Topic Some strategies to do Part 1 and Part 2 of the TOEIC listening for the learners at English Center.

During the process of learning TOEIC Listening Comprehension, students encounter many different difficulties that arise depending on their English ability. This paper was based on referencing sources and survey questionnaire as a quantitative analysis. Thus, this study is limited and data cannot reflect all the comprehensive aspects of the difficulties faced by learners at “Thay Giang Co Mai” English Center when studying and taking the TOEIC LC tests. TOEIC Listening Comprehension included 4 sections named part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4. Owing to limited time, lack of experiences and documents, this research was restricted to present a few common difficulties in part 1 and part 2.

GRADUATION THESIS

Major

ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Topic Some strategies to do Part 1 and Part 2 of

the TOEIC listening new version 2019 for

the learners at “Thay Giang Co Mai”

English Center

Instructor

Nguyen Thi Kim Chung, MA

Student

Dao Ngoc Bich

ID: 97011400938

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

During the process of doing this study, I am most grateful for receiving useful help

and encouragement from many people

First of all, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to my supervisor, Mrs Nguyen

Kim Chung, who has supported me in this thesis and given me much helful advices as

well as thorough guidance so that I can fulfill this graduation paper

In addition, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the inspiring and precious

knowledge and experiences through each lesson of all my subject teachers throughout my

years of study at SIU Moreover, I wish to express my appreciation to the Management of

the Sai Gon International University for giving me a chance to complete my last mission

in this year and the assistance of fellow my classmates (TOEIC class) for part – taking in

my survey

Last but not least, I am really in the debt to my family, my classmates, my friends and

authors in the internet for their enthusiastic encouragement, useful advice and great

support throughout the process in which I complete this graduation thesis

COMMENTS

Advisor’s Signature

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2

COMMENTS 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS 4

LIST OF ABBREVIATION 7

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 8

1 Rationale 8

2 Research goals 9

3 Scope and Limitation of the Research 10

4 Significance of the study 10

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 11

1 Listening and Listening Comprehension 11

1.1 What is listening? 11

1.2 What is Listening Comprehension? 12

2 TOEIC Listening Skills 13

2.1 What is the TOEIC test? 13

2.2 Typical TOEIC topics 14

2.3 What is the format of TOEIC test? 15

2.4 Types of TOEIC listening comprehension 18

3 Types of listening skill in TOEIC test 21

4 Comparison between the old and the new format of the TOEIC test 23

5 Summary of books, thesis 24

6 Research questions 25

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 26

1 Research method 26

2 Research tools, data collection 26

2.1 The Center 26

2.2 Participants 27

3 Data Collection Procedures 27

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND RESULTS AND DISCUSSTION 29

1 Had you ever done the old format of the TOEIC examination? 29

Chart 1 29

2 Have you ever taken the new format of the TOEIC examination? 30

Chart 2 31

3 In your opinion, how difficult do you encounter in the vocabulary in part 1 of TOEIC listening section? 31

Chart 3 31

4 In your opinion, what are the traps do you often make a mistake in part 1? 32

Chart 4 33

5 How can you improve vocabulary in part 1of TOEIC listening section? 33

Chart 5 33

6 How can you improve listening skill in part 1of TOEIC listening section? 34

Chart 6 34

7 How can you improve picture observation or identification skill in part 1of TOEIC Listening section? 35

Chart 7 36

8 In your opinion, how difficult do you encounter in the vocabulary in part 2 of

TOEIC listening section? 36

Chart 8 36

9 In your opinion, what the traps do you often get an obstacle in part 2? 37

Chart 9 38

10 How difficult do you encounter in the types of question in part 2? 38

Chart 10 38

11 How can you improve listening comprehension in part 2 of TOEIC listening section? 40

Chart 11 40

12 How do you improve your skill in identifying the types of questions in part 2 of TOEIC listening section? 41

Chart 12 41

13 How can you improve exclusion skill in part 2 of TOEIC listening section? 42

Chart 13 42

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENTDATIONS 44

1 Conclusion 44

2.1 For Learners 45

REFERENCES 47

APPENDIX: SURVEY 49

LIST OF ABBREVIATION

TOEIC – Test of English for International Communication

TOEIC LC –TOEIC Listening Comprehension

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

In the past few years as well as in the future English language is the most

popular language in the world because it is very useful So, English becomes a

common language for every country

Firstly, this language helps us to communicate, live and travel easily Secondly,

English playing the role of a common language enables us to work and cooperate with

any people or organization in different country that offers us many opportunities to

spread International Trade Thirdly, most of the books, materials, newspaper written

in different languages were translated into English, so it is necessary and beneficiary

to learn English to get a more universal and comprehensive source of information and

knowledge that can contribute to all aspects of our lives For these reasons, people

from all ages have learnt English to catch up with the trend, development and

innovation of technology

Vietnam is among the most developing countries with great opportunity to

integrate to the world Therefore, it is extremely important to learn English and use

the language as a tool – of communication, especially for fresh graduates We realize

that English is a key to get a good job with a high salary, communicate to people

beyond borders and access to scientific resources Thus, almost all colleges and

universities conduct many teaching skills in English as well as regulate the output of

foreign language

Before the universities, colleges and companies required students or workers to have

English Certificate A, B, C or D However, nowadays TOEIC Certificate is used as a

common standard to classify and evaluate English skills of students as workers The

skills in the TOEIC help us easily integrate in the international working environment

Notably, Vietnam has become one of the countries that attract many foreign

companies and investors

TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) is an international

English certificate of communication for working people who do not use English as

their native language TOEIC Certificate is valid for 2 years and recognized in many

countries, including Viet Nam

Because students do not usually use English and communicate with foreigners, so

they frequently encounter difficulties in doing the test Therefore, this thesis will

highlight difficulties and ways to improve listening skills in the TOEIC LC of leaners

at “Thay Giang Co Mai” English Center

2 Research goals

As the above rationale, I carried out this study with the desire to point out the

causes of difficulties in studying TOEIC LC

In addition, this research provides ways to overcome these difficulties and make it

easier for students to learn as well as achieve high scores on the test

3 Scope and Limitation of the Research

During the process of learning TOEIC Listening Comprehension, students

encounter many different difficulties that arise depending on their English ability This

paper was based on referencing sources and survey questionnaire as a quantitative

analysis Thus, this study is limited and data cannot reflect all the comprehensive

aspects of the difficulties faced by learners at “Thay Giang Co Mai” English Center

when studying and taking the TOEIC LC tests

TOEIC Listening Comprehension included 4 sections named part 1, part 2, part 3

and part 4 Owing to limited time, lack of experiences and documents, this research

was restricted to present a few common difficulties in part 1 and part 2

4 Significance of the study

This paper will highlight the difficulties and ways to overcome difficulties in

learning TOEIC LC of learners at “Thay Giang Co Mai” English Center to help

students achieve high scores in the test and improve listening skills

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

1 Listening and Listening Comprehension

1.1 What is listening?

As we may know, Listening is receiving language through the ears Listening involves identifying the sounds of speech and processing them into words and sentences When we listen, we use our ears to receive individual sounds and we use our brain to convert these into messages that mean something to us

as an important component in the process of second language acquisition

Listening is the first language mode that children acquire Language learning

depends on listening since it provides the aural input that serves as the basis for

language acquisition and enables learners to interact in spoken communication

It provides the foundation for all aspects of language and cognitive

development and it plays a life-long role in the process of communication”

According Chastain (1971) said that listening is the competence to

comprehend vernacular at normal speech Purdy (1997) defined listening is a

process of absorbing information, making sense and responding to verbal or

nonverbal Rost (2009) emphasized that listening is important factor in making

a successful communication It aids us to comprehend everything around us

There are 12 types of listening: Active listening, Appreciate listening,

Casual listening, Comprehension listening, Critical listening, Dialogic

listening, Discriminative listening, Empathetic listening, Relationship listening,

Sympathetic listening, Therapeutic listening, Importance of Listening

1.2 What is Listening Comprehension?

According to Pourhossein Gilakjani, A., & Sabouri, N B (2016) in their

research indicated that listening Comprehension is the different processes of

understanding the spoken language These include knowing speech sounds,

comprehending the meaning of individual words and understanding the syntax

of sentences

Besides, Hamouda (2013) defined LC is individual understanding of what

he has heard and it is the listener’s ability to repeat the text despite the fact that the listener may repeat the sound without real comprehension

As you know, Listening Comprehension is the precursor of reading

comprehension, so it is an important skill to develop LC is not just hearing

what is say – it is the ability to understand the words and relate to them in

some way For example, when you listen to a song, good LC skill enables you

to understand the song, remember and even sing it

2 TOEIC Listening Skills

2.1 What is the TOEIC test?

The test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) is “an

English language test designed specifically to measure the everyday English

skills of people working in an international environment

The TOEIC test program was derived from the idea of a Japanese team,

who played the main role is Mr Yasua Kitaoka Besides, Educational Testing

Service - ETS has developed the TOEIC test program based on the TOEFL test

program Therefore, the TOEIC test can be considered a hybrid program

between Japan and the United States According to an Aug.11, 2009 Japan

Times – a Japanese newspaper expressed that “In the 1970s, Kitaoka began negotiating with ETS to create a new test of English communication for use in Japan ETS responded that it required a nonprofit organization to work with as their partner Kitaoka tried to enlist the help of the Ministry of Education, but their bureaucrats did not see the need for a new test to compete with the step Eiken , an English test already backed by the ministry To overcome this opposition, Kitaoka received help from his friend, Yaeji Watanabe Watanabe's influence as a retired high-ranking bureaucrat from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (renamed the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, or METI) proved crucial to TOEIC's establishment

Watanabe had remained in contact with his old ministry while working on the board of directors for the World Economic Information Services (WEIS) and as chairman of the Japan-China Economic Association, both public-interest corporations operating under METI Watanabe declined an interview request, but his memoirs describe how he overcame Ministry of Education opposition to the TOEIC by taking cover "behind the ministry of trade shield." Watanabe convinced his old ministry it should play the lead role in establishing a new English test, and formed a TOEIC Steering Committee under the WEIS umbrella Members of the committee included other retired MITI bureaucrats and influential business leaders Government support secured, ETS began developing the test in 1977 In 1979, English learners in Japan filled in the first of many TOEIC multiple-choice answer forms”

The TOEIC test program has been addmited and organized in over 150

countries and becomes the most popular English ability test.TOEIC was

organized from 2001 and IIG Vietnam is the sole representative in Viet Nam

2.2 Typical TOEIC topics

The content of the TOEIC test focuses on the following topics below:

 Banking

 Entertainment

 Health

 Housing

 Industry

 Jobs

 Offices

 Restaurants

 Transportation  Travel

2.3 What is the format of TOEIC test?

The TOEIC listening and reading test a multiple – choice question paper –

based test It contains 100 questions (Listening section) and 100 questions

(Reading section) In addition, the TOEIC has 4 skills including Speaking and

Writing Scores is scaled from 10 to 990 points The tests use common

everyday vocabulary, phrases and key expressions that reflect real – world

tasks More detailed information on test content and sample questions can be

found in the TOEIC listening and reading

 Listening section: The listening section tests how well you

understand spoken English It consists of four parts and contains 100 questions

administered by audiocassette or CD You will be asked to answer questions

based on a variety of statements, questions, conversations, and talks recorded

in English Total time is approximately 45 minutes The TOEIC listening is

structured as below:

TOEIC

Listening

Photographs: 6 questions

Questions – Response: 25 questions

Conversations: 39 questions; 13 conversations with 3

questions each