Data in the SPSS file were analyzed using Spearman. Two values, r and p, were extracted and collected into the following table. As shown in the table, Spearman‟s correlation coefficient is “r” value, and “p” represents statistical significance.
Table 2
Results of Spearman Rho Tests on the Correlation between Students' Listening Learning Attitudes and Listening Performance
Question/ Variable r value p value
1 .218 .015
2 .262 .003
3 .297 .001
4 .183 .044
5 .286 .001
6 .095 .295
7 .199 .026
8 -.072 .429
9 -.035 .700
10 -.134 .139
11 .229 .011
12 .157 .081
13 .070 .437
14 .010 .916
15 -.118 .196
16 .066 .470
17 -.097 .285
18 -.003 .969
19 .193 .032
20 .107 .238
21 .244 .006
22 .227 .012
As can be seen, there are two outstanding relationships among variables, both positive and negative. Ranging from 0 to 1 is value “r” of variables 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 19, 20, 22 and 23. In contrast, variables 8, 9, 10, 15, 17 and 18 see a negative relationship, of which question 17 refers to very strong negative correlation, question 8 to a strong one.
To understand whether learners differ in their attitudes towards learning listening, whether different groups of learners differ in their attitudes to this subject, and these attitudes correlate with their performance, more discussion will be in the subsequent part.
3.4. Discussion
3.4.1. Attitudes towards learning English and learning listening.
It is interesting to note that though their teachers helped explain the wording in the questionnaire, and all questionnaire items are presented in both English and Vietnamese, most participants were neutral to the 3 first questions, which accounts for one third of the total surveyed. Though 37% of the participants like learning English, 12.3% like listening English. Comparing the percentages in figure 4, the number of learners who like English decreased partly due to listening skill.
However, the question about why English is important was answered by over 36%
who said that it is necessary to learn English not just to pass the tests. However, nearly 31% refuted this purpose. One of the reasons common in the research context is that English is a compulsory subject; therefore, learners need to pass the listening test along with other tests. However, what can be inferred from their reluctance to answer the three first questions is that there are many other reasons that may either interest or disinterest learners to give their real choices. The results, therefore, would be much more reliable when considering some other matters like the environment encompassing teaching method and friend intervention.
As discussed above, their attitudes can be revealed through listening lessons and tasks. However, again, most of the students did not know whether the lessons or tasks were interesting or exciting. One third disagreed that listening lessons and
tasks were interesting while one fourth was against listening tasks. Over all, except for those refusing to select an option and neutral categories, more students did not find listening lessons and tasks interesting than those of argument or strong argument. They did not know whether or not they like the listening lessons and tasks; hence, teachers should do something to draw their attention to their lecture.
Teachers partly play an important role in forming the right attitudes to learning listening. Learners differ in their attitudes to teachers regarding the lecture delivery and test revision, which may be due to the fact that they graduated from different types of educational institutions, or the experiential age. It is common in the research context that teachers revise all the important contents before the tests;
however, this kind of review is not up to their expectation since a large percentage of the surveyed had neutral opinion or did not think teacher did that. That is, different teachers offer different ways of reviewing the lessons.
Again, there are about 8% who had neutral opinions to the fact that listening to the course book was not enough to practice listening skill, and 22% did not find it necessary to listen to other sources. That is because of the fact that a part of the test is compiled from the course book, so these students just focused on this material.
Approximately half the number of participants felt that good results can positively affect their later performance; however, in fact, they could not answer whether their listening can be adjusted over time.
That is to say, few students like learning English, and there are many reasons why these students like learning English. Despite such an interest, learning listening is a barrier due to the irrelevance of the listening lessons and tasks.
To sum up, students did not have the right attitudes towards their learning English and learning listening. Raising learners‟ awareness, hence, is a necessity.
3.4.2. The difference between two groups of learners towards listening English.
As can be seen from Table 1 (page 33), the p values in questions 10, 12, 17 and 20 are lower than 0.05, indicating that there is a significant difference between
the two groups in terms of the acknowledgement of difficulties with listening comprehension, test relevance to the course objectives, teachers‟ explanation of the test scoring criteria, and the agreement on the stimulus of good listening results over their later performance. It is clear that based on the school year, the course objectives will change accordingly to higher requirements. These requirements are the basis for different expectations of the two groups about the explanations from teachers concerning the test scoring criteria. Also, comparing the mean ranks between Year 1 and Year 2, the results given by freshmen students in questions 10, 12, 17 and 20 are lower than those by the second-year students, indicating that group 2 can be considered as having more positive attitudes in these items. The difference between 2 groups of students is statistically meaningful in these items.
In contrast, p >= 0.05 for the rest of the items does not reject the null hypothesis that there is no difference between two groups. Therefore, in these cases, there is no difference between students of two school years in their attitudes to listening.
To sum up, there were differences in two groups of students about the acknowledgment of listening comprehension difficulties, perception of test relevance, perception of teachers‟ explanation of the test scoring criteria, and the stimulation of good listening results over their later performance.
3.4.3. The correlation between attitudes and listening performance.
As can be seen from Table 2 (page 35), p value of correlations 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 19, 20, 22 and 23 range from 0 to 3. Of these values, correlations 1, 2, 3, 5, 11, 19, 21, 22 show slight statistical significance from 0.02 to 0.035 (Cohen, Manion, and Morrison, 2007: 536). That is, a slight correlation was found between students‟ attitudes to learning English and their listening performance which was statically significant (r= 0.218, p= 0.015), between attitude to learning listening skill and listening performance (r= 0.262, p= 0.003), between attitude to the purpose of learning listening and listening performance (r= 0.297, p=
0.001), between attitude to the suitability of listening lessons and listening
performance (r= 0.286, p= 0.001), between attitude to the suitability of listening tests and listening performance (r= 0.229, p= 0.011), between attitude to extra listening materials and listening performance (r= 0.193, p= 0.032), attitude to expected listening scores and listening performance (r= 0.244, p= 0.006), and attitude to belief in listening improvement and listening performance (r= 0.227, p=
0.012).
In contrast, variables 4, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 16, 19, and 20 are of negligible correlation. This means that learners‟ interest in listening lessons and tasks, and their attitudes to tests and teachers in terms of lecture delivery and test guidance, and use of extra materials had little to do with their performance. Also, there was a weak correlation between the stimulation of good results and their later performance.
Moreover, questions 8, 9, 10, 15, 17 and 18 saw a negative relationship (r= - 0.072, r = -0.035, r = -0.134, r = -0.118, r = -0.097, and r = -0.003), of which question 17 refers to very strong negative correlation, question 8 to a strong one.
That is, there was no correlation between understanding of listening learning difficulties and test objectives or that of relevance to learner‟s ability, and their listening performance, the explanation on test format and scoring, and perception of listening to extra materials.
Though “r” values ranges from 0 to approximately 0.3 in all correlations, correlation between each variable and the listening performance variable is low. It may be concluded that learners‟ attitudes did not correlate with their listening performance. That is, there are other factors that interfere with their listening performance. English ability is linked with aptitude, but learners are non-majors entering the university with modest entrance exam results. Their basic abilities cannot afford to facilitate foreign language learning (Carroll and Sapon, cited in Dửrnyei). Also, test design is a possible factor which lowers the correlation. The giving tailored listening lessons and tests of teachers could help improve learners‟
listening performance.
PART C: CONCLUSION