(LUẬN văn THẠC sĩ) the use of the internet tool as an assistance for first year non major students at namdinh university of technology education in basic english self study

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES *********** NGÔ THỊ THƠM THE USE OF THE INTERNET TOOL AS AN ASSIS

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

***********

NGÔ THỊ THƠM

THE USE OF THE INTERNET TOOL AS AN ASSISTANCE FOR YEAR NON-MAJOR STUDENTS AT NAMDINH UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION IN BASIC ENGLISH SELF-STUDY

FIRST-(Using web-based listening activities to develop the skill of

listening for details)

(Nghiên cứu việc sử dụng công cụ Internet để bổ trợ quá trình tự học tiếng Anh cơ bản của sinh viên không chuyên năm thứ nhất trường Đại học Sư phạm Kỹ thuật Nam Định- Sử dụng hoạt động nghe dựa trên nền mạng

Internet để phát triển kỹ năng nghe lấy thông tin chi tiết)

M.A THESIS (Minor Programme)

Field: Language Teaching Methodology

Code: 60 14 10

Hanoi - 2012

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

***********

NGÔ THỊ THƠM

THE USE OF THE INTERNET TOOL AS AN ASSISTANCE FOR YEAR NON-MAJOR STUDENTS AT NAMDINH UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION IN BASIC ENGLISH SELF-STUDY

FIRST-(Using web-based listening activities to develop the skill of

listening for details)

(Nghiên cứu việc sử dụng công cụ Internet để bổ trợ quá trình tự học tiếng Anh cơ bản của sinh viên không chuyên năm thứ nhất trường Đại học Sư phạm Kỹ thuật Nam Định- Sử dụng hoạt động nghe dựa trên nền mạng

Internet để phát triển kỹ năng nghe lấy thông tin chi tiết)

M.A THESIS (Minor Programme)

Field: Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10

Supervisor: Dr Do Tuan Minh

Hanoi - 2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Abstract

PART ONE – INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

2 Aims of the study

3 Research questions

4 Scope of the study

5 Method of the study

6 Significance of the study

7 Design of the study

PART TWO – DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 The Internet as a language teaching and learning tool

1.2 Drawbacks of the Internet in language teaching and learning

1.3 Web-based language learning activities

1.4 Listening comprehension- a brief theoretical overview

1.4.1 Definition of listening

1.4.2 Strategies of listening comprehension

1.4.3 Process of comprehension in listening

1.4.4 Types of listening activities

1.5 Listening practice in relation to the web

1.5.1 Reasons for using the web for developing and improving listening comprehension

1.5.2 An example of free listening materials sources and web-based listening techniques and activities

CHAPTER 2: METHOD OF THE STUDY

2.1 Quasi-experimental research

2.2 The setting of the study

2.3 Participants

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2.4 Instruments

2.4.1 Pretest and postest

2.4.2 Survey questionnaire

2.5 Procedure of the study

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS

3.1 Findings

3.1.1 Research question 1

3.1.2 Research question 2

3.1.3 Research question 3

3.2 Implications

PART THREE – CONCLUSION

1 Conclusion

2 Limitations of the study

3 Suggestions for further study

References

Appendices

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LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS

Screen shot from the WBLL Website with a session planner

Screen shot from Randall‟s Cyber Listening Lab Website

Result of t-test for comparison between pretest scores of experimental

group and control group

Descriptive Statistics for Pretest and Posttest scores of Experimental

group

Descriptive Statistics for Pretest and Posttest scores of Control group

Result of t-test for comparison between posttest scores of experimental

group and control group

Students‟ gender

Pretest and Posttest Mean Increase

The importance of the web-based listening activities

Frequency of using the web-based listening activities

Efficiency of using the web-based listening activities

Listening section‟s level of difficulty

PART ONE – INTRODUCTION

8 Rationale

The Internet is a global network of computer networks It provides language teachers with network-based teaching environments in which they can create meaningful tasks and use various materials for language learners The hypermedia nature of the World Wide Web, in particular, has greatly expanded the power of computer-assisted language learning by allowing learners to explore and discover their learning paths themselves and offering them easy access to an on-line database of resources (Son, 2008) With a variety of hyperlinked multimedia documents and computer-mediated communication tools, the web can support to integrate web resources into either language teaching and learning activities or into language classroom in next few years It can be also a virtual library that has a huge amount of information valuable to English as a second language teaching (Allodi,1998; Bell, 1998; Murray & McPherson, 2004; Son, 2005; Warschauer & Healey, 1998) In addition, Web-based Language Learning (WBLL) has the potential to increase learner motivation and engage learners in culturally authentic and highly interactive language experience (Chun & Plass, 2000; Kung & Chuo, 2002; Mosquera, 2001) WBLL is language learning that involves the use of the web and exploits web materials, resources, applications or tools (Son, 2007) Given that WBLL occurs with web activities on the web, it is important to use well-designed WBLL activities to maximize language learning

Of the four English language skills that are often taught separately, listening requires more efforts from both course developers and learners Unlike courses for other skills, which are mostly paper-based, listening courses are a combination of paper-based materials in the form

of a course book, and sound-based materials in the form of audio on tapes/compact discs (Wong, 2005) However, learners get to keep only the course book, and can access the course audio only in class, which essentially prescribes teacher-centered lessons Learner autonomy,

if it is to take place at all, necessitates a different delivery mode To some extent, the web seems to be a new tool contributing to the formation of that alternativemode This paper studies the use of the Internet tool as an assistance for first-year non-major students at Namdinh University of Technology Education (NUTE) in basic English self-study More specifically, it is the students‟use of web-based listening activities to develop the skill

of listening for details While reporting the results of listening activities trial that explored, selected and developed web activities for students, it investigates the usefulness of the web activities in their listening comprehension practice and the difficulties as well

The author hopes that this research would make a small but helpful contribution to the effective use of the Internet with web- based activities for the development of non-major students‟ listening self-study at Vietnamese universtities in general and at NUTE in particular Also, this would be one of the foundation for further researches into the area in the near future

9 Aims of the study

The ultimate purpose of this study is to effectively apply the use of web-based listening activities to develop the skill of listening for details at NUTE The following aims are wished

(ii) What are students‟ opinions and attitudes towards the use of web-based listening activities in the suggested websites in their listening self-study?

(iii)What are the problems that students have during the self- study process of using based activities to improve their listening comprehension skill?

web-11 Scope of the study

The study operates within the following scopes:

(i) The use of the Internet with web-based activities in listening comprehension self-study

is a wide topic so it is impossible to discuss every aspect of it in this research As such, only the use of two activities: listening to the songs and ticking off items in the website

http://genkienglish.net/ and listening to a short conversation and filling the gaps in the website http://englishteststore.net/ will be investigated

(ii) By the time constraint, doing a research with a large number of the participants is out

of the author‟s research The technical students at NUTE have to attend three semesters of English, of which the two first ones are basic English One and Two The subjects chosen for this research are 40 students from 2 selected groups: ĐK6C and CK14D; these students are studying basic English One- Headway Elementary- Liz and John Soars- Oxford University Press

12 Method of the study

The method used in this study is quasi-experimental research design which utilizes a survey questionnaire for students The writer suggests two websites for students to practice listening comprehension on their own In addition, two tests: one pre-test and one post-test are also used The data collected for the study is from the survey questionnaire and the two tests‟ scores

13 Significance of the study

The first significance of the study is for the author herself and the other English teachers at the Faculty of Foreign Languages- NUTE since the data collected from the study can be analyzed and interpreted in terms of using websites and web-based activities with songs and short conversations to promote the effectiveness of teaching Elementary English listening comprehension in general and listening to do ticking off items and gap filling in particular at this university

The result of the study may also be expected to English teachers who have interest in applying new technology in their teaching for higher teaching quality Especially, the teachers who are teaching Elementary English in colleges or universities can try suggesting the websites for their students

The last but not least significance of the study is that it can lay grounds for further researches on the employment of web-based activities in self-study listening comprehension skill as well as other skills

14 Design of the study

The study consists of three main parts:

Part One „Introduction‟ presents the rationale, purposes, research questions, scope, method, significance and design of the study

Part Two „Development‟ consists of three chapters:

Chapter 1 provides the Literature review including the Internet as a language teaching and learning tool, drawbacks of the Internet in language teaching and learning, web-based language learning activities, theoretical overview of listening comprehension and listening

practice in relation to the web

Chapter 2 details the a quasi-experemental research as the method of the study, the setting of the study, the participants, the instruments to collect data and the procedure of the study Chapter 3 presents results of the study, the findings in which research question are addressed and implications are also presented in this chapter

Part Three „Conclusion‟ summarizes the main issues of the study and proposes limitations and suggestions for further studies

PART TWO – DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter introduces a brief review of the literature relevant to the study and is divided into five sections The first section discusses the Internet as a language teaching and learning tool, the second section presents some drawbacks of the Internet in language teaching and learning,

it continues by discussing the web-based language learning activities, the fourth one is a brief theoretical overview of listening comprehension, the last one looks at listening practice in

relation to the web

1.1 The Internet as a language teaching and learning tool

While the computer is now used in some forms or another in most language classrooms, and is considered standard equipment, the Internet is also gradually being introduced in the second language classroom as teachers become more familiar with it The Internet is a confederation of thousands of computers from various sectors of society such as education, business, government and the military It is a network of thousands of computer networks (Lewis, 1994) Each individual system brings something different to the whole (databases, library services, electronic journals ), and the end result is a vast accumulation of information It is a worldwide network of computers that interacts on a standardized set of protocols which act independently of particular computer operating systems, allowing for a variety of access methods to the Internet So it can be conceived of as the equivalent of a telephone system for computers It can be used to both exchange information through electronic mail, newsgroups, on-line discussion groups as well as to retrieve information on a variety of topics through the World Wide Web – WWW (Singhal, 1997) The WWW is therefore a virtual library at one's fingertips; it is a readily available world of information for the language learner While the Internet offers numerous benefits to the language learner, a few such possibilities are examined here, in the context of language learning

Perhaps one of the most essential pedagogical principles of language teaching is one that emphasizes the study of language in a cultural context Many language instructors believe that language and culture are interdependent; understanding the culture of the target language enhances understanding of the language To this end, the Internet is a valuable resource to both language teachers and learners The Internet allows language learners to communicate with native speakers In this manner, the Internet facilitates the use of the specific language in

an authentic setting The Internet can also be used to acquire information from language resources for a variety of purposes For example, students can access current information from countries around the world They can obtain geographical, historical, social/cultural, economic, and political information from the countries in which the target language is spoken Students can read web versions of daily newspapers and same-day news reports from sources Such experiences can allow learners to participate in the culture of the target language, which

in turn can enable them to further learn how cultural background influences one's view of the world (Singhal, 1997)

The Internet also serves as a medium for experiencing and presenting creative works While students can peruse the information on the net, they can also use it as a platform for their own work such as essays or stories Numerous public schools, for example, are making use of the WWW for publishing student work which can be accessed by other web users Students therefore become not only consumers of content, but also generate the content The use of the Internet has also been shown to promote higher order thinking skills (Mike, 1996) A language teacher, for example, may instruct learners to search for specific information Searching the web requires logic skills Once information has been obtained, the results must be reviewed which requires scanning, discarding, and evaluative judgment on part of the learner Such an endeavor permits students to practice reading skills and strategies The Internet also promotes literacy for authentic purposes When exploring the net, students are essentially exploring the real world Such browsing or exploration can also lead to incidental learning as they encounter a variety of information in this way Communication with native speakers furthers literacy development for authentic purposes, enables language learners to compare student perspectives on an issue, and allows them to practice specific skills such as negotiating, persuading, clarifying meaning, requesting information, and authentic discussion Promotion of literacy also occurs within a social context The interaction that results from the above situations can lead to cooperative projects and increased communication between students from all over the world, in turn leading to the development

of social skills Finally, the use of the Internet can promote computer skills and the technical experiences of using a computer

Lastly, the Internet provides supplemental language activities which can provide students with additional practice in specific areas of language learning These include reading tests and

comprehension questions, grammar exercises, cloze tests Students can search the web for such sites, or teachers may recommend specific sites on the web

1.2 Drawbacks of the Internet in language teaching and learning

Up to this point in time, the above discussion has described some of the potential benefits

of the Internet and how it can be used in the second or foreign language teaching and learning However, it would be incomplete without addressing the disadvantages or obstacles related to the use of the Internet in the language teaching and learning

While the Internet and its various facets offer a great deal to the language learner, it is not without its problems The nature of the Internet itself can be a disadvantage at times When lines are busy due to many users, it may take time to access information or browse the net and technical glitches themselves can lead to frustration Lack of training and familiarity on part

of the teachers can make it difficult to implement the Internet in the language teaching and learning This requires that school administrators budget for training in this area Foreign language teachers are anxious abour computers since they often have little experience with it For the most part, computers in schools are used for business or computer science courses Costs related to training, as well as on-line costs of using a provider are issues that may interfere with implementing such a technology in schools, especially in schools that have little funding The Internet offers access to all types of issues and topics, some of which are unsuitable for children, and this in itself may result in various problems While some precautions can be taken at the present time, they are not full proof by any means Equity issues may also present difficulties when attempting to implement such technology in the language teaching and learning As the commercial sector begins to assume a more prominent role in the Internet's infrastructure, rural and inner-city schools, already hard-pressed to provide Internet access, may find it less affordable This is certainly discouraging for both language teachers and students in such educational settings (Mike, 1996) Many institutions such as these may also not have the computers or computing facilities necessary to implement such type of technology

1.3 Web-based language learning (WBLL) activities

WBLL is language learning that involves the use of the web and exploits web materials, resources, applications or tools (Son, 2007)

Based on the way of creating, presenting and using materials on the web, the following types of WBLL activities are proposed: pre-created web activities-adopting interactive

language exercises that have been already created by others and are easily accessible on the web; task-based web activities-making use of a variety of authentic web resources for communications, information collections, problem-solving tasks, etc; and teacher-made web activities-employing tailor-made language exercises modified by classroom teachers themselves for their own students (Son, 2008)

Figure 1 Screen shot from the WBLL Website with a session planner

However, it often takes English teachers much time and efforts to create their own class websites to support their teaching while their knowledge of information technology is not professional But it is no need to be worried if one knows very little or even nothing about how to create class websites as there are various websites available on the Internet What one has to do is to register to be a member and follows the guidelines to freely use activities the websites provide One thing should be paid much attention is to select appropriate ones for certain uses Here are some popular English listening websites like that:

1.4 Listening comprehension- a brief theoretical overview

1.4.1 Definition of listening

Beginning in the early 70's, work by Asher, Postovsky, Winitz and, later, Krashen, brought attention to the role of listening as a tool for understanding and a key factor in facilitating language learning Listening has emerged as an important component in the process of second language acquisition (Feyten, 1991)

Listening is an invisible mental process, making it difficult to describe Listeners must discriminate between sounds, understand vocabulary and grammatical structures, interpret stress and intention, retain and interpret this within the immediate as well as the larger socio-cultural context of the utterance (Wipf, 1984) Rost (2002) defines listening, in its broadest sense, as a process of receiving what the speaker actually says (receptive orientation); constructing and representing meaning (constructive orientation); negotiating meaning with the speaker and responding (collaborative orientation); and, creating meaning through involvement, imagination and empathy (transformative orientation) Listening is a complex, active process of interpretation in which listeners match what they hear with what they already know

1.4.2 Strategies of listening comprehension

Research into speech perception has shown that listening comprehension involves far more than mere decoding of the sounds

Rivers (1983b) in her discussion of speech perception identifies three stages First, the listener must recognize that the sounds are an actual message and not just noise This recognition means to the listener that the sounds are elements of the language system In the second stage, the listener identifies sounds along with lexical and syntactic forms by segmenting and grouping them The third stage involves recoding in order to retain the auditory message in long-term storage These stages are necessarily rapid and overlapping Whether the process of listening comprehension is as described above or in some other forms,

it is certainly an active process involving cognitive processing

Among all the strategies for listening, O„Malley and Chamot (1990) claimed three main types of strategies: meta-cognitive, cognitive and social strategies

The meta-cognitive strategy was a kind of self-regulated learning It included the attempt

to plan, check, monitor, select, revise, and evaluate, etc For example, for meta-cognitive planning strategies, learners would clarify the objectives of an anticipated listening task, and attend to specific aspects of language input or situational details that assisted in understanding

the task (Vandergrift, 1999) Generally, it can be discussed through pre-listening planning strategies, while-listening monitoring strategies, and post-listening evaluation strategies The cognitive strategies are related to comprehending and storing input in working memory or long-term memory for later retrieval They are investigated from the aspects of bottom-up strategies, top-down strategies For bottom-up processing, it refers to using the incoming input as the basis for understanding the message Comprehension begins with the received data that is analyzed as successive levels of organization-sounds, words, as a process of decoding For bottom up strategies, Henner-Stanchina (1987) pointed out that effective listeners were good at using their previous knowledge and experience to raise hypotheses about a text, integrating new information into their ongoing interpretations, making influences to bridge gaps, assessing their interpretations, and modifying their hypotheses, if necessary On the other hand, top-down processing went from meaning to language (Richards, 2008) Learners can try to predict what will utter by the signal However, Chiu (2006) claimed that listening comprehension was neither only top-down nor bottom-up processing Simultaneously, Lu (2008) summed up that the scholars believed the listeners not only utilized bottom-up but also top-down processing models In sum, Thompson & Rubin (1996) found that the students who received strategy instruction in listening to video-recorded texts improved significantly over those who had received no instruction

For social strategies, Vandergrift (2003) defined the strategies as the techniques listeners used to collaborate with others, to verify understanding or to lower anxiety Habte-Gabr (2006) stated that socio-affective strategies were those which were non-academic in nature and involve stimulating learning through establishing a level of empathy between the instructor and student They included considering factors such as emotions and attitudes (Oxford, 1990) It was essential for listeners to know how to reduce the anxiety, feel confident

in doing listening tasks, and promote personal motivation in improving listening competence (Vandergrift, 1997)

A great deal has been written about language strategies These strategies have been categorized as learning strategies and communication strategies Ellis (1985) has stated that

„Communication strategies are problem-oriented‟ That is they are employed by the learner because he lacks or cannot gain access to the linguistic resources required to express an

intended meaning They are short-term answers, while learning strategies- Ellis points- are long-term solutions

1.4.3 Process of comprehension in listening

Understanding a listening passage is quite a complicated process happening in the learner‟s mind It may probably be something like this:

I.4.3.1 Perception cracking the code

First the listener has to be able to recognize and discriminate between contrasting sound, stresses, intonations and word shapes This is called “code-cracking”

I.4.3.2 Decoding- making sense of the message

Each short stretch of meaningful listening material has to be

(i) recognized as meaningful and understood on reception

(ii) held in the short-term memory long enough

(iii) for it to be related to what has gone before and what follows

Out of this process come pieces of information which can be stored in the long-term memory for later recall What is remembered later and presumably what is stored in the long-term memory are the more general information- the gist of the message, not a whole sequences of short stretches of material held briefly in the short-term memory, we can show the whole process of listening comprehension in the following model:

It must be remembered that the stages 1 to 6 follow each other very quickly and that the processing time available within short-term memory may be very short indeed Stages 2,3,4 and 5 involved not only the recogniton of lexical meaning but also the perception of grammartical relationships as signaled by such things as word orders, tense markers, intonations and so on

1.4.3.3 Prediction and selection

Although the above-outlined process is complex, the listener has the ability to predict what

is likely to come next and the ability to select which stretches of material he will pay maximum attention to and which he needs not to bother too much about His prediction and selection come from the logic of details in the passage, his knowledge of the language, his life experience, etc They are invaluable in listening, helping to understand the listening passage and do the given listening tasks as well

I.4.4 Types of listening activities

1 Perception of

sounds, word

shapes

2 Initial recognition of meaning of short-term memory

3 Material held in short-term memory

5 Related to materials arriving in short-term memory

4 Related to materials already held in short-term memory

6 Meaning extracted from message and retained in

long-term memory

7 Gist recalled later

There are a lot of listening activities with various ways of classifying such as by listening skill, by level of difficulty, by amount and complexity of response The following are four types of listening activities classified by the amount and complexity of response demanded of the learner

(i) No overt response

Learner do not have to do anything in response to the listening, only understand its main idea

or enjoy it silently themselves

 Stories: teachers tell a joke, retell a well-known story, read a story from a book, play a recording of funny stories

 Songs: teachers can play a recording of structure-teaching songs, sing English songs themselves, learners listen and enjoy their rhythm, content, music

 Entertainment- films, video, radio, theater: learners can watch and listen to these with high motivation to understand for full enjoyment

(ii) Short response

 Obeying instructions: learners perform actions, draw shapes or pictures or make something in response to heard instrucion

 Ticking off items: a list, text, picture or map is provided Learners mark/tick off words/components as they hear them with a spoken description, story or list of items

 True/ False- Right/ Wrong: the listening passage consists of a number of statements, some

of which are true and some false Learners tick or cross to indicate whether the statements are right or wrong, or make brief responses

 Dectecting mistakes: the teacher tells a story or describe something the class knows but with some deliberate mistakes or inconsistencies Learners raise their hands or call out when they hear something wrong

 Blank-filling/cloze: the listening text has occasional brief gaps, represented by silence or some kind of buzz Learners write down what they think might be the right missing word

 Guessing definitions: teacher provides brief oral definitions of a person, place, thing, action learners write down what they think it is

 Skimming and scanning: a not-too-long listening text is given, learners are asked to identify some general topic, information (skimming) or certain information (scanning) and note the answers Written questions inviting brief answers may be provided in advance or a

grid with certain missing entries, or a picture, a map or a diagram/ chart to be completed or altered

 Multiple choice items: a list of multiple choice questions or items is provided, learners listen to the passage, news, dialogue, story then tick the suitable choice

(iii) Longer responses

 Answering open-ended questions: some questions demanding fairly full responses are given in advance to which the listening text provides the answers Learners are free to answer them in any way depending on their understanding

 Note taking: learners listen to the listening text and take brief notes from it

 Dictation: this is the good combination of listening comprehension and controlled writing Learners have to exactly understand what they hear when they write it down

 Paraphrasing and translating: learners rewrite the listening text in different words either in the same language (paraphrase) or in another (translation)

 Summarizing: learners write a brief summary of the content of the listening text

 Long gap-filling: long gaps are left at the beginning, middle or end of a text, learners listen to the text, guess, write down or say what they think might be missing

(iv) Extended responses

Here, the listening is only a “jump- off point” for extended speaking, reading or writing, i.e these are “combined skill” activities

 Problem solving: a problem is described orally, learners discuss how to deal with it then give suggested solution orally or in writing

 Information transfer: this involves receiving information in one form, e.g verbal, then transfering the information to another form e.g diagrams, graphs, charts

 Interpretation: learners listen to speakers, interpret his ideas into the mother tongue

1.5 Listening practice in relation to the web

The web allows repeated practice with a variety of authentic materials that can supplement

and transcend what students receive in class or in their local communities (Hubbard, Kessler

& Madden, 2003)

1.5.1 Reasons for using the web for developing and improving listening comprehension

The Internet offers many online listening-based learning environments designed to meet the study needs of ESL learners (Peterson, 2010) Learners can use the web in developing and

improving their language skills, in particular listening comprehension for the following good

reasons:

(i) Current university students have been characterised as the “Net Generation” (Barnes,2007; Prensky, 2001) and “native speakers” of the digital language of computers,

video games, and the Internet (Prensky, 2001) Learners today have high expectations when it

comes to technology and they expect a language school or programme to offer opportunities

to use technology in their courses, for example via a well-equipped self-access centre (Sharma

& Barrett, 2007)

(ii) The use of technology outside the language classroom or in the self-access centre can

make learners more autonomous Using technology allows language practice and study away

from the confines of the classroom at your own pace anywhere: a room, an office, an Internet

café, at home or of course, in the self-access language centre

(iii) New information technology skills such as Internet search skills can be transferred to real

life Using a range of information communication technology tools and a web-based

environment can give learners exposure to practicing listening regularly, and consequently,

become a more effective listener

(iv) The use of technology via web-based environment can be current, e.g using a listening

activity with today‟s news from news websites can add a dimension of immediacy to listening

practice

(v) While listening to digital audio or watching a video clip, learners have the opportunity to

pause at will, and listen and read a transcript Moreover, learners can get instant feedback on

what they have done (e.g you watch a video clip/listen to audio and check answers

immediately after watching/listening)

(vi) Learners can access authentic websites, as well as websites for EFL or ESL learners As

learners become used to selecting and evaluating listening materials, they are able to plan out

their own use of web-based materials in their own time This helps them become effective

listeners and independent learners

1.5.2 An example of free listening material source and web-based listening techniques and

activities

The selected free site listening material and example of web-based listening techniques and

activities by Phil Hubbard, Stanford University are presented here:

Randall’s Cyber Listening Lab – http://www.esl-lab.com/ A non-commercial site

developed by Randall Davis Includes over 140 exercises divided into 4 groups: general listening, academic listening, long conversations with video, and short exercises Some are quite engaging Exercises are also divided into easy, medium, difficult, and very difficult Lessons have pre- and post-listening exercises, the latter including quizzes and text completion Transcripts include glossed vocabulary

Using Randall‟s Cyber Listening Lab Among other things, Phil Hubbard advises students

to select familiar topics if they want to focus on language development and processing, and less familiar topics for more of a challenge for global listening For difficult material, especially in an unfamiliar area, they may want to review the script first

Figure 2 Screen shot from Randall’s Cyber Listening Lab Website

In short, this chapter has presented the overview of the literature relevant to the study The focus has been on theoretical overview of listening comprehension, a brief introduction of the Internet as a language teaching and learning tool, the discussion of some drawbacks of the Internet in language teaching and learning and the web-based language learning activities,

especially a quick look at listening practice in relation to the web

The next chapter will detail the method of the study, that introduces the setting of the study, participants, instruments and the procedure of the study

CHAPTER 2: METHOD OF THE STUDY

This chapter gives a brief overview of quasi-experimental research and then it describes the setting of the study, participants, instruments of the research, including the pretest and posttest, the survey questionnaire The procedure of the study is also presented

There are several types of quasi-experimental designs ranging from the simple to the complex, each having different strengths, weaknesses and applications Since quasi-experimental designs are used when randomization is impractical and/or unethical, they are typically easier to set up than true experimental designs, which require random assignment of subjects Additionally, utilizing quasi-experimental designs minimizes threats to external validity as natural environments do not suffer the same problems of artificiality as compared

to a well-controlled laboratory setting Since quasi-experiments are natural experiments, findings in one may be applied to other subjects and settings, allowing for some generalizations to be made about population Also, this experimentation method is efficient in longitudinal research that involves longer time periods which can be followed up in different environments

Experimental research methods revolve around hypotheses and the final goal of experimental designs is to eliminate alternative hypothesis While pre-experimental research design may eliminate chance, otherwise eliminates no alternative hypothesis, quasi-experimental design eliminate some, but not all alternative hypothesis and true experimental design attempt to eliminate most alternative hypotheses, especially those related to time and

to make-up of the groups

There are three types of hypotheses in experimental research: research hypothesis, null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis

Research hypothesis is the first hypothesis the researcher set out about how the results will turn out, it means that there is an effect and it is due to the independent variables

Then, researcher hold the possibility that there is no effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable or that the differences observed are due to chance only This is the null hypothesis The first step in experimenal research, then is ruling out chance Put another way, researchers set up an experimental design that will allow them to reject the null hypothesis If they can confidently reject the null hypothesis, they gain confidence in the research hypothesis

At this point, another group of hypotheses- the alternative hypotheses comes into play If there is an effect beyond chance, it may due to the independent variable or a number of other factors- confounding variables Again, researchers use experimental design to allow them to eliminate alternative hypothesis

The present study is conducted as a quasi-experimental design Three hypotheses were set

up for the study The first hypothesis stated in the research questions, the second one was the null hypothesis- there is no difference between the posttest scores of the experimental group and the control group Because this is a quasi-experimental research and because of the time constraint, only one the alternative hypothesis was set up for the study: the pretest score of the experimental group and the control group are different

2.2 The setting of the study

The study was conducted among 40 first-year non-major students at NUTE who come from two separate groups ĐK6C and CK14D Although these students are major on accounting, electronic and electrical engineering, information technology and mechanical engineering, they are grouped together as in the first year, they attend general subjects including basic English A program of English consisting two stages has been implemented at the university The first one, which lasts for two semesters, is focused on basic English Students are taught intergrated skills and progress from elementary level in the first semester

to pre-intermediate level in the second year The course book used in this stage is the Headway series, including Headway Elementary and Headway Pre-Intermediate This stage aims at providing the four language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing In this stage, some sub-skills such as using dictionary, searching for the net, self-study are also

introduced Generally, this stage gets everything ready for the English for Specific Purposes studied in the following semester

In order to achieve the above aims, a variety of approaches and methods have been employed during the teaching and learning process As there is no one-size-fits-all method or

no best method, the teachers have to be flexible to combine different methods in their teaching Whatever methods are used, the focus of the learning process in on learner-centered Teachers can not teach students everything but motivate them to learn, instruct them how to learn so they can study by themselves

2.3 Participants

The participants chosen for the study included 40 non-major students at NUTE in their first year The students were divided into two groups: experimental group and control group, each has 20 students These participants were not randomly selected and they belong naturally

to two available groups: ĐK6C and CK14D ( both of them are taught by the researcher) Non-major English students is the thing that the two groups have in common They are attending basic English One with the course book Headway Elementary by Liz and John Soars- Oxford University Press As such, their English level was elementary

Among 40 students selected for the survey, the male students outnumbered the female with 24 (60%) and 16 (40%) The student gender is illustrated below:

Chart 1: Students’ gender

students, 14 males and 6 females while the control group consists of 20 students, 10 males and 10 females

2.4 Instruments

The instruments including pretest, posttest and survey questionnaire were employed to obtain data for the study

2.4.1 Pretest and posttest

Pretest and posttest were the similar tests with similar questions and order which are administered to both experimental group and control group The similar tests were used for both the pre and post test since this could avoid the fact that the pretest was more or less difficult than the posttest and vice versa Moreover, the use of the similar tests before and after the experimental treatment was to measure exactly the difference that may have been caused by that treatment, and to minimize the possible effect of test familarity on the students‟ gains between the two tests administrators

In terms of the content, the test simply consists of two parts:

The first part includes about fifteen pictures simple and familiar with students What students have to do is to listen to the song and click the correct words This section aims at checking students‟ ability to identify and tick the phrases being sung very quickly

The second part requires students to listen carefully and complete the conversation following by filling in the missing words or sentences There were about six gaps that need to

be completed This part tests students‟ ability to remember and guess what is said in the dialogue The exercise sometimes asks for knowledge of grammar and vocabulary used in a particular context

The results of the pretest and posttest are statistically analyzed to measure the effectiveness of self-study with web-based listening activities in comparison with the traditional method

2.4.2 A survey questionnaire

The survey questionnaire designed for students includes seventeen questions and it was administered to the experimental group The aims of this questionnaire is to investigate students‟ opinions and attitude towards the use of web-based listening activities in listening and to find out the difficulties students faced with in the process of self-study

Seventeen questions of the questionnaire were divided into two parts The first one consists of eight questions with seven close-ended questions and one open-ended question,

their objectives were to investigate the students‟ attitudes towards the application of based listening activities and their opinions about the effectiveness of that application in their self-study at NUTE

web-Seven close-ended questions were designed using five-point scale as below:

1 How important are the websites to your listening comprehension improvement?

 Very important  Important  No opinion  Not so important  Not important

2 How has the web-based listening activities helped with your self study?

 Very effectively  Effectively  No opinion  Not very effectively  Ineffectively

4 The suggested websites were well-designed with good link and easy acess

 Strongly agree  Agree  No opinion  Disagree  Strongly disagree

The open-ended question was to get students‟ advice and comment for the better use of web-based listening activities:

15 Please give your advice for web-based listening activities for better result

The second part of the questionnaire consists of seven questions (from 9 to 15) which has the aim of stating the difficulties students had when self studying with the suggested websites Among these seven questions, from question 9 to 14 are close-ended as can be seen below:

16 Self-study with the websites brought about many problems

 Strongly agree  Agree  No opinion  Disagree  Strongly disagree

12 It took much time to study on the website on my own

14 How would you evaluate the websites‟ level of difficulty?

 Too easy  Easy  Medium  Hard  Too hard

Also, an open-ended question was designed for students to find out more about other problems they had during the process of self study The question is in the form as below:

15 Can you state some other difficulties you have apart from these mentioned above?

2.5 Procedure

The study were carried out as the following procedure:

 The subjects of the study were selected

 The experimental group and the control group were divided

 Pretest was administered to the two groups

 The two websites were suggested to the experimental group

 The experimental group started self practising with the listening activities in the suggested

websites while the control group follow traditional mode of listening with cassette deck

accompanying headphone

 Posttest was administered to the two groups

 Survey questionnaire was administered to the experimental group

 Results were collected and analyzed

 Conclusion and implications were raised

This chapter has disscussed a quasi-experimental research as the method of the study The

details of the setting, participants, data collection instruments and procedure are also

presented The next chapter will deal with the findings of the study and some implications

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS

This chapter reports the findings and the discussion based on the data collected from the pretest, posttest and the survey questionnaire Research question 1 was answered by the statistical analysis of the pretest and posttest scores Research question 2 and 3 used results from part one and two of the survey questionnaire

3.1 Findings

3.1.1 Research question 1

The statistical analysis of the pretest and posttest scores was to answer research question 1

1 To what extent does the utilization of web-based listening activities affect the effectiveness of teaching and learning the skill of listening for details for the first-year non- major students at NUTE?

We took into account the level of the control group and the experimental group with the help of pretest scores which provided the baseline data for the comparison of posttest scores

of the two groups The comparison of posttest scores would determine whether there is an effectiveness of the application on the 20 first-year students

In order to justify which group would start at higher level, a two-tail t-test was used The pretest scores of the two groups were computed and the results as in the table below:

Table 1: Result of t-test for comparison between pretest scores of experimental group and control group

t-Test: Two-Sample Assuming Equal Variances

P(T<=t) two-tail 0.575233262

The table shows that the t value 0.56 is smaller than the critical value- tcri 2.02 and the p

value 0.57 is more than 0.05 This means the mean of the experiment group 11.15 and that of

the control group 10.75 were statistically insignificant at the level of p<0.05 Therefore, it

might be said that the experiment group and the control group started at the same level of listening comprehension for details, or at least the ability of doing ticking off items and gap filling exercises while listening

The t-test assesses whether the specific characteristics of two groups are statistically different from each other In this study, the author wants to test if the posttest scores of the two groups are different from each other So a t-test for independent sample was chosen

As mentioned in the previous chapter, the null hypothesis is repeated here: there is no

difference between the posttest scores of the experimental group and the control group If the t

value gained is less than the lower criterion value or greater than the upper criterion value, the

null hypothesis will be rejected The p value in this study is 0.05

Descriptive statistics for the pretest and posttest of the two group were computed by using Data Analysis Tool in the Microsoft Excel software Then, the result of the pretest and posttest scores are presented in the table below:

Table 2: Descriptive Statistics for Pretest and Posttest scores of Experimental group

Although both groups have the same staring point of listening comprehension for details ability with two kinds of exercises ticking off items and gap filling as known in the pretest, students in the experimental group got a bigger standard deviation (SD= 2.300) than that of the control group (SD= 2.173) Afer the four weeks of practising Ticking off items and Gap filling following the activities in the two suggested websites, the standard of the experimental group (SD= 2.212) and that of the control group (SD= 2.202) were quite equal

Moreover, the mean of the experimental group posttest was 14.5 with the scores ranging from 11 to 19; meanwhile, the mean of the control group posttest was 11.3 with the scores ranging from 8 to 15 This indicates the positive influence of using web-based listening activities in the self studying process

To evaluate the effect of the treatment, a two-tail t-test was used to compare the posttest mean of the experimental group and the control group The results are shown as follow:

Table 4: Result of t-test for comparison between posttest scores of experimental group and control group

t-Test: Two-Sample Assuming Equal Variances

As can be seen from the table, the mean of the experimental group score is higher than that

of the control group The t value 4.58 is bigger than the critical value - tcri 2.02 and the p

value 0.000048 is less than 0.05 A conclusion can be drawn that there was a statistically