3.1. Students‟ attitudes to learning listening (research question 1)
3.1.1. Attitudes to learning English and learning listening
As mentioned in the previous chapter, attitudes were classified into 5 groups.
Below are the results of the data analysis.
3.1.1.1. Attitudes towards learning English and learning listening
As can be seen from figure 4, the majority of freshmen and second-year students like learning English, accounting for nearly 37% among the total. This figure is a little higher than that of either disagreement or strong disagreement.
Even, except for the neutral opinions and no choice, more students find English learning interesting than those who do not like it (nearly 37% for the former, and 7% for the later). In contrast, when asked whether listening is their favorite subject, both groups of students who disagree and strongly disagree are more than those of agreement and strong agreement. Given the third question, there is no clear distinction among five ranks when there are one third of students who were neutral to agreement or disagreement ends and 1.5 % did not give their opinions. However, 30.8% of the students said that they like learning listening not because they want to pass the tests, which holds one third of the total number.
Figure 4. Atttitudes towards learning English and learning listening.
3.1.1.2. Attitudes towards listening lessons
Questions from 4 to 10 refer to the attitudes towards listening. However, the reseacher re-grouped the question items in which group 1 contains questions 4 and 7; group 2 encompasses questions 5, 6 and 9; and groups 3 involves questions 8 and 10 based on the ranks of likeness, the relevance of the listening lessons, and their difficulties, respectively.
Below is the chart showing the results on questions 4 and 7.
Figure 5. Attitudes towards listening lessons, question 4 and 7
The highest proportion belongs to their neutral attitudes towards listening lessons and tasks. Respondents did not know how they felt about those things.
Nearly a half of the students were reluctant to choose whether the listening lessons always excite them or listening tasks interest them or not. Even the number of the neutral answers to question 7 is much higher, accounting for 53.8%. Again, 31.5%
of the participants who did not find the lessons interesting or were not excited by
the tasks. Along with 12.3% of students who chose strong disagree option, the total number of students choosing both disagreement and strong disagreement accounted for 43.8%, compared to over 12% with contrasting attitudes and 1.5% having no opinions.
Figure 6 represents students‟ comments on the relevance of the listening lessons to the learners and the course (questions 5, 6 and 9).
Figure 6. Attitudes towards listening lessons, question 5, 6 and 9.
As can be seen from the chart, 40.8 % of the students claimed that the listening lessons did not suit their English ability, and neither did 11.5% of strong disagreement. Though 38.5% were neutral towards this question, nearly 1% did not state their opinions. In other words, most students felt that listening lessons were not suitable for them.
In contrast, a majority of students were aware of the requirements of the course or their supposed level and expectations for their school year though the number that chose neutral ideas account for a high percentage (48.5% for question 6 and 36.9% for question 9). The number of students who thought or did think the listening tasks were up to their level of the school year is nearly two times as much as that of students of disagreement and strong disagreement. Similarly, both groups understood that the tasks during listening lessons were relevant to the course, which is far more than those who disgree with this.
Information on the students‟ attitudes towards and the acknowledgement of the listening task difficulties are represented in the chart below:
Figure 7. Attitudes towards listening lessons, question 8 and 10
Apart from 30.8% holding neutral attitudes, 48.5% of the students agreed that when listening to some difficult tasks, they felt irritated. In contrast, 20.8% of the students felt nothing when listening to these tasks.
Due to some difficult listening tasks, two-thirds of the participants acknowledged the difficulties of the listening exercises. Neutral answers accounted for 14.6%, and 11.5% chose disagreement and strong disagreement.
3.1.1.3. Attitudes to tests
Questions 11 and 12 refer to attitudes to tests.
Figure 8. Attitudes to tests
About one third of the respondents agreed that the levels of tests were suitable for them. However, only 11.5% felt that the tests suit their ability, whereas nearly 41% were not happy with levels of tests and 9.2% strongly disagreed with. In
contrast, over 52% were reluctant to choose whether tests are relevant to the course objectives, though about 27% agreed.
3.1.1.4. Attitudes to teachers and materials
Questions 13 to 19 refer to students‟ attitudes towards teachers and materials.
These are divided into two smaller categories, attitudes to teachers (statements 13 to 17), and attitudes to materials (questions 18 and 19).
Concerning the content of the teaching, the researcher grouped questions 13 and 16 as displayed in the following chart:
Figure 9. Attitudes to teachers in terms of teaching content.
As can be seen, about 33% of the students were satisfied or strongly satisfied with the lessons delivered by their teachers, compared with over 17% of the students whose expectations were not met.
The next question (Q16) was marked with the high percentage of those who either agreed or strongly agreed that teachers always revised the most important contents before the tests. Of the total, there were still 24.6% of the students who did not choose whether the teacher gave a revision lesson or not. About 15% did not think that teacher gave enough revision for them.
Questions 14, 15 and 17 explore the atttitudes towards the teachers in terms of scoring.
Figure 10. Attitudes to teachers regarding scoring.
For question 14, when asked whether they received the satisfactory guidance on the forth-coming tests, 38.5% agreed and 1.5% strongly agreed, whereas 14.6%
and 5.4% disagreed and strongly disagreed with this statement, respectively.
Interestingly, the number of students with neutral opinions is the same as that of agreement, making the scale move to the right. That is, a lot of students were seen to be satisfied with their teachers‟ guidance.
Turning to question 15, more than 65 students said that they were clear about the test format given by the teachers, which is nearly five times as much as the number of students who were not (5.4% of strong disagreement and 11.5 % of disagreement). However, there were 1.5% of the total who did not choose any option.
Similarly, nearly 51% confirmed that their teachers explained the test scoring criteria. Omitting 1.5% without selection, that percentage is ten times as much as that of either disagreement or strong disagreement.
Concerning the attitudes towards materials, the below chart shows the data on questions 18 and 19.
Figure 11. Attitudes towards materials.
At first sight, there is a contradiction in students‟ answers to the two questions. Over 40% thought that listening to the course book is not enough for them whereas 40% were neutral and about 17% chose agreement on question 18.
By contrast, more than a half of the surveyed students thought that there were other good sources for listening materials besides a course book. However, a small portion left the question unanswered or even thought that listening sections were enough for them, and for their test.
3.1.1.5. Attitudes to listening performance
The three last survey questions from 20 to 23 are about the attitudes towards listening performance.
Figure 12. Attitudes to listening performance.
Nearly 62% of the participants with agreement and strong agreement claimed that good listening results encouraged them a lot in their studies and motivated them to do better. One-fourth remained neutral and 1.5 did not answer.
The next question saw a turn-around in which more students accounting for 58% of both disagreement and strong disagreement said that their listening scores are not as good as expected, compared with 5.5% of the opposite scale.
Answers to the last question seem to be the most interesting, because approximately 50% did not know whether their listening changes over time. The number of students who either agreed or disagreed is not much different.
3.2. The differences in attitudes of the two groups towards learning listening