Extensive listening for developing efl high school students’ listening ability

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY PHAM THI XUAN HUONG EXTENSIVE LISTENING FOR DEVELOPING EFL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ LISTENING ABILITY MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION CODE: 8.14.01.11 SUPERVISOR: DR TRAN THI NGOC YEN LONG AN, 2018 ABSTRACT This study researches about using the extensive listening to improve the listening skills of the high school students This study does the survey with high school students in the 11th grade class in Long An province The research observes the control group and the treatment group clarify the improvement in the listening skills of the high school students It is indicated that there is the significant improvement in the listening skills of the treatment group when employing the extensive listening methods ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first and foremost like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Tran Thi Ngoc Yen, for seeing me through this rewarding, yet challenging process whose reference materials, support, stimulating suggestions and encouragement helped me in all stages of this research I am so grateful that I had a chance to work with her In addition, I would also like to thank the students of the classes I taught in order to collect information for my research Without their help, this study could not have been successful I also would like to extend my gratefulness to all of my classmates, who provide me with necessary help as well as good suggestions whenever I get into trouble They shared with me both joys and sorrows during the course and I learned a lot from them Last but not least, my special thanks are sincerely sent to my parents, my friends and so many others who continuously offer spiritual support and encouragement during the process of carrying out this thesis iii TABLES OF CONTENT ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………………………….ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT…………………………………….……………………… iii LIST OF TABLES…………………………………………………………………………….vi LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………………………………………….vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………1 1.1 Rationale for the study…………………………………………………………… 1.2 Scope of the study …………………………………………………………………3 1.3 Aims of the study………………………………………………………………… 1.4 Research questions…………………………………………………………….… 1.5 The significance of the study…………………………………………………… 1.6 Thesis design………………………………………………………………………5 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………………………………6 2.1 The listening process…………………………………………………………………6 2.1.1 Definition of listening process………………………………………………6 2.1.2 Definition of listening comprehension …………………………………… 2.1.3 Types of listening……………………………………………………………8 2.1.4 Factors affecting listening comprehension……………………………… 11 2.1.5 Listening strategies……………………………………………………… 14 2.1.5.1 Conscious and unconscious strategy use…………………………….15 2.1.5.2 Metacognitive, cognitive and socio-affective strategies ……………15 2.2 Teaching EFL listening…………………………………………………………… 18 2.2.1 Difficulties EFL learners have when listening…………………………….18 2.2.2 Stages in a EFL listening lesson… ………………………………………20 2.2.3 Techniques to teach listening………………………………………………21 2.3 Extensive listening………………………………………………………………… 22 2.3.1 Definition of extensive listening………………………………………… 22 2.3.2 Principles of extensive listening………………………………………… 23 2.3.3 Extensive listening in EFL learning……………………………………….24 2.4 Foreign language acquisition……………………………………………………… 26 2.4.1 Theories of learning……………………………………………………… 30 2.4.2 Language transfer………………………………………………………… 34 2.4.3 Input, interaction and output in EFL……………………………………….35 iv 2.5 How we select extensive listening material? .39 2.6 Relationship between listening and other skills…………………………………… 40 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY……………………………………………………….43 3.1 Participants………………………………………………………………………… 43 3.2 Materials…………………………………………………………………………… 44 3.2.1 Lesson plans……………………………………………………………… 45 3.2.2 Listening logs………………………………………………………………45 3.3 Procedures………………………………………………………………………… 45 CHAPTER 4: FIDINGS AND DISCUSSION………………………………………… 47 4.1 Results……………………………………………………………………………….47 4.1.1 Pre test results…………………………………………………………… 47 4.1.2 Post test results…………………………………………………………… 49 4.1.3 The increase in listening comprehension………………………………… 50 4.1.4 The relationship between extensive listening time and listening ability….50 4.2 Discussion………………………………………………………………………… 51 4.2.1 The effects of extensive listening on EFL learners’ listening comprehension………………………………………………………………………… 51 4.2.2 The relationship between listening time and listening comprehension development…………………………………………………………………………… 52 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION………………………………………………………… 56 5.1 Summary of main findings………………………………………………………….56 5.2 Implications…………………………………………………………………………57 5.3 Limitation and suggestions for further research…………………………………….60 REFERENCES…………………………………………….…………………………….62 APPENDIX 1……………………………………………………………………………67 APPENDIX 2……………………………………………………………………………80 v LIST OF TABLES Table 1: The results of equivalent in English competence in the 1st semester Table 2: The results of the number of questions that learners gained in pre - test Table 3: The procedure of the research Table 4: Relationship between the listening time and improvement vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: The controlling group Figure 2: The treatment group Figure 3: The treatment group Figure 4: The controlling group vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This study is intended to experiment the applying Extensive Listening on teaching and learning EFL at high schools as well as investigate the effects of applying Extensive listening developing their language proficiency This chapter starts with the rationale for the study, research questions, aims of the study, significance of the study, scope of the study, and organization of the study 1.1 Rationale for the study In today's our modern world, it is believed that listening plays a vital role and is one of the most important skills to master in second language acquisition especially in learning a language for communicative purpose It helps the language learners to acquire pronunciation, word stress, vocabulary, syntax and the comprehension of messages In addition, as recently, English has developed as an international language that can be used as a means of communication between people from non-English speaking countries Without listening skill, no communication can be achieved Effective listening skills are also recognized to considerably improve oral production (Andrews, Andrews and Williams, 2002) However, when listening to a second language, many language students face difficulties Listening, unlike the other language skills, is felt comparatively difficult by the learners, as it has all its interrelated sub-skills such as receiving, understanding, remembering, evaluating, and responding Moreover, listening is not yet fully integrated into the curriculum Second language learners have significant problems in listening comprehension because of the fact that high schools pay more attention to structure, writing, reading and vocabulary In Vietnam, the primary goal of the teaching and learning of English as a foreign language (EFL) at high schools was to equip students with abilities in reading comprehension and grammar tests Although with English Curriculum frameworks suggested by MOET for students at high schools - EFL instruction is expected to meet the demand to master all the four language skills and these four skills need to be taught in an integrated way - all graduated tests and examinations tend to be mainly tested about grammar, vocabularies, reading and a few about pronunciation This means communicative skills still neglected by teachers in teaching In listening lessons, students are asked to comprehension questions, true/false statements, table completions, to name a few Students focus only on the answers of these tasks but not on the skill Teachers tend to use the same textbooks and the workbooks from years to years without innovation In addition, many students complain that they often fall asleep owning to listening in their textbook Furthermore, the use of reference books to deal with exercises in the textbook has been so popular with most of the students that they not need to prepare the listening lesson beforehand Students themselves are not interested in the contents of the texts they have to listen in class while what they pay much attention to is the answers for the tasks This means listening is not important parts of many course books or syllabus and most teachers not attach importance to listening Student textbooks often offer some kinds of listening tasks and there is usually a one-sizefits-all approach to the way the texts are presented and to the choice of listening comprehension exercises Students feel bored and even de-motivated when they face with those texts in listening lessons Widdowson (1990) argues that textbooks can only present the situation of language produced which has been collected and placed for demonstration purposes and to emphasize the usage rather than its use He also focuses on the necessity of language data whereas the experience of language and communicative competence should form the ground for English learning In the broader context of EFL teaching, there seems to be a change in speaking and listening in the field of language teaching and learning It is a shift from viewing them as passive skills to acquiring them in complex processes Previously, the development of techniques and materials for teaching the listening skill seemed to be neglected in language teaching methodology Generally, it was also often assumed that listening skills could be acquired through exposure, but not really taught Currently, with the expansion of instructional frameworks relating to international language degrees and communicative approaches, listening began to be given special attention and it seems unavoidable in EFL learning It is a necessary skill because it can essentially facilitate the development of learners’ English proficiency Skills in listening can facilitate learners to participate well in oral communication Helping students develop listening proficiency has always been a particularly difficult aspect of foreign language teaching, not least because listening involves of a number of complex processes In recent years in second language (L2) teaching programs, the status of listening has undergone a substantial change Listening is no longer considered just a skill to comprehend a target spoken language but an avenue to acquire linguistic knowledge This change implies that developing good listening skills can facilitate L2 development However, listeners face a number of challenges, such as connected speech, fast speech rates, accents, or colloquial usages and slang, which seldom appear in formal L2 textbooks To arouse students’ attention and provide them with real languages for practice as well as create an active learning environment, language teachers bring in the class supplementary materials as well as apply as many as new methods in teaching and learning Since textbooks for listening skill are thought to be insufficient in many ways to present the language and communication, extensive listening, a new concept has been introduced If, however, our intention is to help student listen, then why are we using these compulsory texts for teaching year after year? Will they face those listening comprehensions in real life? Those issues raise an alarm for us, English teachers, to shift from the traditional way of following the textbook-based approach to applying extensive listening into teaching In order to achieve better results, issues about applying extensive listening have to be taken into account So far, however, there has been little discussion about the applying extensive listening in teaching and learning English at high school, especially when the curriculum for teaching is strictly governed by the MOET Therefore, this paper is designed to address the question whether or not applying extensive listening develop EFL high school students' language proficiency, arouse students’ interests and change their negative attitudes towards learning listening 1.2 Scope of the study It is mentioned that the study is conducted to not research for entire students which is conducting with the high- school students The other kinds of the students such as university students are not included in the research PART 2: Questions 6-10 Read the sentences about going camping Choose the best word (A, B or C) for each space For questions 6-10, mark A, B or C ➢ Example: Adrian and Martin school last week A B C A studied B went C finished Answer: They to go camping for their holiday A decided B thought C felt They wanted to somewhere near the sea A stand B put C stay It three hours to drive to the camp-site A had B took C got They put their tent in a of the field A centre B corner C back 10 They some postcards to their friends A bought B chose C sent 68 PART 3: Questions 11-15 Complete the five conversations For questions 11-15, mark A, B or C ➢ Example: A New York Where you come from B Home C School 11 I’m sorry we don’t have your size A What a pity! B I hope so C I’ll take it 12 How long are you going to stay in Bangkok? A For another three weeks B For the last three weeks C It took three weeks 13 See you tomorrow A That’s all right B I can’t see C Don’t be late 14 I don’t like this program A I’ll turn it on B Let’s turn it off then C You didn’t take it off 15 Can I leave early? A Before 4.30 B Yes, that’s fine C Not at all 69 PART 4: Questions 16-20 Complete the conversation What does Anita say to Kim? For questions 16-20, mark the correct letter A-H ➢ Example: Kim: What are you going to at the weekend, Anita? Anita: …………………… ➢ Answer: - H Kim: Well, I’m going to go to London Would you like to come as well? Anita: 16 Kim: Yes I must study on Sunday Great! It’ll be good to go together Anita: 17 Kim: First, I’d like to go shopping Anita: 18 Kim: Oh, I can help you choose them Is there anything else you want to do? Anita: 19 Kim: OK There’s a good one in Oxford Road It always has the newest films Anita: 20 Kim: I’m not sure, but I’ll phone and ask I know we’ll have a good day A Me, too I need some books for school and a pair of shoes B Yes, I have to work on Saturday C I’d love to I suppose you want to go on Saturday? D Fine Do we need to book tickets? E I have some money for a new jacket F What you want to there? G Yes, I’d like to go to a cinema afterwards H I don’t know 70 PART 5: Questions 21-27 Read the article about a young man and woman who lost a ring Are sentences 21-27 ‘Right’ (A) or ‘Wrong’ (B)? If there is not enough information to answer ‘Right’ (A) or ‘Wrong’ (B), choose ‘Doesn’t say’ (C) For questions 21-27, mark A, B or C THE RING AND THE FISH Thomas and Inger, who live in Sweden, are the happiest couple in the world Two years ago, they were on a boat a few kilometres from the beach Thomas asked Inger to marry him and he gave her a gold ring He wanted to put the ring on Inger’s finger, but he dropped it and it fell into the sea They were sure the ring was lost forever That is, until last week, when Mr Carlsson visited them He has a fish shop and he found the ring in a large fish which he was cutting up for one of his customers The fish thought the ring was something to eat! Mr Carlsson knew that the ring belonged to Thomas and Inger because inside the ring there were some words They were, ‘To Inger, All my love, Thomas’ And so Mr Carlsson gave the ring back to them Inger now has two rings When they lost the first one, Thomas bought Inger another one But they think the one the fish ate is the best one Example: Thomas and Inger’s home is in Sweden A B C A Right B Wrong C Doesn’t say Answer: 21 Thomas asked Inger to marry him when they were on a boat A Right B Wrong C Doesn’t say 22 Thomas put the gold ring on Inger’s finger A Right B Wrong C Doesn’t say 23 They returned from their boat trip without the ring A Right B Wrong C Doesn’t say 24 Mr Carlsson often visited Thomas and Inger A Right B Wrong C Doesn’t say 25 Mr Carlsson caught the fish A Right B Wrong C Doesn’t say 26 Mr Carlsson found the ring when he ate the fish A Right B Wrong C Doesn’t say 27 Thomas and Inger prefer the first ring A Right B Wrong C Doesn’t say 71 Part 6: Questions 28-35 Read the article about a woman called Jahan Begum For questions 28-35, mark A, B or C Jahan Begum Jahan Begum (0) ………… born on a farm in the hills She lived there with her family (28) ………… thirteen years The family grew their own food and (29) ………… animals But then one year it didn’t rain so they decided to move to (30) ………… country The journey (31) ………… the mountains was long and difficult (32) ………… first home in the new country was a tent Then Jahan’s brothers made a house with wood and stones so the family had somewhere better to live Now, (33) ………… day Jahan makes things like hats and socks out of wool She sells (34)………… in the market to get money for food She is happy with her home and her work, but she (35) ………… hopes to return to her farm in the hills one day 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 A A A A A A A A for keep any against Their some they yet B B B B B B B B after keeping another through Its each it ever C C C C C C C C For Kept That At His This Them Still Part 7: Questions 36-40 Read the descriptions of some jobs What is the word for each one? The first letter is already there There is one space for each other letter in the word For questions 36-40, write the words on your answer sheet ➢ Example: I help people to learn things teacher 36 I show customers the menu and bring them their food _ w 37 People come to my shop to buy medicine c 38 I will repair your car for you _ m 39 If you want to change the colour of your room, I will it for you p 40 I help my boss by answering the phone, making appointments and writing letters s 72 Part 8: Questions 41-50 Complete this postcard Write ONE word for each space For questions 41-50, write the words on your answer sheet Dear Jane, I’m sitting (0) ………… the beach at the moment Soon, I’m (41) ………… to have a swim I arrived here three days (42) ………… with my family We (43) ………… be on holiday together here for two weeks It (44) ………… a beautiful place The beach is very near (45) ………… hotel The sea isn’t cold and (46) ………… are many interesting places to visit Yesterday we walked (47) ………… a village in the mountains I took lots (48) ………… photographs It’s (49) ………… pity that you didn’t come (50) ………… us Love Peter 73 II Listening Part 1: Questions 1-5: You will hear five short conversations You will hear each conversation twice There is one question for each conversation For questions 1-5, put a tick (✓) under the right answer Example: How many people were at the meeting? 13 A 30 B C Where is the woman going to go on holiday this year? Canada A Italy B Turkey C What time was the man’s appointment? A B C 74 What will the weather be like? A B C How far is the nearest supermarket? 5km 3km 1km Which table A does Sally like? B A B C 75 Part 2: Questions 6-10 Listen to Tom talking to a friend about a sports afternoon What sport did each person do? For questions 6-10, write a letter (A-H) next to each person You will hear the conversation twice Example: Tom D People Sports Sam A basketball Jane B football Paul C golf Susan D horse-riding 10 Anne E skiing F table-tennis G tennis H volleyball 76 Part 3: Questions 11-15 Listen to Jenny talking to Mark about buying a computer game For questions 11-15, tick (✓) A, B or C You will hear the conversation twice Example: The name of the computer game is A City 2010 B City 2001 C City 2100 11 The game is not good for people under A B C eight ten twelve 12 Black's PC shop is in A B C Cambridge London Peterstown 13 The address of the shop is A B C 29 Hunter Road 29 Walker Street 29 Marsden Street 14 The last day you can get a free game is A B C Monday Thursday Friday 15 The computer game cost A B C £26 £30 £48 77 Part 4: Questions 16-20 You will hear a man asking for information about a train Listen and complete questions 16-20 You will hear the conversation twice TRAIN To: Newcastle Day of journey: 16 Train leaves at: 17 Return ticket costs: 18 £ Food on train: 19 Drinks and Address of Travel Agency: 20 22 78 Street Part 5: Questions 21-25 You will hear some information about a museum Listen and complete questions 21-25 You will hear the information twice Manor House Museum YOU CAN SEE: Downstairs: Entrance Hall: old photos 21 pictures of Italian ………………………… Ford Room: Upstairs: Left: 22 more than 150 ……………………………… Right: 23 ………………………………… from films and TV Price of guide book: 24 £……………………………………………… Museum closes at: 25 ………………………………………………… THE END - 79 APPENDIX Name: Class: WEEK TIME (Hours) Mon Tue Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Total: Mon Tue Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Total: Mon Tue Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Total: Mon Tue Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Total: LISTENING LOG TOPICS 80 SOURCES / WEBSITE WEEK TIME (Hours) Mon Tue Wed Thurs Fri: Sat: Sun: Total: Mon Tue Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Total: Mon Tue Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Total: Mon Tue Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Total: TOPICS 81 SOURCES / WEBSITE WEEK 10 11 12 TIME (Hours) Mon Tue Wed Thurs Fri: Sat: Sun: Total: TOPICS Mon Tue Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Total: Mon Tue Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Total: Mon Tue Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Total: 82 SOURCES / WEBSITE ... 2.3 Extensive listening? ??……………………………………………………………… 22 2.3.1 Definition of extensive listening? ??……………………………………… 22 2.3.2 Principles of extensive listening? ??……………………………………… 23 2.3.3 Extensive listening. .. intended to experiment the applying Extensive Listening on teaching and learning EFL at high schools as well as investigate the effects of applying Extensive listening developing their language proficiency... review of literature on listening comprehension and extensive listening is introduced in detail The concept of listening, extensive listening, the benefits of using extensive listening are initially