 Essential Words for the TOEIC The book is served by the renowned and established leaders of the industry As the name suggests the book serves to build up your vocabulary unlike elsewhere The 50 vocabulary building lessons in this book focus on improving your English as per American English It houses words that are of use in a corporate environment and cultural activities This aids you to perform better while taking admission in an educational institution, seeking a job or while adjusting to the social environment of your new city Exercises and quizzes after every lesson of this book strengthen your knowledge gained after reading the lesson As for working on your pronunciation and listening skills, the Audio CD provided along with this book is really helpful Here, you can learn the accents that could be tested in your upcoming TOEIC  1000 Listening comprehension practice test items for the new TOEIC test • Author: Jim Lee • Content: Includes 10 listening tests This is a TOEIC test book that you can use in the preparation process before taking the test The book has the same difficulty level as the real exam and especially the situations, vocabulary, question types, question/answer length almost coincide with the real exam Corresponding to each listening lesson, the script part of the book specifies a piece of information containing the answer, and also adds a section "paraphrasing" to help learners diversify their ability to express • Suitable qualifications: If your TOEIC score is now 600 and your target is 800, you can start learning right away with this book and practice focusing on topic per week, then 34 problems a week in the end Since this is a simple TOEIC exam preparation booklet, there are absolutely no effective TOEIC preparation guides and tips  Ms Hoa's English system: Ms Hoa English Language System is a trademark of IMAP Vietnam Education and Training Joint Stock Company Over nearly 10 years of development, English Ms Hoa has 16 campuses in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Da Nang, and Hai Phong and has become a TOEIC training address with skills - professional English communication 4.3 Limitations and suggestions for further study 4.3.1 Limitations of the study In the process of completing research, there still exist some limitations regardless of the contribution of time and effort First of all, the limited number of participants with only 100 students could not best represent the whole English Majors at VMU, hence it is not really objective and many students not have a chance to express their opinions Secondly, being Vietnamese so that while writing the paper, the researcher inevitably can’t avoid the wrong structure, grammar, and vocabulary despite great efforts to complete the study 4.3.2 Suggestions for further study Being aware of the restriction on the number of participants, future research should be implemented in a larger range in order to make the research more objective 35 CONCLUSION Listening comprehension has been ignored in many English language programs Listening comprehension is a complex process The strategies of listening comprehension must be used simultaneously We must understand the text as we listen to it, keep the information in memory, combine it with what follows and adjust our comprehending of what we hear through previous knowledge and next information Teachers should teach the students suitable listening strategies There is no an ideal method that fits all types of English classes Listening activities should be arranged from basic to more complex as the learners gain in English language This review of literature indicated the factors that caused some serious problems for learners’ listening comprehension and also offered some useful suggestions for teachers and students to improve their listening comprehension ability It is hoped that the findings of this study contribute to the improvement of teaching and learning in listening comprehension REFERRENCES 1000 Listening comprehension practice test items for the new TOEIC test Anh ngữ Ms Hoa từ vựng TOEIC hot Azmi, B M., Celik, B., Yidliz, N., & Tugrul, M C (2014) Listening Comprehension Difficulties Encountered by Students in Second language Learning Class Barron's 600 Essential Words for the TOEIC Berman, M (2003) Listening Strategy Guiede DynEd International Inc Brown, G., & Yule, G (1983) Teaching the spoken language (Vol 2) Cambridge University Press Celce-Murcia(Ed.), Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language Chastain, K (1971) The Development of Modern Language Skills: Theory to Practice Philadelphia: Center for Curriculum Development Cheung, Y K (2010) The importance of teaching listening in the EFL classroom Online Submission 10 Goodwith, W 2001.Listening.Oxford: Oxford University Press 11 Goh, C (1999) Teaching Listening in the Language Classroom Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre 12 Hasan, A (2000) Learners’ perceptions of listening comprehension problems Language, Culture and Curriculum, 13, 137-153 36 13 Hacking Your English Listening - Đột Phá Nghe Hiểu Tiếng Anh- Hoàng Ngọc Quỳnh 14 Krashen, S (1985) The input hypothesis: Issues and implications U.K.: Longman Group UK Ltd 15 Morley, J (2001) Aural comprehension instruction: Principles and practices 16 Rost, M (1994).Introducing listening London: Penguin books 17 Rost, M (2001) Listening In R Carter, & D Nunan (Eds.),The Cambridge guide to teaching English to speakers of other languages 18 Rost, M (2002) Teaching and Researching Listening London: Longman 19 The Art of Public Speaking by Stephen E Lucas (1998-01-03) 20 TOEIC Sample Test- https://www.ets.org/s/toeic/pdf/toeic-listening-reading-sampletest-updated.pdf 21 Teaching Listening (Longman Handbooks for Language Teachers) by Underwood Mary (1989-10-01) 22 https://www.anhngumshoa.com/ 23 https://www.englishclub.com/esl-exams/ets-toeic-practice-2.htm 24 http://www.sciepub.com/reference/123301 37 APPENDIX Questionnaires for the survey related to the listening skill of English Faculty students:  What is your name? ……………………………………………  Q2: What is your class? ……………………………………………… Q1 How long have you studied English?  Less than year  5-10 years  More than 10 years Q2 When did you know about the TOEIC test?  Less than year  1-5 years  More than years Q3 How many times a week you practice the TOEIC test?  0-1 time a week  2-3 times a week  More than times a week Q4 In your opinion, TOEIC listening skill is difficult for students, isn’t it?  Yes  No Q5 How you at the listening comprehension part of the TOEIC test?  Bad  Average  Good  Very Good Q6 Some problems that you met in the TOEIC listening part?  Quickly forgetting what is heard  Not recognizing the words because of accents and fast speed  Understanding the message but not the intended message 38  Neglecting the next part while thinking about the meaning  Unabling to form a mental, feel nervous at all Q7 What are the factors leading to the TOEIC listening comprehension difficulties ( tick your best choice)?  Speech of speed and pronunciation  The inability to concentrate  Limited background and cultural knowledge  Other factors (noises, poor tape quality, and long material, long time of listening without break-time, or bad healthy) Q8 What are your strategies when taking the TOEIC listening test?  Predict what you will hear by using pictures  Identify the types of questions in part  Ignore incomprehensible word and keep on listening  Guess the topic in part and  Guess the meaning of vocabulary in context  Recognize linking sounds, stress words, intonation, and so on Q9: In your opinion, what are the ways to improve listening skills on the TOEIC test? (tick the best answer)  Learning vocabulary and enrich the necessary knowledge  Practicing regularly with sample TOEIC tests and English programs  Joining a course in an English center  All of them Q10: Have you applied the above ways to improve your listening comprehension skills in the TOEIC test?  Already  Not yet Q11: How would you rate the effect of learning vocabulary and enrich the necessary knowledge?  Extremely efficient  Efficient  Quite efficient 39  Inefficient Q12: Practicing regularly with sample TOEIC tests and English programs?  Extremely efficient  Efficient  Quite efficient  Inefficient Q13: How would you rate the effect of joining a course in an English center?  Extremely efficient  Efficient  Quite efficient  Inefficient The interview questions Q14 In your opinion, how can teacher help you to improve your listening skill at University? Q15 What did your teacher to help you improve the listening comprehension skill? Q16 Do you usually learning listening skill by books? Which book you like most? 40 ... For all reasons, I decided to conduct the topic: ? ?A study on how to improve TOEIC listening comprehension skills for English majors at Thuongmai University? ?? From there, several solutions are... The TOEIC listening test According to Wikipedia, “The Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) is an international standardized test of English language proficiency for non-native... special thanks to all teachers in English Falculty at Thuongmai University for their dedicated knowledge years ago which is not only a foundation for the research but also a precious knowledge for