Difficulties and give some solutions to improve listening skill for frist-year students at English Facult ABSTRACT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES CHAPTER 1 1OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY.1.1 Rationale1.2 Previous studies 1.3 Aims of the study1.4 Research subjects1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Research methodology ...1.7 Organization of the study ....CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.....2.1 Listening skill ..... 2.1.1 Definition of listening skill ...2.1.2 Traditional points of view on listening skill .2.1.3 The current point of view on listening skill....2.2 The importance of listening skill.2.3 Types of listening .2.3.1 Real-life listening2.3.2 Classroom listening ...2.4 Difficulties in listening skill...2.4.1 Problems encountered during listening2.4.2 Elements that make listening skill difficult2.4.3 Listening sub-skills 2.4.4 Major factors influencing the listening skill 2.5 Summary of previous studies ..2.6 Summary CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS 3.1 Data analysis and discussion.3.1.1 First-year students’ attitude towards listening skills 3.1.2 First-year students’ obstacles when learning listening skills 3.1.3 First-year students’ attitude towards teaching methods 3.1.4 First year students’ self-study methods to enhance listening skills 3.2 Discussion 3.3 Summary CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 4.1 Suggestions for teachers. 4.2 Suggestion for students 4.2.1 Improve sub-skills while learning to listen4.2.2 Vocabulary 4.2.3 Self-studying 4.4 Summary CONCLUSION These days, the influence of English on the world is extremely significant. In Vietnam, there are an increasing number of people who wish to know and master English since English has become an international language spoken all over the world in various aspects of life, such as communication, trade, business, healthcare, education, technology, etc. Therefore, the universalization of English for Vietnamese people is absolutely necessary. Nevertheless, the competency of using foreign language English is quite difficult and time-consuming. Vietnamese people need an appropriate and effective training program, so they can quickly take advantage of the world’s common language in the period of globalization. When starting to learn a new language, most people will choose to learn by listening first. Similar to the process to learn the mother tongue, humans all abide by the voice of an adult when they are young, and then start babbling. When a child hears the voice of an adult, they can feel the emotions of adults namely: angry, happiness, shouting or cheering, etc. At this stage, the child will imitate and learn to say in a way that adults communicate with each other. That is mainly the reason why people bring the characteristic voice of the land they were born in. After entering school, children have just been learning how to read and write. Hence, listening practice is quite important in learning foreign languages in general and English in particular. Listening, on the other hand, is a difficult skill to master. Therefore, my thesis will study the listening skill of first-year English major students at Thuongmai University. 2 There are many different reasons to conduct research on this topic. The first reason comes from the reality of the English listening skill of firstyear major students who are quite weak at this skill. Most freshmen were familiar with the high school curriculum. They only care about learning grammar and vocabulary, but spend less time on practicing language skills, particularly practicing listening to English. Most freshmen are afraid to learn to listen or listen to tests so the scores in the listening skill tests at the university seem quite low. Indeed, listening is still an important and difficult skill. When learning a foreign language, listening is a skill such as speaking, reading, and writing. They are closely interdependent. We will have a perfect conversation when we understand what is said to us. If we fail to understand spoken language, we may miss important information and respond in an inappropriate way with that content. Hence, I would like to do this research to help the freshmen students pay more attention to improve their listening skills
THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH FACULTY - - GRADUATION THESIS Topic: A STUDY ON HOW TO IMPROVE ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS FOR FRESHMEN AT ENGLISH FACULTY, THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY Supervisor: M.A HAN THI BICH NGOC Student: NGUYEN THI THU TRANG Class: K54N7 Student Code: 18D170342 HANOI - 2021 ABSTRACT Nowadays, English has become an important and popular language that numerous people use to communicate For that reason, learning foreign languages is really necessary for everyone Because it will be a useful tool for us to open up many new opportunities both in life and work as well later Besides, in order to learn English well and speak fluently, learners must also hone their language skills every day Listening, which is considered the most difficult skill in assessing foreign languages in general and English in particular, is the skill causing learners many difficulties and challenges Students at TMU also experience many difficulties in the process of learning listening skills They find it difficult to understand a message that the speaker wants to convey This can prevent them from responding exactly to what is mentioned in the question Currently, both domestic and foreign authors have done research on this aspect, but there have not been any specific essays aimed at English major freshmen of TMU Therefore, this thesis will conduct a study on the subjective and objective difficulties in English listening skill of first-year students majoring in English Then, the researcher would find out the reasons for those problems and the solutions for the freshmen in learning the listening skill Hence, I applied quantitative and qualitative methods to the research The collecting data instruments namely survey questionnaires were used to the study Raw data were converted to numbers and percentages From the analysis, the results of the research will point out the difficulties that students meet when they learn the listening skill The study especially helps find out the cause of those difficulties so that I can work out the appropriate suggestions and recommendations for these problems i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT During the process of conducting this graduation paper, I have received a great deal of support, guidance, and encouragement from my teacher as well as my friends and my family I am, first of all, greatly appreciative of my supervisor, Mrs Han Thi Bich Ngoc, MA of English Faculty of Thuongmai University, for her enthusiastic guidance, giving very helpful comments, and detailed corrections throughout my research Without her enthusiastic help and support, I would not be able to complete this study on schedule Moreover, I am very grateful to all the lecturers of the English Faculty Thuongmai University whose lectures have enriched my English knowledge for years In addition, I also would like to thank all the teachers who have taught me academic writing and research methodology so that I can achieve such a good thesis My deep appreciation also goes to the first-year students at Thuongmai University who have helped me to collect data for this study These participants have been important to the completion of my study I would like to say my thanks to all the authors of the books, magazines, and the other materials listed in the reference part for their ideas that have helped me complete this study Finally, I will send the most sincere gratitude to my family, for their assistance, support, and encouragement during conducting this study All have enabled me to accomplish my graduation paper well Hanoi, 24th December 2021 Student Trang Nguyễn Thị Thu Trang ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vi CHAPTER OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Previous studies 1.3 Aims of the study 1.4 Research subjects 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Research methodology 1.7 Organization of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Listening skill 2.1.1 Definition of listening skill 2.1.2 Traditional points of view on listening skill 2.1.3 The current point of view on listening skill 2.2 The importance of listening skill 2.3 Types of listening 10 2.3.1 Real-life listening 10 2.3.2 Classroom listening 11 2.4 Difficulties in listening skill 12 2.4.1 Problems encountered during listening 12 2.4.2 Elements that make listening skill difficult 13 2.4.3 Listening sub-skills 14 2.4.4 Major factors influencing the listening skill 15 2.5 Summary of previous studies 19 iii 2.6 Summary 20 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS 21 3.1 Data analysis and discussion 21 3.1.1 First-year students’ attitude towards listening skills 21 3.1.2 First-year students’ obstacles when learning listening skills 22 3.1.3 First-year students’ attitude towards teaching methods 27 3.1.4 First year students’ self-study methods to enhance listening skills 28 3.2 Discussion 29 3.3 Summary 29 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 31 4.1 Suggestions for teachers 31 4.2 Suggestion for students 32 4.2.1 Improve sub-skills while learning to listen 32 4.2.2 Vocabulary 34 4.2.3 Self-studying 34 4.4 Summary 36 CONCLUSION 37 REFERENCES APPENDIX iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS TMU Thuongmai University BBC British Broadcasting Corporation CCN Cable News Network ESL English as Second Language ABC American Broadcasting Company MA Master of Art EFL English as a Foreign Language Etc Et Cetera v LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES No Name Content Chart 3.1 Students' Assessment of English Listening Skill 21 Chart 3.2 Student’s Opinions on the Importance of Listening Skill 21 Chart 3.3 Common Obstacles in Learning Listening Skill 22 Chart 3.4 Chart 3.5 Chart 3.6 Teacher's Activities to Create Interest in the Listening Lesson The Frequency of First-years Students' Listening Selfpractice First-year Student's Activities to Improve Listening Skill vi Page 27 28 28 CHAPTER OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY The first chapter consists of the research topic The first problem presented is the reason for studying the topic as well as previous research and the aims of the study Besides, Chapter also points out the research subject and scope of the study Moreover this is also the chapter outlining research methodology used in the study process Finally, this chapter is a chapter that summarizes the parts of the organization of the study 1.1 Rationale These days, the influence of English on the world is extremely significant In Vietnam, there are an increasing number of people who wish to know and master English since English has become an international language spoken all over the world in various aspects of life, such as communication, trade, business, healthcare, education, technology, etc Therefore, the universalization of English for Vietnamese people is absolutely necessary Nevertheless, the competency of using foreign language English is quite difficult and time-consuming Vietnamese people need an appropriate and effective training program, so they can quickly take advantage of the world’s common language in the period of globalization When starting to learn a new language, most people will choose to learn by listening first Similar to the process to learn the mother tongue, humans all abide by the voice of an adult when they are young, and then start babbling When a child hears the voice of an adult, they can feel the emotions of adults namely: angry, happiness, shouting or cheering, etc At this stage, the child will imitate and learn to say in a way that adults communicate with each other That is mainly the reason why people bring the characteristic voice of the land they were born in After entering school, children have just been learning how to read and write Hence, listening practice is quite important in learning foreign languages in general and English in particular Listening, on the other hand, is a difficult skill to master Therefore, my thesis will study the listening skill of first-year English major students at Thuongmai University There are many different reasons to conduct research on this topic The first reason comes from the reality of the English listening skill of firstyear major students who are quite weak at this skill Most freshmen were familiar with the high school curriculum They only care about learning grammar and vocabulary, but spend less time on practicing language skills, particularly practicing listening to English Most freshmen are afraid to learn to listen or listen to tests so the scores in the listening skill tests at the university seem quite low Indeed, listening is still an important and difficult skill When learning a foreign language, listening is a skill such as speaking, reading, and writing They are closely interdependent We will have a perfect conversation when we understand what is said to us If we fail to understand spoken language, we may miss important information and respond in an inappropriate way with that content Hence, I would like to this research to help the freshmen students pay more attention to improve their listening skills Secondly, learning listening skills are the most difficult part of learning a foreign language Listening is a receptive skill but it is often the hardest skill for students It is different from reading skills While reading, people have more chances to refer back to the text to clarify understanding, which a listener cannot conduct in most listening contexts such as meetings, discussions, lectures, or conversations After nearly four years of study at Thuongmai University's English Faculty, I have realized that first-year English major students still struggle with their listening abilities Thus, the present study is done to improve the listening skills of first-year students at the English Faculty-Thuongmai University Because this first year is a good time for listeners to improve their limitations, especially in listening skills Freshmen have a great deal of time and resources to research and enhance their skills I hope the results of this study bring benefits not only for me but also for the first-year students who are weak in English listening skills These are the main rationales that prompt me to carry out the study of the topic “ A Study on How to Improve English Listening Skills for Freshmen at English Faculty, Thuongmai University” 1.2 Previous studies In the references, I found that the research results and information in the following two author’s language studies are relevant and useful for the research: The Role of Listening in language acquisition; the Challenges & Strategies in Teaching Listening (D Renukadevi, 2014); factors Affecting Listening Comprehension and Strategies for Improvement (Naci Yildiz and Mustafa Albay, 2015) The first previous study that the researcher refers to is “ The Role of Listening in Language Acquisition; the Challenges & Strategies in Teaching Listening'' ( D Renukadevi, 2014) D.Renukadevi was an Assistant Professor of the Department of English, Erode Sengunthar Engineering College, Thudupathi, Erode, Tamilnadu, 638 057 Until the late nineteenth century written skill was predominant in language learning, but then onwards, listening began to achieve remarkable results in language teaching Because of new tactics that contribute to good listening, the challenges of teaching listening are now more recognized, and the broad availability of technology aids language learners in improving their listening abilities Yet, the assessment of their listening skills remains weak, and hence innovations are to be made to renovate the teaching or learning of listening The purpose of this study is to discuss the importance of listening in language acquisition as well as the difficulties in achieving listening competency, as well as some ways for overcoming them The other study relates to the topic: “Factors Affecting Listening Comprehension and Strategies for Improvement: A Case Study” ( Naci Yildiz & Mustafa Albay, 2015) Naci Yildiz was at the Department of English Language Teaching, Suleyman Demirel University, Almaty, Kazakhstan, and Mustafa Albay stayed at the Department of English Language Teaching, Ishik University, Erbil, Iraq The ability to receive messages conveyed by speakers is referred to as listening comprehension However, deciphering and constructing meaning from these messages is not always simple When it comes to listening comprehension, there are a few things to consider These elements enable listening materials to become the comprehension of learners The major focus of this research was on the 3.1.4 First year students’ self-study methods to enhance listening skills Chart 3.5: The Frequency of First-years Students' Listening Self-practice This question aims to investigate students’ listening to self-study at home It portrays that most of the students never practice listening (44%), and 30% of them barely learn listening at home By contrast, the proportion of students who often or sometimes it is really low, just about 26% (19% of students choose often and 7% of them choose sometimes) From this chart, it can be concluded that most of the freshmen not practice listening at home, although it is a good method to improve listening Chart 3.6: First-year student's activities to improve listening skills 28 The bar chart illustrates the percentage of students using different methods to boost their listening skills Students almost choose to watch English movies, learn from the internet and listen to music with the quite notable percentage, 85%, 59%, and 56% respectively Besides, only 10% of students usually listen to the news from CNN, BBC, and ABC NETWORKS, and 17% of them communicate with native English speakers 3.2 Discussion Through surveys, the researcher can figure out the causes as well as suitable solutions for the listening skills of first-year students Most first-year students appreciate the importance of listening skills when learning a foreign language When they listen well, they can communicate and this will open up many opportunities in their work later when negotiating with foreign partners However, the students also believe that this is one of the four skills that are very difficult and require learners to persevere Second, there are a number of difficulties that students face in the process of learning to listen, such as long listening text or fast speaking speed, predicting what speakers talk about Besides, a background of uncertain knowledge, as well as a lack of cultivation of social knowledge, makes them often have problems with unfamiliar themes, different accents, and linking and elision Finally, to learn a foreign language well, self-study for each person is extremely necessary Yet, with the survey results obtained, most people not apply the self-study method Perhaps, they are not still aware of the usefulness of this method This can also be considered as a factor that makes students unable to improve their listening skills well To sum up, after identifying the specific difficulties of students, I will try to come up with useful solutions that they can apply in the learning process 3.3 Summary To conclude, this chapter has indicated the difficulties of first-year students of the English Department, Thuongmai University in learning English listening skills The data obtained through the survey has been analyzed in the most accurate way It has been shown that most first-year students experience various obstacles 29 while practicing listening skills in class These problems are not only from learners but also influenced by a number of external factors Although no matter how difficult this skill is for learners, it is undeniable that it is a very important skill that needs to be cultivated and practiced every day Hence, in chapter 4, I will give some possible methods to help first-year English majors fortify their listening skills 30 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS Following the theoretical background in chapter 2, the data collection and analysis in chapter 3, chapter will focus on some effective solutions that can be proposed to bring efficiency to the listening ability of students' It will be done in response to the needs and interests of first-year English majors in improving their listening in class 4.1 Suggestions for teachers Teachers play an important role in improving learners’ listening skills Teachers 'teaching activities receive a lot of students' interest According to the survey, students have proposed some useful activities so that teachers create motivation and encouragement for students' listening skills Teachers should enhance the essential knowledge background such as giving new words or structures that are related to listening to learners before listening This will help students listen better at the while-listening stage On the other hand, teachers can organize games to practice vocabulary for students This activity not only helps students feel excited but also helps the classroom atmosphere to be interesting This will help students reduce pressure on the vocabulary in the listening and memorize them more effectively In addition, teachers can create more interesting activities to motivate students to participate After the listening lessons, the teacher can divide the class into small groups so that you can summarize the idea then present the content by your expression If a group does well, teachers can reward them to encourage the spirit of learning with the following lessons By contrast, the groups are not good, teachers should encourage and suggest weaknesses for them to improve better with the following lessons I think with this method, students not only practice listening skills but also other skills such as presentation skills and skills This activity also helps students practice the critical brainstorm of each person 31 4.2 Suggestion for students 4.2.1 Improve sub-skills while learning to listen With the results of the analysis in chapter 3, I realize that most of the freshmen have frequent difficulties with long listening text or the speed of fast speech Therefore, I think freshmen should hone in on additional skills in the process of learning listening skills such as predicting or taking notes that can help them catch up with the main information in the lesson Predicting This tool can be used in neither the pre-listening nor while-listening stages Students are required to anticipate what the text is all about or what the speaker is about to say next Students can imagine and forecast what they are going to hear, find out something about the topic of the listening lesson or something about the speakers Furthermore, students can be asked to predict the grammar structures that are likely to be employed in the listening text or make a listing of words, phrases that relate to the theme and may appear in the listening task Before the listening stage, learners can consider the topic of the text, read, underline keywords, or circle unchangeable keywords from headings Furthermore, thinking about the type of text (such as news, articles, lecture), and predicting what they expect to hear about are two useful methods for learners When listening, students should concentrate on semantic markers: Markers that signal something negative will follow: I’m afraid …., actually, in fact,… Markers introduce an idea that runs against what has been said, or is going to be said such as but, yet, nevertheless, although,… Markers used for listing, namely firstly, in the first place, secondly, lastly,… Markers that represent the cause and effect relationship between one idea and another, namely so, because, since,… Markers indicate that the speaker or writer is going to depict his opinions by giving examples, saying as an example, for instance,… 32 Markers which indicate what the speaker or writer is about, to sum up, his messages or part of it: to summarize, what I have been saying is this… Semantic markers used to express a time relationship, like then, next, when,…In this manner, students can familiarize themselves with key definitions and vocabulary before listening to the spoken text When students have a particular vocabulary in mind, they will be more self-confident and thus, able to listen effectively Note-taking Efficient note-taking is indispensable for students to have material of lectures for future study and review This will give a variety of techniques to improve notetaking skills including mapping There are some recommendations for note-taking of freshmen: Students should use ink Notes in pencil will smear and are hard to read anyway Be sure to use a large notebook to serve notes Leave wide margins and not crowd lines together Plenty of white space is significant so as to illustrate the relationships of ideas to each other Use note-taking shorthand to dwindle as many ideas as possible Reduce vital words – not use complete sentences Use symbols as substitutes for words Use abbreviations such as using initials, half-words to portray keywords Do not attempt to note everything the lecturer said Listen for the signals The speaker is almost sure to say something like “the first point I want to discuss today…” Underline the first main theme Then write down, in list form but without including numbers, the most important things the speakers discuss Read the notes over as soon after class as possible to mend handwriting, spelling, and clarity In summary, when those two sub-skills are combined, students will be able to confidently handle long listening text or fast-paced speeches They can solve problems more simply because anticipation and note-taking will help you to grasp the general content and capture the keywords needed to understand the text 33 4.2.2 Vocabulary When a student hears one sentence or a text that has too many new words, it is certain that students will feel confused and thereby form fear with this skill So it can be said that almost the majority of the most first-year students now face huge obstacles in listening practice These can be regarded as why students need to accumulate a lot of knowledge for improving listening Learning new vocabulary: Students can learn new words through the listeners who have learned in class or learning from the themes They can also combine voice recognition and spaced repetition methods to learn vocabulary In parallel, they should use a dictionary during learning which is a good way to look up new words and improve speaking later such as finding pronunciation, the meaning of words, etc Using new words: students set a goal for themselves, try to set a target for the number of words to learn in a week, and then work them into the learner's speech and writing With these methods, students will memorize longer Building vocabulary: With the explosion of digital technology, there are many useful applications that help students learn vocabulary effectively as well as help them save time and expense Students can download audio versions of books to practice both active and passive listening skills as well as access to new words quickly For example, currently, students believe that learning English vocabulary easily with Quizlet or Anki applications that allow them to take note of new words then remind them to learn words suitably Finally, by improving vocabulary with different topics, I believe students will reduce encounter difficulties with unfamiliar themes listeners 4.2.3 Self-studying Listening is a skill that demands the constant application and exposure of certain principles until they become habitual It is also a long process and it requires learners to harden and persevere Hence, additionally classroom learning, first-year students need to build a self-study habit of studying, creating discipline for themselves to become well-skilled people 34 Self-study is regarded as the best way for students to discover their strengths and weaknesses Thanks to this method, they can determine the specific objectives and planning that is a crucial step to start the schedule to improve their hearing skills For example, almost all students create habits of listening to every word in the audio so they get bored and frustrated with listening soon As a result, they answered the listening assignments by guessing rather than understanding the text Those are bad habits that we have to change Learners should learn to focus on the message rather than understand every word to understand the information they need from the audio During listening, freshmen ought to summarize the ideas they listen to and take notes Furthermore, after completing the lesson listening to the class, students can proactively listen to the audio again, write down keywords, and exercises involved in that passage, or if you have enough perseverance you can recount that content according to your expression This method not only helps you review new vocabulary but also helps you practice speaking effectively Students can try to follow a daily timetable, on the first day it will be a challenge, the second day it will become a practice, and the third day it will become a habit Thus, first-year students will be aware of the progress through this and the listening skills will no longer be an obstacle for them to learn foreign languages As mentioned before, listening is always an obsession with the majority of freshmen One of those reasons is that they always feel worried and depressed when they listen to something that they understand very little Some students can not listen and not recognize this word because they still pronounce it incorrectly before To overcome anxiety, freshmen should stay confident, try to read the requirements carefully, and effectively listen to sub-skills In addition, they should practice reading more and more in order to be sensitive to these phonetic phenomena They also should more phonetic practice namely sound discrimination, elision so they can master these features of spoken English They also should understand the stress, rhythm, and intonation of the word and sentence in the speech to get rid of the listening barriers in phonetics 35 The students want to gain listening better results, they should try their best to build their good listening habits and to improve their background knowledge Nowadays there are many various methods to learn English To hone your listening skills, you should spend to 10 minutes or more listening to short English news every day by source namely BBC, CNN, The New York Times, and so on, or watch a movie with English subtitles They can even opt to listen to news programs only if they prefer or they can download and listen in their own time and at their own pace It is crucial for students to listen to news items on a regular basis so that they can profit from the opportunities to practice listening such as applying vocabulary to the news in life situations Furthermore, watching movies with English subtitles is not only an entertainment activity but also is a method that helps students improve their listening skills well Through the film, you will be able to get used to the different accents of the actors, and you can even learn more vocabulary from the characters' words English access through those tools will help you become familiar with native intonation, pronunciation, indigenous expressions, and even boost your vocabulary In summary, through these methods, students can improve their effectiveness skills When practicing listening many times, students will not have difficulty with different accents namely British, India, Australia, or will no longer be surprised with linking sounds and elision of speakers 4.4 Summary Listening skills can be considered the final destination of foreign language learners Thus the appropriate learning methods are a top priority for each student who wants to become actually good at speaking a second language Moreover, to make progress in basic skills such as vocabulary, and sentence structures, it is more essential to boost students’ learning motivation, build up their learning autonomy, and have them concentrate on developing their background knowledge, listening strategies 36 CONCLUSION Listening is essential in our daily lives, particularly in communication As a result, among the four skills, teaching and acquiring listening in English is considered the most challenging Furthermore, as a result of the growing tendency of regional and international economic integration, English has become increasingly popular at Vietnamese colleges This document was written with the intention of offering some suggesting strategies and activities to the listening skills, as well as to develop listening abilities Some listening issues were discovered by analysis based on data Then there were a slew of suggestions for how to help pupils improve their listening abilities The first-year students at TMU's Faculty of English should practice active listening as one of their communication skills in order to become more active listeners Hopefully, first-year students at TMU's Faculty of English will be able to use the paper to help them strengthen their listening abilities Finally, based on the findings, experts have identified certain typical learning challenges that students face, such as various accents, restricted vocabulary, and so on As a result, the researcher can provide some practical recommendations for students to overcome their difficulties, such as developing additional skills, expanding vocabulary, practicing listening every day, and so on 37 REFERENCES Brown H.D (2001) Teaching by principles: an interactive approach to Language Pedagogy New York: Longman Buck (2001) Assessing Listening Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Berman (2003) “Advance listening strategies” Doff, A (1995) Teaching English: A training course for teachers Cambridge University Express D Renukadevi (2014) “The Role of Listening in Language Acquisition; the Challenges & Strategies in Teaching Listening'' Dwi Raza Saraswaty (2018) “Learners' difficulties and strategies in listening comprehension” Gillham,B (2000) Case Study Research Methods Continuum Gilakjani and Ahmadi ( 2011) “A study on factors impacting EFL learners' English listening comprehension and suggestions for improvement" Goh (2016) Learners’ listening comprehension difficulties in English language learning: A literature review 10 Howatt, A and J Darkin (1974) Language laboratory materials 11 Littlewood (1981) Communicative Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 12 Marry Underwood (1989) Teaching listening London: Longman 13 Martin, P (1993) Task for language teachers: A resource book for training and development Cambridge University Express 14 Munro and Derwing (1999) Foreign accent, comprehensibility, and intelligibility in the speech of second language learners 15 Nord, J.R (1980) Developing listening fluency before speaking: An alternative paradigm, system 16 Nation, L.P.S (1990) Language teaching techniques, Victoria University of Wellington English Language Institute 17 Naci Yildiz & Mustafa Albay (2015) “Factors Affecting Listening Comprehension and Strategies for Improvement: A Case Study” 18 Penny Ur (1984) Teaching listening comprehension Cambridge University Press 19 Rivers Wilga, M (1986) Teaching foreign language skill The University of Chicago Press 20 Rost, M (2002) Teaching and researching and teaching English London, UK: Longman 21 Samuels, S (1984) Factors influencing listening: Inside and Outside the head Modern language 22 Scott Shelton (2008) Teaching Listening to Advanced Learners: Problems and Solutions APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE A STUDY ON HOW TO IMPROVE ENGLISH LISTENINGS SKILLS FOR FRESHMAN AT ENGLISH FACULTY, THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY I'm Trang Currently, I am doing a study on how to improve English listening skills for first-year students at the English Faculty, Thuongmai University All collected data will be just used for the research of the topic and all your information will be kept confidential We look forward to receiving your support for this survey Sincerely thank! Question 1: What you think about listening skills? A.Very difficult B Difficult C Very easy D Easy E Normal Question 2: How you rate the importance of listening skills? A Very important B Important C A little important D Not important Question 3: How often you encounter these following problems? ( Put a tick in an appropriate column) Problems Frequency Never Sometimes Often Always Making predictions what speaker talk about Guessing unknown words or phrases Unfamiliar topics Different accents Speed of speech Linking and elision Ungrammatical sentences Long listening Noise (talking, vehicles,etc.) Poor tape quality Poor equipment ( lack of headphones, classroom is not well soundproof, error audio, etc.) Question 4: Can you recommend some activities for teachers to improve students' listening skill? …………………………………… Question 5: What are your teachers’ activities to create interest before listening? A Helping the learners to understand the purpose of listening text B Giving some guiding questions C Providing new words and structures D Giving suggestions Question 6: How often you self-practice listening skills? A Sometimes B Rarely C Never D Often Question 7: What you to improve your listening skills? A Watch English movies B Listen to music C Listen to news (eg: BBC, CNN, ABC Networks…etc) D Talk with native speakers E Learn from the Internet F Others Thank you very much for your cooperation! ... MA of English Faculty of Thuongmai University, for her enthusiastic guidance, giving very helpful comments, and detailed corrections throughout my research Without her enthusiastic help and support,... enabled me to accomplish my graduation paper well Hanoi, 24th December 2021 Student Trang Nguyễn Thị Thu Trang ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii TABLE OF... nearly four years of study at Thuongmai University's English Faculty, I have realized that first-year English major students still struggle with their listening abilities Thus, the present study is