Teachers and students’ attitudes to teaching and l- 123docz.net

The very beginning part of the questionnaire focused on finding all the information about DTM HS teachers and students’ viewpoints in listening skill and its importance compared to other skills.

Question 1: How important is listening skill in the new Tieng Anh 10 textbook in comparison with other skills?

More important Equally important Less important Not necessary Don’t know

76% 24%

Table 1: Teachers’ opinion about the importance of listening

76% of the respondents thought that listening and other communicative language skills were equally important, whereas the other 24% agreed that listening is less important in school curriculum. They explained in their interview that there is no official evaluation or examination on listening, so most of them did not take so much effort to facilitate their listening lessons as reading, writing or grammar ones.

Question 2: How do your students like listening lessons and learning listening skills?

1. Strongly agree 2. Agree 3.Disagree 4. Strongly disagree 5. I don’t know

Teacher’ opinions 1 2 3 4 5

They like listening and doing the tasks in textbook 78% 11% 11%

They like listening to songs, play games or free

activities without doing tasks 33% 56% 11%

They are afraid of listening because they don’t know

how and what to do with listening tasks 22% 67% 11%

They hate listening because it is too difficult 22% 22% 56%

They are interested in listening lessons/ skills because

they want to listen to news, songs, etc. on their own. 67% 22% 11%

Table 2: Teachers’ opinions about students’ interest (and motivation) in learning listening skill and lesson

(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Difficulties.in.teaching.and.learning.English.listening.skills.in.English.experienced.by.teachers.and.10th.grade.students.at.Duong.Tu.Minh.High.School.in.Thai.Nguyen..and.some.suggested.solutions(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Difficulties.in.teaching.and.learning.English.listening.skills.in.English.experienced.by.teachers.and.10th.grade.students.at.Duong.Tu.Minh.High.School.in.Thai.Nguyen..and.some.suggested.solutions(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Difficulties.in.teaching.and.learning.English.listening.skills.in.English.experienced.by.teachers.and.10th.grade.students.at.Duong.Tu.Minh.High.School.in.Thai.Nguyen..and.some.suggested.solutions(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Difficulties.in.teaching.and.learning.English.listening.skills.in.English.experienced.by.teachers.and.10th.grade.students.at.Duong.Tu.Minh.High.School.in.Thai.Nguyen..and.some.suggested.solutions

As seen from the table, the teachers had good understanding about their students.

Throughout all the listed items, from 67% to 78% teachers agreed that the students were interested in doing tasks in the textbook and listening for entertainment. 89 % of the teachers also claimed that students were afraid of listening because they didn’t know how and what to do with listening tasks. However, fewer teachers (44 %) agreed that their students hated listening because it is too difficult compared to 56% of them who had the opposite idea that the students like listening due to its easy tasks.

Some researches were conducted from educational system to show that the students were found to possess the kinds of motivation which are instrumental and integrative.

Motivation strengthens the ambition, increases initiative and gives direction, courage, energy and the persistence to follow one's goals. A motivated person takes action and does whatever it needs to achieve his/her goals. In theory, integrative motivation is considered a key component in assisting language students to develop proficiency in a second language when they become residents in a community where the target language is used in social interactions.

In contrast, with instrumental motivation, the reasons motivated study a language because it opens up educational and economic opportunities for them.

Purposes %

Getting good marks 49

A compulsory subject 30

Job opportunities 100

Table 3: Students’ motivation of learning listening

Obviously, the table above shows that the highest percentage refers to the most important reason which is to get good job in the future (100%). However, the number of the students who possess instrumental motivation was smaller than the number of those who have integrative one in total. In details, the number of students who had purpose of getting good marks in examination accounts for 49%, a compulsory subject 30% and job opportunities in the future 100%. From the Table 2 improving listening ability to understand and communicate in real situations and listening for entertainment account for 62%, 76%, and 65% respectively.

This part gives us some information about the attitudes of both teachers and students with the listening task. In the next part, readers can get much more insight into the difficulties of listening perceived by teachers and students at DTM HS.

a. Difficulties in general and affecting factors

Question 4: What are the difficult items that you often get when studying listening skill in your class?

Items Agree Disagree Don’t know

Cannot understand the listening text and tasks due to the lack of English background knowledge and ability

89% 0% 11%

Get the main ideas but cannot do the tasks or

cannot get the required information 42% 19% 39%

Only find listening tasks boring 60% 0% 40%

Cannot listen to the text because the sound is

too soft or noisy 92% 0% 8%

Have no habits and/or techniques to practice

and improve listening skills 78% 18% 4%

Lack of listening materials(tapes or CDs) 58% 29% 13%

Table 4: Students’ difficulties in general

As seeing from Table 4, most of the subjects coped up with such above difficulties.

The most important problem involving 92% of the respondents was the difficulty in listening to the text due to the low sound or noisy sound in the tapes. This fact resulted from too big class size of 45 to 50 students and poor-equipped condition. According to the interviewed students, their teachers’ voice was not loud and attractive enough to listen to from a distance.

They did not hear anything clearly; Therefore they understood nothing.

The next is 89% of the subjects who could not understand the listening text and tasks due to the lack of English background knowledge and ability. Another 78% are aware of importance of listening habits and techniques which help to learn more effectively. This figure is optimistic to improve Students’ motivation. Moreover, 58% of the students found challenging to work with listening tasks and available materials. In addition, only 42% could get the main ideas after listening but have no idea about listening focuses and requirements.

Apart from that, it is surprising that 40% of the students did not know if the listening tasks are boring or interesting to them.

Question 6: What are your opinions about several factors that influence the students’ participation and interests in the listening lessons?

Item Agree Disagree Don’t know

Classroom condition and facilities 100% 0% 0%

Teacher’s teaching methods: interesting,

attractive, easy to understand 97% 0% 3%

Listening topic and level of difficulties of

listening tasks 46% 23% 33%

Students’ awareness, interests 18% 44% 38%

Basic background knowledge of English 90% 10% 0%

Self-study at home 78% 22%

The design of the listening lessons, tasks and

the clarity of tasks instructions 14% 30% 56%

Activities for entertainment 27% 23% 50%

Requirements of examinations 77% 15% 8%

Table 5: Factors affecting students’ participation and interests in listening lessons Table 5 reveals a fact that there are many factors that can affect students’ participation and interests. In their opinion, listening was very difficult, therefore making progress in this skill demands many aspects of teaching and learning process. The most important factor was classroom condition and facilities (100%). The second was teachers’ methods which provide them instructions or guidance to listen. It is the fact that students mostly relied on teachers’

performance in classroom. Moreover, students were not good enough in knowledge of English which directly affected their confidence and activeness in listening lesson. Another high percentage of students gave the reason of requirement of examinations. It is universal and true to any subjects. They find less interested in the design of the textbook because they have no experience in evaluating it.

b. Facilities and classroom conditions

Question 7: Do you have enough facilibilities for listening lessons?

Items Agree Disagree

The class is well-equipped with modern technology

or facilities 30% 70%

The class size is too large, the students cannot

listen well 78% 22%

The class is large enough, the students can listen

well from every place 45% 55%

Table 6: Classroom conditions

Question 9: How often do your teachers use these teaching aids?

1. Always 2. Often 3. Sometimes 4. Rarely 5. Never

Items 1 2 3 4 5 Visual aids: pictures, chalk, chart, board 0% 0% 56% 44%

Textbook and supplementary books 100%

Handouts 34% 55% 11%

Computers, speakers 56% 23% 21%

Television 100%

Tapes, recorders 58% 42%

CD/VCD 55% 45%

Projectors 60% 40%

Table 7: The use of teaching aids

According to table 7, in addition to poor-equipped conditions, using technology into language teaching and learning was a time-saving and helpful ways to make progress.

However, the results from table 8 show a dull situation at Duong Tu Minh High School.

Textbooks and supplementary materials constitute 100%. It means that teachers completely relied on this source of materials. To some extent, lack of financial support from the school and the government in terms of facility could be the excuse. Sometimes, visual aids (pictures, board, diagram) (56%), handouts (55%), computers and speakers (56%), tapes, recorders (58%), CD/VCD (55%) and projectors (60%) were employed.

c. Teacher’s role and activities in listening lessons

Question 8: What is result of student’s opinions about teacher’s roles in listening lessons?

Teachers’ role Students’ choice

Guiding and giving instructions of the purposes and how and what to

listen to 100%

Designing tasks and organizing activities in classroom 100%

Observing the class activities 96%

Listening and translating the texts 58%

Correcting listening tasks and discussing with the students 100%

Managing and controlling all students tasks and activities in classroom 100%

Reading the listening text 71%

Table 8: Teacher’s roles

The data shown in the table reveal an amazing fact of current teaching methods in which teachers play an essential roles. 100% respondents agreed that teachers had to be in charge of guiding, giving instruction, designing tasks, and correcting mistakes (or giving

feedback). Moreover, they dealt with organizing and managing activities (100%) and observing (96%) all together. According to students, everything should be under the teachers’

control. In other words, they seemed not to be aware of the new communicative teaching approaches in which, teacher and student roles were redefined: The teacher becomes a facilitator of learning instead of a dispenser of knowledge, and the students take more responsibility for their own learning. Instead of the teacher being the sole, infallible source of information, then, the teacher, shares control of the classroom and students are allowed to explore, experiment, and discover on their own.

In addition, 71% of students agreed reading the text was one of very important roles of the teachers in listening lesson. This seems inappropriate but it might result from the lack of equipment at Duong Tu Minh High School. Thus, instead of using authentic material and playing the tapes or CD, teachers’ voice is the best solution. About 58% students claimed that their teachers sometimes translated the text to help student understand the text better when correcting the answers.

Question 10: What are the listening activities in your classroom? Put a tick in the column of your choice.

1. Always 2.Often 3. Sometimes 4.Rarely 5.Never

Items 1 2 3 4 5

Teacher reads, students listen and do the tasks 0% 0% 71% 29% 0%

Students listen to a classmate’s voice and do the tasks

in the textbook 0% 82% 18%

Students listen to the tapes recorder 76% 24%

Teacher delivers tasks related to the listening text to

complete without listening 50% 24% 26%

Teacher pre-teaches new words before listening 97% 3%

Students do different tasks apart form the textbooks 28% 18% 54%

Students do extra tasks 13% 87%

Students discuss the questions given in the textbook

after listening 91% 9%

Students freely talking or discuss about any topic, not

necessary related to the text 54% 46%

Table 9: Listening activities in the classroom

The data in table 9 reveal the variety of activities in listening classroom. Apparently, the frequency and convenience of using such activities were different among classes and

teachers. The table show that students did a variety of activities in their listening lessons except for doing extra listening tasks which are not given in the textbook.

The most popular activity was teaching new words before listening with the choice of 97% of students. 91% of them also often discussed questions related to the texts; listen to the tapes recorder (76%). In some classes, only 24% students sometimes had chance to listen to the speaker’ voice in tapes that ranked at the last position of interest was doing extra tasks.

87% never enjoy these activities, only 13% sometimes do it.

Question 11: What are your opinions about the textbook?

Opinion about the new textbook Agree Disagree Don’t know

Plenty of colorful picture, illustrations. 69% 31%

Updated contents, topics 98% 2%

The sound quality of the tapes is clear and authentic 58% 42%

The speakers’ voice is not original. (Students listen

to many non- native speakers) 18% 82%

Various tasks which are suitable to students levels 39% 11% 50%

Boring tasks, few entertainment activities… 41% 47% 12%

The listening contents are long with a lesson 41% 24% 25%

Table 10: Students’ opinion about the textbook

The issue of awareness and interests in listening skill in the textbook were also mentioned to draw more incentive contribution and attention of students. The table showed that the majority of students enjoy the textbook appearance and contents (69%), and it also got another 98% of the students engaged. Unexpectedly, assessment of diversified, effective, and attractive characteristics of tasks, 50% had no idea, 39% showed their interests and 11%

did not agree.

A very interesting finding was concerned with quality of the sounds of tape recorder and materials. Only 18% gave out their own evaluation that the accents and sounds were original.

82% did not show their distinction or might be indifferent to this issue.

d. The students’ expectations towards teachers of listening skill

The students in this present study are assumed to have certain difficulties in listening, so they were asked, “What do you expect from teachers teaching listening skills to help you overcome difficulties in learning listening” which is the 6th question in the survey questionnaires for students. They response as follows:

Options Results

Provide essential listening strategies. 58%

Supply listening tasks more suitable to students’ interests and levels. 42%

Introduce supplementary listening material besides class activities. 43%

Explain new words needed for each listening tasks. 34%

Be flexible in organizing listening tasks. 27%

Explain more about the nature of spoken English. 24%

Other ideas: (please specify) ... 6%

Table 11: Expectations of the students towards teachers of listening skill

As can be seen from the table, the students wished to get a great deal of suppo rt from their teachers of listening skill to overcome difficulties in learning listening. More than half of all respondents (58%) expected to get essential listening strategies, which revealed that the students of the grade 10 lacks of sufficient listening strategies, thus they needed to be provided with more listening strategies to become effective listeners. 42%

wished to do listening tasks more suitable to students’ interests and levels and 43% like to be introduced supplementary listening materials for their self-study, 34% desire to acquire new words needed for listening tasks so that they feel easier to get the spoken input. It is hoped that teachers are supposed to be instructors that need to be flexible in teaching techniques so that they could help students overcome difficulties in language learning, specifically in learning listening.

After discussing about the difficulties of listening task through students experience, we continue to represent this case by teachers.

4.1.3. Difficulties in teaching listening experienced by teachers a. Main problems in listening lesson

In the survey questionnaires for teachers, there are several questions of question 1, question 2, and question three

Question 1: In your opinion, how important is listening skill in the new Tieng Anh 10 textbook in comparison with other skills?

Question 2: Do your students like listening lessons and learning listening skills? Tick the most appropriate column to your choice.

Question 3: Have you got any training programs or professional workshops on both language skills (including listening) and methodology for the new textbook?

The new textbook was put into operation since the beginning of the school year. Also it was the first time teachers at Duong Tu Minh High School work with it. It was reasonable for them to enjoy state or provincial training programs or professional workshops on both language skills and methodology. However, the information found was rather surprisingly.

Only 33% of teachers joined such courses. The other 67% had to do class observation at school to exchange knowledge and methods themselves. Therefore, there existed a big gap

Teachers and students’ attitudes to teaching and learning listening