An investigation into difficulties in listening skill of english majored freshmen at tay do university

vi ABSTRACT The research on the topic '' An investigation into difficulties in listening skill of English majored freshmen at Tay Do University '' is conducted to figure out common pr

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TAY DO UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE

AN INVESTIGATION INTO DIFFICULTIES IN LISTENING SKILL OF ENGLISH MAJORED FRESHMEN AT TAY DO

UNIVERSITY

Student: NGUYEN NGOC LINH Code: 13D220201025

Class: English 8A Supervisor: PHAN THI MINH UYEN, M.A

April 2017

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

My research could hardly finish without the help, guide and support of many people I would like to give my profound to everyone who helped me to complete it First of all, I want to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor for her guidance and continuous encouragement She spent her valuable time on guiding me during the time I was conducting the research Truthfully, my research could not be completed successfully without her dedicated assistance

Secondly, I want to show my special thanks to all lecturers in the Faculty of Linguistic and Literature of Tay Do University who provided knowledge to me for the past four years

Last but not least, I am honest to send my gratitude to my family and my friends who always stand by me and supported me during time I did the research

Once again, thank you all very much

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COMMENTS

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLRDGEMENT i

COMMENTS ii

TABLE OF COTENTS iii

ABSTRACT v

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 The significance of study 2

1.3 The organization of study 2

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 3

2.1 The term of listening 3

2.1.1 The definition of listening skill 3

2.1.2 The importance of listening skill 4

2.2 Some problems affecting learning listening skill 5

2.2.1 Problems related to linguistics 5

2.2.1.1 Vocabulary 5

2.2.1.2 Grammar structure 6

2.2.1.3 Pronunciation 7

2.2.2 Problem related to background knowledge 7

2.3 Other elements affecting learning English listening skill 8

2.3.1 Learning environment 8

2.3.2 Length and speed of speech 9

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CHAPTER 3:

RESEARCH AIMS - RESEARCH QUESTION – HYPOTHESIS 11

3.1 Research aims 11

3.2 Research questions 11

3.3 Hypothesis 11

CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 12

4.1 Designed 12

4.2 Participant 12

4.3 Instrument 12

4.3.1 Questionnaire 13

4.3.2 Paper interview 13

4.4 Procedure 13

CHAPTER 5: EXPECTED OUT COME 15

REFERENCES 16

APPENDIX 1 18

APPENDIX 2 22

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ABSTRACT

The research on the topic '' An investigation into difficulties in listening skill of

English majored freshmen at Tay Do University '' is conducted to figure out

common problems that students have to face in listening process and it is also the main aim of the research Depending on the study, students have methods to improve listening skill The study is carried out within 10 weeks and participant of this research are freshmen of English 11 class at Tay Do University The questionnaire and paper interview are two main instruments in the study Besides, the results of the research will show the student’s difficulties in learning and using listening skill

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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1 presents rationale, significance and organization of the study

1.1 Rationale

Nowadays, English plays a necessary role for many people who use English because English is used as a general language to communicate or connect with people from different countries Thanks to English, they can open their knowledge outside, exchange culture and build many social relationships with other countries

In addition, English is considered as a main factor which helps students to get good jobs, so there are many job opportunities for learners However, English has four main skills such as listening, speaking, reading, writing to learn Learners do not know which skills are needed and principal for them, so they meet many difficulties

in learning English

Among these skills, listening is one of the most required skills to help learners improve English language, the learners who are good at listening English skill, they will succeed easier in both learning English at class and communication in social In fact, listening is a subject that it cannot be neglected for English learners because

listening is the basic skill in language as Cross (1998) said that “without

understanding input appropriately, learning simply cannot get any improvement In addition, without listening skill, no communication can be achieved” Moreover,

Jeanette Winterson (1999) also declared that "everything in writing begins with

language Language begins with listening" It means that without listening skill,

learners cannot learn to communicate effectively, listening directly affects study a new language However, many learners often ignore this skill to focus on writing, grammar, reading, etc., so they do not pay much attention to their listening skill and

do not practice listening frequently It results English learners’ failure

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Similarly, English majored freshmen at Tay Do University face many problems when studying listening subject It is hypothesized that students are too passive in learning Instead of voluntarily finding their own materials for their study process, they commonly wait for the information from the lecturers in class Besides, they cannot recognize their difficulties in learning English listening subject This leads to other problems related to background knowledge, pronunciation, grammar, intonation, accent, vocabulary and some other elements as well For those the

reasons above, the researcher decides to conduct the study entitled “Difficulties in

listening skill of English majored freshmen at Tay Do University”

1.2 The significance of the study

This research is done to help English majored freshmen at Tay Do University figure out the problems that they are facing when learning listening subject Since then, students can realize their difficulties Moreover, students can overcome their shortcomings and improve their listening skills basing on the problemsin this study

1.3 The organization of the study

The research consists of five chapters

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Literature review

Chapter 3: Research aim – Research question –Hypothesis

Chapter 4: Research methodology

Chapter 5: Expected outcome

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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

Chapter 2 presents the term of listening, some problems affecting learning listening skill and other elements affecting learning English listening skill

2.1 The term of listening

2.1.1 The definition of listening skill

There are different definitions of listening stated by some researchers

First, Goss (1982) considered that “listening is a process of taking what you hear

and organizing it into verbal units to which you can apply meaning” It means that a

sentence has not only one meaning but also lots of meanings Learners must have experience to know suitable meaning of different sentences

Second, Thomlison (1984) defined listening as, “active listening, which is very important for effective communication” Besides, Barker (1971) denoted that

“listening is the active and dynamic process of attending, perceiving, interpreting, remembering, and responding to the expressed (verbal and nonverbal) needs, concerns, and information offered by other human beings” Truthfully, listening is

the natural process when people were born It still takes place when they sleep, but they only can listen without understanding Therefore, they must listen active and have cognitive clearly through learning language process

Moreover, P Brett (1997) stated that “listening is a key second language skill, it has

a vital role in the language acquisition process, and its development is of prime concern to language teachers” With this view point, it can be realized that listening

was really an essential skill in the process learning any languages because of its importance and difficulties

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In short, there are various definitions by many researchers, but they shared the same opinion that listening skill is foremost for English learns They will understand what the others say and answer correctly from that they will succeed on everything because of having good listening skill

2.1.2 The importance of listening skill

Listening skill is substantial because good it is compulsory to get into a profession

in communications, management, planning, sales, etc especially in learning language Therefore, from the awareness of the role of listening skill, there are numerous viewpoints from divergent of researchers

First, Bentley and Bacon (1996) had a view point that “listening was an important

part of foreign language learning process, and it had also been defined as an active process during which listeners construct meaning from oral input” The way

researcher saw that listening was the long-life process to learn and to get experience because this process need to take much time to learn vocabulary, pronunciation, complex grammar Besides, listening is an active process because it always requires learners who must understand the meaning of each case in sentence flexibly

Second, Rost (1994) pointed out that “listening is vital in the language classroom” and “listening is thus fundamental to speaking” Simultaneously, Barker (1971) also announced “listening can also help student build vocabulary, develop language

that learners should pay attention because a good listening will support speaking skill better as well as other skills

Third, Michael P and Deborah (1997) stated that “listening established us in our

real life situation and enables us to maintain meaningful relations with family, friends and professional associates” It means that listening skill will make the

2.2 Some problems affecting learning listening skill

2.2.1 Problems related to linguistics

Linguistic knowledge is one of the most meaningful parts assisting students to learn listening skill efficiently It consists of many elements such as vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, etc Moreover, students will learn listening skill better if they realize these problems

2.2.1.1 Vocabulary

In order to understand a language, vocabulary is crucial to be mastered by the learner Vocabulary mastery is needed to express ideas and to be able to understand other people’s sayings However, learning vocabulary is considered very boring for most of English learners and it spends much time learning Thus, a lot of learners face many obstacles in listening comprehension what the others have said because they lack the vocabulary There are some definitions from famous scholars about

vocabulary to learners can recognize their problems

It is said that vocabulary is very essential in learning language process because of without vocabulary learners cannot understand the speaker That is also the reason

why people can travel anywhere with a dictionary Wilkins (1972) stated “without

grammar, very little can be conveyed; without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed” So, learners have to get knowledge about way to use this vocabularies,

context, and vocabulary of various fields, etc that can help learners develop

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listening skill Vocabulary knowledge is often viewed as a critical tool for second language learners because a limited vocabulary in a second language impedes

successful communication Schmitt (2000) also emphasized that “lexical knowledge

is central to communicative competence and to the acquisition of a second language”

In addition, Nakata (2006) acknowledged that “vocabulary acquisition requires

continual repetition in order for effective vocabulary learning” It can be realized

vocabulary will be forgotten if the learners do not use frequently Thus, the learners should study vocabulary harder

Finally, a leading linguist researcher Paul Nation dated “vocabulary is not an end in

itself A rich vocabulary makes the skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing easier to perform” It means that widen knowledge of vocabulary will help students

improve other skills in learning English

2.2.1.2 Grammar structure

Grammar is “the whole system and structure of a language or of languages in

general, usually taken as consisting of syntax and morphology (including inflections) and sometimes also phonology and semantics” (Oxford Dictionary)” In

other words, grammar is rules of words and how words combine together in a

language Furthermore, “English grammar is the body of rules that describe the

structure of expressions in the English language” (from Wikipedia, the free

skill if the learners are good at it, they will understand what speakers say in listening process

However, English majored freshmen usually make grammatical errors in their listening because they often think that grammatical structures of English are the

Therefore, Celce-Murcia, Brinton & Goodwin (1996) defined “As part of successful

communication, pronunciation teaching has become important”

Besides, language learners do not know clearly about pronunciation, they will face with many obstacles in listening Thus, it is very hard to learners understand if they

do not study about some factors of pronunciation

2.2.2 Problem related to background knowledge

Background knowledge is also one of disadvantage in listening skill for the learners

because Bartlett (1932) had said that “listeners‟ background knowledge about a

passage can have a profound impact on their ability to understand what has been said Without a schema, understanding a passage can be extremely difficult A

understanding of learners is assessed through knowledge that they have Therefore, students have to prepare as well as learn about knowledge of topics before listening Besides, knowledge of the language elements such as vocabulary and grammatical structure seems necessary but not sufficient The reason is that when facing the

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listening texts students seem to lack knowledge to understand what they’ve heard because these topics may include new words or phrases

In addition, Schallert (2002) said that “a person‟s background knowledge, often

called prior knowledge, is a collection of „abstracted residue‟ that has been formed from all of life‟s experiences” Actually, experience plays an important role in

listening skill because it not only helps listener understand implicate the meaning of message but also realizes the special meaning

Through the definitions, background knowledge is what the learners get in learning listening process Thus, they should pay attention to it

2.3 Other elements affecting learning English listening skill

2.3.1 Learning environment

Brent Wilson (1996) said that “learning environment is a place where learners may

work together and support each other as they use a variety of tool and information resources in their guided pursuit of learning goals and problem-solving activities”

Indeed, not only learning environment can exchange information, get much knowledge from others but also a place for learners can solve their problems Learners who have a good learning environment will develop their listening skill easily

Moreover, Brent Wilson (1996) showed “the idea of a learning environment evokes

the notions of place and space, room to move and explore and generous access” He

also suggested that “among the many ways we think of knowledge, the notion of a

learning environment resonates best with the vision of knowledge as meaning constructed by interaction with one‟s environment” Brent Wilson’s views are

sensible view because if learners have a good environment that they can study and develop in a long-term as English club inside and outside their school This issue,