A minor study on main difficulties in learning listening skills perceived by first year students of faculty of english language teacher education ulis vnu

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI University of Languages and international Studies FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION Graduation paper A MINOR STUDY ON MAIN DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING LISTENING SKILLS PERCEIVED BY FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS OF FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION, ULIS, VNU supervisor: Mrs.Pham Thi Thanh Thuy student: Nguyen Thi Thu Thao year of enrolment: qh2009.e5 Ha Noi, May 2013 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHOÁ LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP NHẬN THỨC CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM NHẤT KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ, ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI VỀ NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN TRONG VIỆC HỌC KĨ NĂNG NGHE Giáo viên hướng dẫn: PHẠM THỊ THANH THỦY Sinh viên: Nguyễn Thị Thu Thảo Khoá: Qh2009.E5 HÀ NỘI – NĂM 2013 ACCEPTANCE I hereby state that I: Nguyen Thi Thu Thao from qh2009.F1.E5, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL), accept the requirements of the college retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation paper deposited in the library In terms of the conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper Signature Hanoi, April 24th 2013 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Writing this dissertation is the final step in a long journey I would not have begun this journey if it had not had the help of many people First and foremost, I would like to show my special thanks to my supervisor, Mrs Pham Thi Thanh Thuy, for her great help and guidance as well as encouragement, without which my scientific research would not have been accomplished I am grateful to first-year students of Faculty of English Language Teacher Education, ULIS for their enthusiastic participation Their sharing and complementation immeasurably contributed to the majority data of the study Finally, my sincere thanks go to all of my parents, my friends who have given me much advice and encouragement which helps me to overcome the difficulties during doing this research ii ABSTRACT Listening comprehension plays a significant role in daily communication and in educational process In spite of its importance, the state of teaching and learning listening has long been ignored, especially in rural areas in Vietnam A large number of students, who come from countryside, suffer a serious disturbance in learning listening when entering university The present study attempts to investigate the listening problems perceived by first-year students of FELTE, ULIS, VNU To address the research problems, the paper used questionnaire and semi-structured interview as the main research instruments to collect data Brief descriptions of participants as well as the data collection methods also were provided The results of the study reveal that the majority of listening comprehension difficulties pertaining to four main categories: the speakers, the listeners, the materials, and the physical setting In accordance with exploring the hindrances, some learning strategies employed by freshmen are introduced as well Based on the findings of the study, some pedagogical implications are proposed for teachers and students in their teaching and learning listening skill iii CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Acceptance ……………………………………………………… … i Acknowledgements………………………………………………… ii Abstract………………………………………………………… ……… iii List of tables, figures and abbreviations……………… ……………… vii Part I: Introduction Rationale of the study………………………………………………… Aims of the study……………………………………………………… Objectives of the study and research questions……………………… Significance of the study…………………………………………… Scope of the study…………………………………………………… Methods of the study………………………………………………… Overview of the rest of the study……………………………………… Part II Development Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Definition of listening and listening comprehension……………… 1.2 The importance of listening skills in learning……………………… 1.3 Difficulties in learning English listening as discussed in previous studies………………………………………………………………………… 1.3.1 Difficulties from the speakers ……………………………… 1.3.2 Difficulties from the content………………………………… 10 1.3.3 Difficulties from learners…………………………………… 12 iv 1.3.4 1.4 Difficulties from physical setting…………………………… 14 Chapter summary…………………………………………………… 14 Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 15 Population and participant’s selection methods………………… 15 2.1.1 Population…………………………………………………… 15 2.1.2 Sampling methods…………………………………………… 16 2.2 Data collection methods………………………………………… 17 Survey questionnaires ……………………………………… 17 2.2.1.1 Justification of using questionnaires ………………… 17 2.2.1.2 Description of survey questionnaires ……………… 18 2.2.1.3 Procedure of delivering the questionnaires ………… 18 Semi- structured interviews ………………………………… 19 2.2.1 2.2.2 2.2.2.1 Justification of using interview……………………… 19 2.2.2.2 Description of the interview ………………………… 21 2.2.2.3 Procedure of interviewing…………………………… 21 2.3 Data analysis …………………………………………………… 22 2.4 Chapter summary ……………………………………………… 23 Chapter 3: FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION 24 Research question 1……………………………………………… 24 3.1.1 Difficulties from the speakers…………………………… 25 3.1.2 Difficulties from the learners…………………………… 27 3.1.3 Difficulties from the materials ………………………… 29 3.1.4 Difficulties from the physical setting…………………… 31 3.2 Research question ……………………………………………… 32 3.3 Chapter summary ………………………………………………… 38 3.1 Part III Conclusion iv i Summary of major findings 39 1.1 The difficulties perceived by students 39 1.2 The strategies applied by students 39 Pedagogical implications from the findings 40 2.1 Implications for the teachers 40 2.2 Implication for the students 41 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies 41 Chapter summary 41 References Appendices vii LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND ABBREVIATIONS Table Page Table 1: Participants in the study……………………………………………… 16 Table 2: Participants’ hometowns ……………………………………………… 17 Table 3: Students’ general perception of listening skill ……………………… 24 Table 4: Student’s self-rating to listening proficiency ………………………… 25 Table 5: Listening problems from the speakers ………………………………… 25 Table 6: The fast speed and reduced forms …………………………………… 27 Table 7: Listening problems from the listeners ………………………………… 28 Table 8: Problems from the materials 30 Table 9: Listening problems from the physical setting………………………… 31 Table 10: Listening strategies…………………………………………………… 33 Abbreviations ESL: English as a Second Language EFL: English as a Foreign Language FELTE: Faculty of English Language Teacher Education L2: Second Language S1: Student S2: Student ULIS: University of Languages and International Studies VNU: Vietnam National University viii PART I INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study Listening is the most frequently used skill in daily life communication (Morley, 1999; Scarcella & Oxford, 1992) Mendelsohn (1994) sees that listening takes up forty-five to fifty percent of the total time in communication Therefore, it is undeniable that listening is essential both to communicate and to learn a foreign language Obviously, listening skill is extremely important in acquiring a language because it provides language input According to Krashen et al (1984, as cited in Hamouda, A., 2012), only when students absorb enough the comprehensible input, does the acquisition happen Rost (1994, as cited in Hamouda, A., 2012) also claims that listening plays a vital role in learning language in particular and in communication in general because it provides input for learners In addition, Krashen believes that without understanding the linguistic input, the students cannot acquire any level of language Thus, listening is a fundamental language skill, and as such, it merits the top priority among the four skill areas for language students Listening, therefore, is regarded crucial to not only a receptive skill but also the development of spoken language proficiency Furthermore, English has been widely used as a major language in daily life and in many education levels all over the world, both native and non-native English speaking countries Listening comprehension is becoming more and more important in acquiring a new language as well as knowledge displayed in lectures and in media Especially, it is the vital skill for most of the English as second language learners (ESL) In spite of its importance in learning English listening, the state of teaching and learning listening skill has long been ignored and gives little consideration What is References Anderson, A & Lynch, T (1988) Listening Oxford: Oxford University Express Barker, L.L (1971) Listening Behavior Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-hall Bloomfield, A & Wayland, S.C, & Rhoades, E., A., & Blodgett, &Linck, J., &Ross,S (2010) What makes listening difficult?Factors affecting second language listening comprehension University of Maryland center and advanced study language Brown, G (1977) Listening to spoken English London: Longman Brown, G & Yule, G (1983).Teaching Spoken Language Cambrigde University Press Brown, G (1992) Listening to Spoken English London: Longman Press Buck, G (2001) Assessing Listening Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress Butt, M.N (2010) ―Listening Comprehension Problems Among the Students‖.European Journal of Social Sciences,18(2), 311-315 Çakir, I (2006) The use of video as an audo-visual in foreign language classroom.The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 5(4),2-3 Chetchumlong, S (1987) Problems of Teaching English Listening of Teachers in Government Secondary School in Chon Buri Unpublished M.A.T Teaching of English Thesis Kasetsart University Cervantes, R., & Gainer, G (1992) The effects of syntactic simplification and repetition on listening comprehension TESOL Quarterly, 26(4), 767–774 42 Dornyei, Z (2003) Questionnaire in second language research United States of America: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers Floccia, C., Butler, J., Goslin, J., & Ellis, L (2009) Regional and foreign accent processing in English: Can listeners adapt Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 38 (4), 379–412 Flowerdew, J., & Miller, L (1996) Student perceptions, problems and strategies in second language lecture comprehension RELC Journal, 23, 60-80 Gilakjani,A.P and Ahmadi, M.R (2011) A Study of Factors Affecting EFL Learners' English Listening Comprehension and the Strategies for Improvement Journal of Language Teaching and Research, Vol 2, No 5, 977-988 Gilakjani,A.P (2012) The significance of Pronunciation in English Language Teaching Journal of Language Teaching, Vol 2, No 5, 96 Gilmore, A (2004) A comparison of textbook and authentic interactions ELT Journal, 58(4), 363–374 Hamouda, A (2012) Language in India - Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.Listening Comprehensible Problems- Voices from the Classroom , 12, 1-49 Hansan, A (2000) Learners’ perceptions of listening comprehension 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Englewwod Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Kiewra, K A (1989) A review of note-taking: The encoding-storage paradigm and beyond Educational Psychology Review, 1, 147-172 43 Krashen, S D (1982) Principle and Practice in Second Language Acquisition Oxford: Pergamon 1982 Johana, S.K (2005) An Exploration of the Effects of Reduced Forms Instruction on EFL College Students’ Listening Comprehension National TsingHua University Jones, L., & Kimborough, V (1987) Great Ideas Teacher’s Manual; listening and speaking activities for students of American English Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Lin, S H (2000) A study of English listening comprehension strategies used by senior high school students in Taiwan Unpublished Master’s thesis, National Kaohsiung Normal University, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, R.O.C Liu, Y (2001) A cognitive study on the functions of note-taking and the content of notes taken in a context of Chinese EFL learners Unpublished master’s thesis, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China Madsen, H S., & Bowen, J D (1978).Adaptation in language teaching Rowley, MA: Newbury House Mendelsohn, D.J (1994).Learning to Listen: A Strategy-based Approach for the Second Language Learner.San Diego: Dominie Press Morley, J (1999) Current perspectives on improving aural comprehension Moser, C A., & Kalton, C (1971) Survey methods in social investigation London: Heinemann Nguyen, T.T.T (2007) Some hindrances encountered by tenth form students in Hanoi in studying reading comprehension with the new English textbook 10-edition II Hanoi: Faculty of English Language Teacher Education, Hanoi University of Languages and International studies-Vietnam National University, Hanoi Nuttall, C (1996) Teaching reading skills in a foreign language Oxford: Heinemann 44 English Language Teaching Chapter 8: An extensive reading programme,127148 Oppenheim, A N (1966) Questionnaire design and attitude measurement London: Heinemann Oxford, R L (1990) Language learning strategies: What every teacher should know Boston: Heinle & Heinle Pairote, B (n.d.) A Survey on First-year Students’ Opinions Concerning Causes of Their Low Performance in Listening in the English II Course at Thaksin University Retrieved April 24, 2013 from repo.uum.edu.my/3266/1/P1.pdf Rixon, S (1986).Developing listening skills.Macmilan Rost, M (2002).Teaching and Researching Listening London, UK: Longman Scarcella, R C., & Oxford, R L (1992) The tapestry of language learning: the individual in the communicative classroom Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle Stevenson, L (2010) The importance of listening for the English language learner Retrieved February 13, 2012 from http://www.helium.com/items/2042239-theimportance-of-listening-for-the-english-language-learner Thanajaro, M (2000) Using Authentic Listening Materials to Develop Listening Comprehension in the English as Second Language Classroom Doctoral Dissertation, unpublished, Virginia Polytechnique Institute and State University, Blacksburgs, Virginia Thomas, I & Dyer, B ( 2007) The problems of poor listening skill.Weber State University Umtul, A (2010) European Journal of Social Sciences.Listening Comprehension Problems among the Students: A Case Study of Three Govt Boys’ Higher Secondary Schools, 18(2), 311-315 45 Underwood, M (1989).Teaching Listening.New York: Longman Vandergrift, L (1997) The comprehension strategies of second language (French) listeners: A descriptive study Foreign Language Annals, 30 (3), 387-409 Ur, P 1984 Teaching of English as a second or foreign language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Yagang, F (1993) Listening Problems and Solutions English Teaching Forum, 31, (2), 16-33 Yagang, F (1994) Listening: Problems and solutions In T Kral (ed.) Teacher Development: Makingthe RightMoves.Washington, DC: English Language ProgramsDivision, USIA 46 Appendices Appendix Questionnaire A SMALL STUDY ON MAIN DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING LISTENING SKILLS AND POSIBLE SOLUTIONS PERCEIVED BY FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS IN FELTE, ULIS, VNU I am Nguyen Thi Thu Thao from 09.E5 I am doing research on the main difficulties in learning listening skills perceived by first-year students of Faculty of English Language Teacher Education at ULIS, VNU I would like to ask for your help with the questionnaire to collect the relevant data for my study There is no right or wrong answers All the questions are in the form of close-ended rating scales that we hope will not take much of your time and effort to accomplish The information will surely be kept confidential to avoid disturbing your privacy Thank you in advance Your name/nickname:………………………………………Group:……………………………… Your hometown (please write the name of your hometown):………………………………………… Is it a ……………………………………….? (please circle one answer) A City/ town B Rural area C Mountainous area Part A: What are the difficulties in learning listening? Which of these skills you find the most difficult? A Listening B Speaking C Reading Writing 47 D Please circle a number from the to that indicates your perception of the difficulty level of listening skills after one year studying at the university according to the scale below: Very Easy Easy Average Difficult Very difficult Please circle a number from the to that best describes your ability of listening skills: Very bad Bad Average Good Excellent The table below includes some problems in your learning listening Please CIRLE a number (1, 2, 3, 4, or 5) that describes how frequently you encounter them and then CIRLE how difficult they are in learning to listen Frequency Rarely or Occasionally Sometimes never Frequently (50% of the time) Almost all the time Levels of difficulty Very Easy Average Difficult easy For example: Very difficult Frequency Level of difficulty Least < - > Most Least < - > Most 48 Listening problems A From the speakers B From the learners C From the materials Frequency Difficulty Level Least < - > Most Least < - > Most The fast speed 5 The strange accents (e.g: Indian 5 or French accents) The number of the speakers 5 (more than speakers) Ending sounds (/e, es, ed,k,t/ 5 ,…) Reduced forms (elision and 5 assimilation) 5 Intonation and stress 10 Signal words (however, 5 although, firstly, secondly,…) 11 Using colloquial words and 5 12 Noise and redundancy 5 13 Lack of vocabulary 5 14 Lack of social and background 5 knowledge 15 Psychological/ physical factors 5 (stress, worry, tiredness,…) 5 16 Inability to concentrate 5 17 Bad/ incorrect pronunciation 18 Inability to predict about the 5 content 19 Ineffective listening habits (e.g 5 try to understand every single words) 20 Many unfamiliar words, jargons 5 and idioms 21 Complex grammatical 5 structures 22 Different types of the recording 5 49 (monologue, dialogue,…) 23 The long listening 24 Unfamiliar topics 25 Too much information in the recording D From the 26 Poor quality equipment and facilities physical setting 27 Using audio tapes (not video) 28 Background noises 29 The large classroom 30 The crowded classes 31 Sitting at the back of the class 32 Others : (please specify)……………………… ………………………… …………………………… 1 2 3 4 5 2 3 4 5 5 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 1 1 Part B What are the possible solutions for listening problems? The table below describes the strategies in learning listening strategies perceived by students to deal with listening difficulties Please CIRCLE the number that describes how frequently you use them and how usefulness they are Frequency Rarely or never Occasionally Sometimes Frequently Almost (50% of the time) all the time Usefulness Totally useless A little useful Quite useful Learning strategies Frequency Usefulness Least < - > Most Least < - > Most 33 Practicing listening everyday 34 Listening to different accents 35 Making prediction about what the speakers will talk about 50 36 Taking notes of the main ideas and key 37 Underlining key words before listening 38 Broadening vocabulary by reading 39 Skipping the missing points 40 Listening to different topics 41 Improving pronunciation 42 Listening to different kinds of inputs words newspapers and books (songs, TV series, films, lectures,…) 51 Appendix Guideline questions for interview How much time you spend on your listening per day (at home)? What sources of listening materials you often use for the practice of listening English? (textbook, VOA, BBC news, …) What kinds of topic you often listen? (economics, environment, education or sport, etc.?) What you to enrich your vocabulary? (reading newspapers, reading books or English stories) To what extent, are you pleased with your pronunciation? What you to improve it? When you listen, what you often do? (Listen and answer the questions given, take notes as much as possible? or else? (please specify) ) What you often when you miss one piece of information in listening? ( for example: asking your friends, stopping listening or skipping that point and continuing to listen?) 52 Appendix Transcription of the interview with S1 Interviewer: I Interviewee: S1 I How much time you spend on your listening per day (at home)? S1 Well, I not often listen to English at home Sometimes, I just listen to complete my homework or assignments I think listening to English is quite boring and difficult; I find learning reading and speaking much more interesting I S1 What sources of listening materials you often use for the practice of listening English? (textbook, VOA, BBC news, …) I just use textbooks as the main source of listening Besides, I rarely listen to VOA news or English movies for my assignments I What kinds of topic you often listen? (Economics, environment, education or sport, etc.?) S1 Because I not listen regularly; therefore, the topics I often listen are in the textbooks such as education, entertainment or something like that Sometimes there are dialogs about different topics such as economy I don’t know any of the words related to economy I S1 What you to enrich your vocabulary? (reading newspapers, reading books or English stories, listening to English news or watching movies,…) Because I love reading, especially English short stories They provide many new vocabulary and structures But I not like newspapers I To what extent, are you pleased with your pronunciation? S1 Oh, actually, my pronunciation is not good I always pronounce new words 53 wrongly I always feel confused when catching a new word and when catching a strange pronunciation I cannot figure out its written form I What you to improve that? (do you look up the dictionary?) S1 No Sometimes my teachers or my friends help me to correct it I When you listen, what you often do? (Listen and answer the questions given, take notes as much as possible? or else? (please specify) S1 Just listen to answer the questions And sometimes I forget what I have just listened before I What you often when you miss one piece of information in listening? (for example: asking your friends, stopping listening or skipping that point and continuing to listen?) S1 Well, actually, when listening I often miss some points, especially with a long recording Sometimes, I skip them and continue to listen, but sometimes, I get tired of skipping nearly all the important points 54 Appendix Transcription of the interview with S2 Interviewer: I Interviewee: S2 I How much time you spend on your listening per day (at home)? S2 It’s about more than 1hour per day Whenever I have free time, I’ll listen to English I often listen to English songs, TV or radio news, or English exercises in some teachers’ suggested websites I play the media player and listen to some English I not need to the exercises but just listen to relax I What sources of listening materials you often use for the practice of listening English? (textbook, VOA, BBC news, …) S2 BBC news, CNN student news, ABC radio or esl-lab.com By this way, I can listen to various kinds of topics and accents I What kinds of topic you often listen? (Economics, environment, education or sport, etc.?) S2 Besides listening to exercises in textbooks, I also listen to some economic news, some kinds of sport reports, or environmental documents Actually, they are more interesting than textbooks S2 What you to enrich your vocabulary? (reading newspapers, reading books or English stories, listening to English news or watching movies,…) I watch English movies with English subtitles I To what extent, are you pleased with your pronunciation? S2 It’s quite good I 55 I What you when catching a new word? S2 Whenever I catch a new word, I look up the Cambridge dictionary for the correct pronunciation, which makes a good habit I When you listen, what you often do? (Listen and answer the questions given, take notes as much as possible? or else? (please specify) S2 Taking note the main ideas and some supporting ideas I What you often when you miss one piece of information in listening? (for example: asking your friends, stopping listening or skipping that point and continuing to listen?) S2 I don’t mind about this, forget them and continue to listen because I can come back to them the second time 56 ... Investigating the difficulties and the causes in learning listening skills perceived by Faculty of English Language Teacher Education (FELTE) first year mainstream students at University of Languages... does the acquisition happen Rost (1994, as cited in Hamouda, A. , 2012) also claims that listening plays a vital role in learning language in particular and in communication in general because it... Language Teacher Education L2: Second Language S1: Student S2: Student ULIS: University of Languages and International Studies VNU: Vietnam National University viii PART I INTRODUCTION Rationale of