An investigation into efl learning motivation in listening of grade ten students at huong hoa high school quang tri province

Therefore, students with good listening comprehension skills can participate more effectively in class.. Significance of the study The study is supposed to be a reference that the teach

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CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

Language globalization has become an irreversibly evident fact on a large scale It is essential for social development and integration trend Therefore, language has become a powerful and effective means of communication than ever English is the most widely spoken language in the world It is a national language of

a number of countries such as the United States, large parts of Canada, the British Isles, Australia and New Zealand For many years, it was the official language in countries that were once colonies of Britain including India, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and so on For many reasons in history, English has become an international language With its position, English has been a compulsory subject in the school in many nations worldwide including Vietnam where it has been taught for third –graders to students at university and college Moreover, the trend of global integration and cultural exchanges between countries has increased remarkably the demand for foreign languages in general and English in particular Therefore, it can

be stated that teaching and learning English is obviously essential in the education and training system in our country The tremendous impact of English with respect

to its importance to the community development has urged our state to devise policies to encourage learning English effectively In that case, both students and teachers must be aware and responsible for enhancing the level of English An urgent task posed is how to improve the quality of teaching and how to promote the students‘ motivation toward English This issue has been concerned much for years

by teachers, researchers and also English teaching book writers

I have been myself a teacher of English for six years, which is not full for an experienced one As a young dedicated teacher with limited experience, I always try

my best to find out the appropriate methods to teach lessons effectively The innovation in English teaching method has been promoting actively in the teaching and learning It is not teacher – centered but learner- centered The purpose of teaching is to develop English communication skills of students including reading,

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speaking, listening and writing In the development of modern technology today, the more popular the media are, the more abundant the sources of learning materials are As a result, students have a number of opportunities to access and apply them to better English ability by themselves A successful teacher can be asserted to be clever at evoking the passion of learning for their students For this reason, their students can be aware of self-learning and self-practicing to improve their language skills

Among language skills, listening is very important Listening is the ability of identify and understand what speakers are saying This involves understanding and grasping the meaning what is being said Therefore, students with good listening comprehension skills can participate more effectively in class They can listen and understand what teachers are saying Then they can talk to teacher about what is concerned In the days of mass communication, it is fundamental importance that students are taught to be able to listen effectively and critically A good language listener is the first element to be a good language speaker However, it‘s also difficult for students who are always under pressure in listening class A variety of reasons have been given Listening content is not only impractical but also unsuitable for the students‘ level Besides, the following tasks are stereotyped in some kinds of familiar forms such as gap-filling, true or false, comprehension questions and so on Furthermore, the word accumulation capability of students is

so restricted that they almost run out of vocabulary for effective listening Sometimes, teachers take charge of lessons due to their obligations without any interest or inspiration, which leads to the poor quality of the lesson Therefore, in the perception of teachers and students, listening class does not make any sense out

of obligation So far as, they forget how important the listening skill is in communication This reasons challenge me to be a successful teacher I make up my mind to do this research to find out ways to solve those problems above The title of the research is: ―An investigation into EFL learning motivation in listening of grade-ten-students at Huong Hoa high school, Quang Tri province.‖

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Since 2007, I have been an English teacher of Huong Hoa upper secondary school In the early days, I myself was really shocked at students‘ attitudes toward English as well as their language capability In terms of geography, Huong Hoa upper secondary school is located in Huong Hoa, a mountainous district bordering Laos with a number of ethnic groups in Quang Tri province What I want to clarify

is that English was not favorite and practical there at that time Actually, students as well as people there concerned much about Laotian in order to serve their commercial purposes in the special economic zone Students were said not to pay attention to English Time passed and everything changed a lot Students raised more awareness of English when the government‘s policy was issued to promote English quality at school Furthermore, the global integration has attracted more foreigners for both tourism and trade In communication, listening and speaking skills have become essential but seemed to be the most difficult If listening skill is considered as a receptive skill, speaking will be a productive skill Let care about the receptive skill first And learning motivation as fuel of the car is for encouraging students to get their interest and have a good result in studying

In this research, I aim at the tenth graders who are absolutely new at the upper secondary school It is supposed that if teachers cannot motivate them, there will be few of motivated students at all (in this school) They are considered as the first steps in the ladder of knowledge to be laid foundation of teaching In addition, teaching method at high school is different from lower secondary school in some ways In fact, the knowledge in a lesson is more abundant at high school Besides, students‘ language acquisition requirement is higher Students are required to work harder at home and be more active at class In other words, if teacher can inspire tenth-graders, English will not be a matter of concerns for three years at the high school

1.2 Research objectives

Hence, the paper set out to achieve the following goals:

 to provide some motivation methods to promote learning quality in listening

The process of my research is to move from practice of teaching in my school

to theory and back to practice in a cycle of development of deep understanding of the research questions:

1 What kinds of motivation are essential and practical for bettering listening skill?

2 What should be done to promote tenth-graders‘ motivation in listening skill at Huong Hoa upper secondary school in Quang Tri?

1.4 Significance of the study

The study is supposed to be a reference that the teachers and students can apply to promote motivated listening class and improve students‘ listening comprehension skills From that point, in grade 10, it can be an additional material for practicing listening skill Furthermore, it can raise awareness of the importance

of listening skill so students can find themselves inspired and motivated to practice for their English learning

self-1.5 Scope and methodology

1.5.1 Scope of the study

The study was carried out at Huong Hoa high school with 10 teachers and

100 tenth graders coming from 10 classes The choice of students is at random in each class It targets students at the grade 10 of Huong Hoa high school during the school year 2012-2013 Their listening ability is expected to be at intermediate levels

1.5.2 Research method

1.6 Structure of the research:

The research paper is divided into five following chapters:

Chapter One: Introduction of my own research rationale, research context, research objectives, research questions, research scope, research method, significance of the study and organization of the study

Chapter Two: Review of the theoretical background of the research and issues relevant to the topic of the research

Chapter Three deals with the methodology that I have employed in this research work This chapter will present research methodology including research participants, data collection instruments, data collection and data analysis procedure

Chapter Four presents and analyzes the data In this chapter, the data will be explored in results of tables and diagrams It also presents of the results of the study including the exploration of the actual learning listening comprehension of the students, the needs analysis and designing of some supplementary listening material for students, and outlines some pedagogical implications and recommendations Chapter Five contains summary of the key findings, conclusions, the limitations and suggestions of the study Besides, recommendations for practice and suggestions for further research will be concerned in this chapter

As an English teacher who is seen as an important role in students‘ second language acquisition, we are responsible for helping students acquire second language Without doubt, that the shift from the focus on the method to learner-centeredness leads to a turning point in changing the status of the learner and the teacher who has the responsibility to transmit knowledge in the teaching and learning language Teachers are no longer dominant in the class; a teacher has to be

a facilitator, a tutor, an instructor and so on In order to take that crucial role in classroom, teachers have to understand how to teach students effectively by following students‘ learning styles Teachers also have to be aware of motivation and how to motivate students in an adequate way

2.2 Theoretical basis of motivation:

2.2.1 Definitions of motivation

There is a saying that: ―The best teachers teach from the heart, not from the book‖ Teaching can be considered as a process in which both students and teachers must be active performers if they want to make their efforts successful In this case, students are active participants but not only passive listeners Students can raise awareness of studying when they are motivated Motivation can energize students

Motivation is the key to all activities In learning, without motivation, students lack activeness and self-consciousness It is perhaps the biggest obstacle to students and teachers to achieve in learning and teaching Ruth Peters in her book

―Overcoming Underachieving‖ (2000) states that: academic achievement is more a

product of appropriate placement of priorities and responsible behavior than it is of intelligence If students are engaged, they are much more likely to learn effectively than if they are not It can be paraphrased that an intelligent student is often out-performed by less bright student with high motivation Therefore, a students is motivated enough to accomplish learning of any scale

Dörnyei & Otto (1998) pointed out that motivation can be identified as the cumulative arousal in a person which ignites the cognitive and motor processes initiate, coordinate, amplify, terminate, and evaluate Dörnyei also described this explicitly when he wrote the following:

―The motivated individual expends effort, is persistent and attentive to

the task at hand, has goals, desires and aspirations, enjoys the activity,

experiences reinforcement from success and disappointment from failure, makes

attributions concerning success and or failure, is aroused, and makes use of

strategies to aid in achieving goals‖ (2003, p 173)

This statement represents motivation as primarily being internally driven In this case, motivation can be viewed as ―an internal attribute that is the result of an external force‖ Dörnyei (2003) The external force consists of many elements; the most important of which is teacher‘s role

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In ―Psychology for Language Teachers‖, M Williams and R Burden

mentioned motivation as ― ―a state of cognitive and emotional arousal, a state which leads to a conscious decision to act and gives rise to a period of sustained intellectual and/or physical effort‖

Gardner (1985) who seems to explain the term with the precision of mathematical demonstration: motivation is a combination of effort plus desire to achieve a goal plus favorable attitudes towards the goal to be accomplished

In sum, motivation is commonly considered as an inner drive, impulse, emotion or desire that moves one to a particular action in general and makes students receive adequate incentive so as to learn English better The success of any action usually depends on the extent to which individuals strive to attain their purpose, along with their desire to do so It is essential for teachers to pay attention

to the importance of motivation in EFL

2.2.2 Motivation factors in language learning:

When trying to explain any success or failure in second language (L2) learning, the term 'motivation' is often used by teachers and students alike Indeed, motivation is one of the key learner factors that determines the rate and success of L2 attainment: it provides the primary impetus to initiate learning the L2 and later the driving force to sustain the long learning process There are many motivation factors in language learning

According to Dorney (1998), motivation is comprised of three levels: the language level, the learner level and the learning situation level

The language level can be described through integrative and instrumental motivation The learner level motivation involves the influence of various individual traits of language learners, such as, the need for achievement and self-confidence The learning situation level is also influenced by a number of intrinsic and extrinsic motives

According to Hussin, Maarof, and D‘Cruz, ―positive concept, high esteem, positive attitude, clear understanding of the goals for language learning,

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continuous active participation in the language learning process, the relevance of conductive environment that could contribute to the success of language learning‖ (2001) Six factors influencing motivation in language learning are attitudes, beliefs about self, goals, involvement, environmental support, and personal attributes Raymond (1978) gave out the figure of factors of learning motivation including with the learning process:

Figure 2.1: Raymond’s factors of learning motivation

In this figure, he also pointed out six factors consisted of two motivational elements in each learning process: The beginning with attitudes and needs, the during learning process with stimulation and affect (the affective or emotional experience of the student), the ending with competence and reinforcement

After a long period of time, from 1978 (Raymond) to 2001 (Hussin, Maarof, and D‘Cruz), though words are different, both scientists have the same views on the factors of motivation

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2.2.2.1 Attitudes

According to Hussin, Maarof, and D‘Cruz, ―teachers need to find creative ways to teach the language and increase the student‘s motivation to learn the language and to eventually appreciate the language‖ (2001) Besides, Kabilan indicated that ―Teachers should develop a mutual relationship with their learners‖ (2000) To get this, teachers need to understand students in terms of backgrounds, interests, future goals, aims for English learning, and most importantly, different personalities Once they can understand each other better, their relationship develops, the classroom will become comfortable and enjoyable enough for students

to learn positively from the teacher without any hesitation According to Richard-Amato, ―In classrooms in which mutual respect is lacking, differing values can lead to conflicts between student and teacher, and between student and peer‖ (2003) Thus, teachers need to aid students who need support and encouragement In addition, teachers are required to teach all the students the importance of having respect for one another in a classroom so that each of the students can actively participate in lesson

The relationship between teacher-students, student-student and student with subject and learning situation is called ―attitudes‖

Attitudes are very powerful in learning process First of all, attitude of learners toward teacher is rather important It is considered as a contributing factor

in second language acquisition Raymond (1978) explained and brought out motivation strategies to solve this problem including:

1 Establish a relationship with the students by sharing something of value with students

2 Listen to the students with empathetic regard

3 Treat the students with warmth and acceptance

4 Use class or individual meeting to build relationship and better attitudes

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The Second is the attitude toward the subject and learning situation The third

is the attitude toward the self The last but the most important is the expectancy for success of the learners It is widely accepted that the success of foreign language learning is the students‘ attitudes toward it

The famous saying of Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe is "The greatest evil that can befall man is that he should come to think ill of himself." If learners have positive attitudes to themselves, they have the first step in success and vice versa This concept can be viewed as self-confidence which provides learners with the motivation and energy to become positive about their own learning It also creates the drive in them to acquire the targeted language, enjoy the learning process, and experience real communication ―At the heart of all learning is a person‘s belief in his or her ability to accomplish the task‖ (Atsuta, 2003) With the self-confidence, learners appear to have higher self-esteem Lack of belief in one‘s ability hinders him from achieving the success In addition, it is widely believed that once students gain self-confidence, it progressively expands, in conjunction with experiencing success and satisfaction as well as good relationships

2.2.2.2 Needs

Needs motivate learning at first and on the whole learning process Successful teaching has only gained in case it meets the fundamental needs of students Whenever students do not want to learn, the needs disappear, the lesson will not be done well In a word, needs are very essential in learning process There are many different theories relating to the concepts of needs In this paper, I choose the Maslow‘s need theory to follow Maslow (1970) had many needs factors in order of importance:

Esteem needs Love needs Safety needs

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Figure 2.2: Maslow’s needs factors in order of importance

Physiological needs are the human physical requirements for human survival

such as air, water, food and so on In learning situation, obviously, a sleepy student can be in a good position to master the foreign language well A hungry student cannot feel relaxed and think carefully about a test An ill person cannot read between the line a text and do the tasks following intelligently Learning needs energy That means physiological needs of students have to be satisfied to ensure students be in a good place to acquire the learning

While physiological needs mention physical sides of students, safety needs talk about their basic security Students must be free from fear and anxiety A safe environment or class where students are not afraid of learning will be a positive motivational factor

Love needs give students a feeling that they can be respected and a part of class They can give and get compliments or feedback from teacher and other students

Esteem needs present the desire to be respected, accepted and valued by other people The motivation of students will be facilitated by helping them to gain

a realistic awareness of their strengths and by allowing them to responsibly achieve the sense of personal effectiveness and independence

Self-actualization needs are described as from the desire to accomplish

everything to fulfill it by themselves

2.2.2.3 Stimulation

Stimulation has to occur to sustain student learning Students will begin learning activities because they need them, or because they have a positive attitude toward them, but they will not continue to attend and be involved unless they find the learning stimulating Stimulation includes introduction and connection of learning activities, variety, interest and involvement

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2.2.2.4 Affect

Affect consists of many elements such as feelings, fluency, valuing and climate while learning As Castillo has written ―The affective domain is the heart and soul of the learning experience…‖, teacher and students emotions give relevancy to learning and teaching In short, affect is an intrinsic motivator

2.2.2.5 Competence

Competence is used as a term to describe a person‘s ability to take the initiate and capability of control In general learning situation, the awareness of mastery (the realization of students about the specific degree of knowledge or level

of performance) and self-confidence (self-perception) are two main points in the concept of competence

2.2.2.6 Reinforcement

The last general motivation factor is reinforcement which has artificial reinforcers, natural consequences and grades

Artificial Reinforcers

These are tangible or concrete materials, things, or symbols that are

extrinsically provided by the teacher for learning behavior

Natural Consequences

This concept is reinforcement theory's interpretation of intrinsic motivation (It will be presented later)

Grades are defined in the context of this book in the traditional sense which

are A - excellent, B - good, C - Average, D - poor, and F - failure

2.2.3 Types of motivation

2.2.3.1 Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

One of the most general and well-known distinctions in motivation theories

is that of intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation Leavitt, Pondy, Boje (1989) showed that intrinsic motivation refers to the pleasure or value associated with the activity itself Intrinsic motivation is from within the students Intrinsically motivated

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activities deal with behavior performed for its own sake in order to experience pleasure and satisfaction, such as the joy of doing a particular activity or satisfying one‘s curiosity In brief, intrinsic motivation can be referred as motivation that comes from inside an individual rather than from external or outside such as grades

or parents According to Vallerant and his colleagues (Vallerand, 1997; Vallerand, Blais, Brière, & Pelletier, 1989) there are three types of intrinsic motivation

The first type is intrinsic motivation-Knowledge, is the motivation for doing

an activity for the feelings an associated with exploring new ideas and developing knowledge A second type, intrinsic motivation-Accomplishment refers to the sensations related to attempting to master a task or achieve a goal The third type, intrinsic motivation-Stimulation, relates to motivation based on the sensations stimulated by performing the task, such as aesthetic appreciation or fun or excitement (as cited in Noels, Pelletier, Clément, & Vallerand, 2000)

In contrast to intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation is the motivation comes from the external of an individual Noels, Pelletier, Clément, & Vallerand, (2000) claimed that extrinsically motivated behaviors are those actions to achieve some instrumental end such as obtaining financial rewards, passing an exam, or avoiding punishment According to Deci and Ryan (1985), there are four types of extrinsic motivation:

(1) External regulation refers to the least self-determined form of extrinsic motivation, coming entirely from external sources such as rewards or threats; (2) Interjected regulation involves externally imposed rules that the student accepts

as norms to be followed in order not to feel guilty;

(3) Identified regulation occurs when the person engages in an activity because he

or she highly values and identifies with the behavior, and sees its usefulness; (4) Integrated regulation is the most developmentally advanced form of extrinsic motivation, involving optional behavior that is fully assimilated with the individual‘s other values and needs (as cited in Noels, Pelletier, Clément, & Vallerand, 2000)

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2.2.3.2 Integrative and instrumental motivation

Gardner & Lambert, (1972) assumed that integrative motivation referred to motivation comes from the willingness to be like valued members of the language community It concerns the desire to interact with and even become similar to valued members of that community An integrative motivation is employed when learners wish to integrate themselves within the culture of the second language group, to identify themselves with and become a part of that society It is thought that students are the most successful at second language acquisition (SLA) when they like the people that speak the language, admire the culture and have a desire to become familiar with or even integrate into the society in which the language is used (Falk 1978) When someone becomes a resident in a new community that uses the target language in its social interactions, integrative motivation is a key component in assisting the learner to develop some level of proficiency in the language It becomes a necessity, in order to operate socially in the community and become one of its members It is also theorized that "integrative motivation typically underlies successful acquisition of a wide range of registers and a native like pronunciation" (Finegan, 1999, p.568)

As Benson (1991) suggests, a more appropriate approach to the concept of integrative motivation in the EFL context would be the idea that it represents the desire of the individual to become bilingual, while at the same time becoming bicultural

In other word, ―the integratively motivated is one who is motivated to learn the second language, has an openness to identification with the other language community, and has favorable attitudes toward the learning situation‖ (Masgoret, &

Gardner, 2003, p.128)

In contrast to integrative motivation is instrumental motivation Instrumental motivation reflects practical value and advantages of learning a language This is generally characterized by the desire to obtain something practical or concrete from the study of a second language (Hudson 2000) With instrumental motivation the

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purpose of language acquisition is more utilitarian, such as meeting the requirements for school or university graduation, applying for a job, requesting higher pay based on language ability, reading technical material, translation work or achieving higher social status Instrumental motivation is often characteristic of second language acquisition, where little or no social integration of the learner into

a community using the target language takes place, or in some instances is even desired

While both integrative and instrumental motivations are essential elements of success, it is integrative motivation which has been found to sustain long-term success when learning a second language (Taylor, Meynard and Rheault 1977; Ellis 1997; Crookes et al 1991) In some of the early research conducted by Gardner and Lambert integrative motivation was viewed as being of more importance in a formal learning environment than instrumental motivation (Ellis 1997)

Brown (2000) makes the point that both integrative and instrumental motivation are not necessarily mutually exclusive Learners rarely select one form

of motivation when learning a second language, but rather a combination of both orientations Students learn language on purposes and they will get SLA if they integrate with the community using this language

Motivation is an important factor in L2 achievement For this reason it is important to identify both the type and combination of motivation that assists in the successful acquisition of a second language

2.3 Theoretical basis of listening

It has been proved that adults spend 40-50% of communication time listening but the importance of listening in language learning has only been recognized relatively recently Since the role of listening comprehension in language learning was taken for granted, it merited more and more research

2.3.1 Definition of listening

Listening is the ability to identify and understand what others are saying Then the role of listening is as a tool for understanding and a key factor in

O‘Malley and Chamot (1990, p.132) ―listening comprehension entails active and conscious process in which the listener constructs the meaning by using cues from contextual information and existing knowledge‖.As Buck (2001) concludes,

―listening comprehension is an active process of constructing meaning and this is done by applying knowledge are involved: both linguistic knowledge and non-linguistic knowledge‖

In short, listening is a complex, active processes of interpretation in which listeners match what they hear with what they already know

2.3.2 Listening processes

There are two distinct processes involved in listening comprehension including ‗top-down' and ‗bottom-up‘ processes

2.2.3.1 The Top-down Listening Process

Top-down models emphasize the use of previous knowledge in processing a text rather than relying upon the individual sounds and words

Listening is purpose-driven in this model, and listeners attend to what they need They only activate those expectations that they deem to be relevant to the text being processed.The Top-down process which may be described as holistic or

"conceptually driven" (Brown, 1994) focuses on the use of background knowledge

in understanding the meaning of a message Whereas bottom-up processing goes from language to meaning, top-down processing goes from meaning to language 2.2.3.2 The Bottom-up Listening Process

Figure 2.3: A transmission view of communication

The transmission of information from Figure 2.3 (adapted from Shannon and Weaver, 1949) is a representation of this model

According to this model of communication, the sender encodes a message, which passes along the communication channel in the form of a signal and is then decoded by the receiver Provided that there is no deficiency in the channel and that both the sender and the receiver are using the same code, successful communication

is guaranteed According to this model, communication can take place without any reference to the speaker, hearer, or wider context

2.3.3 Conclusions

L2 listening competence is a complex skill that needs to be developed consciously Guiding students through the process of listening not only provides them with the knowledge by which they can successfully complete a listening task;

it also motivates them and puts them in control of their learning (Vandergrift, 2002)

2.4 Summary

This chapter has presented theoretical background of motivation including motivational factors along with types of motivation Theoretical basis of listening is

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also given in terms of definition and listening processes They are the foundation of that research paper From that point, the next chapters will explore more in particular school: Huong Hoa school with the motivation in listening skill of grade-ten students

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CHAPTER 3 - METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction

The theoretical background of the research is given out in the previous chapter so as to support the research This chapter will explore the methodology to

be applied in the study in terms of research approach, research participants, the process of data collection and analysis

3.2 Research approaches

Selecting research approach is a crucial element in the research process It is very important to the success of the research I decide to use a variety of complementary research methods which are both quantitative and qualitative research methods

3.2.1 Quantitative research methods

The first quantitative research method is observation It is the good way to collect information in class and from teachers as well as students I will carry out the observations in English class of listening in grade ten in the whole school year

or through sixteen units in English textbook By observing, I can find out the process of the listening units, the attitudes of students toward each listening lesson and the teachers‘ motivation toward students in the lesson Ten English teachers are chosen to be observed within five classes of tenth grade in the whole school year 2012-2013 When observing, I can use many recording tools to support, however video-recorder should be limited because it affects the classroom atmosphere Note-taking is preferred I intend to design two kinds of observation forms: one if for evaluation to teachers and one is for evaluating students‘ activities and attitudes in the process of the lesson The forms will be model for all observations The contents

of forms or what to be observed are prepared very carefully in the source references

as well as under the instruction of supervisor In the role of observer, I try the best

to record observation in the subjective viewpoint and be neutral not to interfere the results

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The second quantitative research method I conduct is survey which is usually used to study about English learners‘ attitudes, beliefs, behavior, opinions, habits, desires and ideas in listening lessons The items with many options showed in the survey are very important for me to analyze and draw out the findings and discussion later This is a crucial step of my research so I prepare those items in survey in the exact way I want to do in my research Those items focus on collecting information about students‘ attitudes toward listening lesson and the ways they want it to be Ten chosen classes with about a hundred of students will be

in this survey at the end of school year or at the end of each listening lesson So the survey will last long and divide into many parts depending on the number of units in the textbook

In terms of quantitative research methods, observations and survey/ questionnaires are used The goal of those methods is to collect information that will investigate a research problem or questions

3.2.2 Qualitative research methods

Qualitative research is designed to provide the researcher the subjective assessment of attitudes, opinions and behavior In this research, the interview will

be used The interviewees are ten English teachers from Huong Hoa high school Utilizing the advantages of both methods mention above, I will find out the motivation techniques and then design the supplementary listening material for textbook of English ten

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3.3.2 Survey/questionnaire participants

Ten chosen classes with about a hundred of students will be in this survey at the end of school year or at the end of each listening lesson

Ten English teachers from Huong Hoa high school were invited to take part

in the interview to state their viewpoints about listening class, the ways to motivate students in listening and also suggestion to improve students listening skill

3.4 The process of data collection and analysis

3.4.1 Data collection

For the purpose of obtaining data that will explore what difficulties that students from Huong Hoa high school get and what negatively affects their English learning motivation, the researchers use the following tools for data collection Two kinds of observation sheets: One observation is for evaluate teachers and one sheet used to define students‘ attitudes as well as activities toward listening class

A survey is adapted from Gardner‘s AMTB to measure the students‘ integrative / instrumental motivation in learning English This contains 8 items reflecting the integrative / instrumental motivation and a five point ranged from

―strongly disagree‖ to ―strongly agree‖ The survey also mentions factors facing the English learners

The interviews are carried out with 10 English teachers to obtain qualitative data

3.4.2 Data Analysis

The analysis mainly focuses on studying students‘ integrative and instrumental motivations in learning English as well as the factors influencing them The data from observations, surveys and interviews are analyzed and presented in the paper in forms of tables and diagrams

3.5 Summary

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The research approaches, research participants along with the procedure of data collection and analysis are presented in detail above The research can be done well with the help of participants and their attention to this research The analysis of data collected will be a reference for English learners and teachers Moreover, it also supports for suggestions of English listening class

in listening class in grade ten

The chapter is divided into four sections The first section investigates the students‘ attitudes toward listening class The second one explores the integrative motivation and instrumental motivation in listening skill The third one finds out the strategies for listening comprehension And the last one recommends some samples for supplementary listening material sources of textbook Tieng Anh 10

4.2 Students’ attitudes toward listening class

4.2.1 Students’ perception about the difficulty of listening skill

Listening is the most frequently used language skill (Morley, 1999) in and out of class Listening consumes more of daily communication time than other forms of verbal communication It is the central to the lives of students in their educational development process In contrast, it seems to be the most difficult skill

in second language acquisition The figure below shows the students‘ opinion on the difficulty of learning the listening skill

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Figure 4.1: Students’ perception about the difficulty of listening skill

The data collected in Figure 4.1 shows the students‘ perception on the difficulty of learning the listening comprehension In this figure, more than 80% of the learners remarked that the listening skill was very difficult and difficult When observing listening class, I also recognized that most of students could not listen for comprehension and they seemed not pay attention much at listening class Some students could do the listening tasks very well in case they had the key book In listening class, teacher tended to do activities more than students because students were rather passive and not eager Some harder students tried their best to listen to the text but they caught a little even they listened more than three times A small number of students (14%) found that listening was less difficult The majority of them came from the advanced class There was only one student who identified listening was not difficult at all

There is no doubt that listening is considered the most difficult skill among four main skills in the process of teaching and learning a foreign language The foreign language teacher must be aware of this and try to find the suitable strategies

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to motivate students in listening class and also help them foster this skill The teacher needs to spend more time and effort to design the listening lesson plan and have a plan to divide students into many groups in which students can help each other in listening class The work arrangement can raise their awareness of doing the listening tasks on the sake of group

4.2.2 Factors affecting listening

From the point about the difficulty of listening skill, I carried out to identify the reasons or factors affecting listening skill I gave out seven factors including speed of delivery, limited vocabulary, lack of contextual knowledge, lack of motivation, speaker accents, noise and poor tape quality (Some adapted from Underwood, 1989 and some drawn out from my observation) The demand was circle the factor or number that is the most difficult

Figure 4.2: The rate of difficulty of factors affecting listening

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The figure pointed out that there were four main factors that affected the listening text the most They were speed of delivery (22%), limited vocabulary (21%), lack of contextual knowledge (23%) and lack of motivation (21%) The rest factors which consisted of speaker accents, noise and poor tape quality were not remarkable Speed of delivery was about the rate of speech The speaker in the listening text usually spoke in the natural way so that it was rather fast With limited vocabulary and limited contextual background, even in case students could hear the words or pronunciation, they still did not know what they meant Listening is a receptive process and it only happens if learners have enough background of vocabulary and knowledge Learners‘ background of knowledge has been constructed in the long lasting and continuous process However, teacher can deal with these problems by teaching vocabulary and providing the context relating to the listening text

In terms of lack of motivation, listening activity is not far from the obligation There are not any purposes or desires in it If students do things on no purpose, they will not desire to get success and even they don‘t care about they can

be successful or not Noise in class is very popular in speaking and reading sections However, in listening section, teacher may control the atmosphere of class in order for the quality of listening text not be affected by the noise

Speaker accents accounted for 8% It meant that there were eight students at Huong Hoa high school who thought that native speaker accent was the most difficult factor affecting in listening text English taught at school is the standard variety of English Whereas, learners communicate with other varieties of English from various people with different gender, age, accent, speed, voice, and tone in real-life In addition, students have a few chances to contact other varieties of English except the standard one That is because students only listen to listening text in tape and teacher voice Then they tend to be familiar with the Standard English There will be the misunderstanding if student communicate with people

4.2.3 The frequency of using listening aids

The facilities supporting the learning foreign language play a vital role in motivating students in practicing the listening skill An item of questionnaire was given out to investigate the frequency of using listening aids including tape/CD, video, television and handouts The table below described the result:

Table 4.1: The frequency of using listening aids

Teaching aids

Students N1=100

of television (33%) and handouts (17%)

The methodology of teaching is communicative approach which emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of study The means

of teaching listening certainly belong to the mass media in which English speaker accent is used In listening part, teacher has no longer spoken aloud the script It is quite not communicative at all The cassette is the most popular tool to be used in listening class because it is quite easy to bring along Moreover, CD is also made at the same time of the textbook Video is used frequently It makes students more

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interested when they practice listening at the same time they can see motion picture However, Motion picture distracts students from listening skill Besides, students can do the tasks well because they can see what happen in the text, not really listen what is in the text

The information gained from Table 4.1 indicates that nowadays using of information technology at the English lessons is very important, especially in practicing listening comprehension skill Lessons with video or television also give students more chances to practice listening outside the book and encourage students

to train listening from other sources by themselves at home

4.2.4 Frequency of students’ practice the listening skill at home

Listening skill has only been achieved in the long lasting process of practice

An item of the questionnaire is used to ask about the Frequency of students‘ practice the listening skill at home Below is the result:

Figure 4.3: Frequency of students’ practicing the listening skill at home

Figure 4.3 presents the frequency of the students in practicing the listening skill As can be seen from the figure, most students had a tendency of negative

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attitude in practicing listening 79% of learners said that they never practiced the listening skill at home while 12% of them did it sometimes Besides, the very low percentage of the students (9%) admitted practicing listening very frequently and frequently

The large difference in percentage explains the reason why students are always bad at listening skill ―Practice makes perfect‖ The results can only be achieved if we spend time working hard and accumulating in a long time ―There's a will, there's a way‖ Students do not share time to practice listening skills and then they will catch nothing This is the most obvious and typical cause of the students‘ limited ability of teaching

Hence, in order to achieve the listening goal, students should be aware of the frequent practice The more they practice, the better their listening skill is Also, teachers should help their students practice listening at home Teacher can assign student listening homework and check to see whether they do so that they can encourage students to develop listening skills

4.2.5 Students’ preference for topic in textbook Tieng Anh 10:

Textbook Tieng Anh 10 was written in theme-based including sixteen units

of sixteen specific topics: Unit 1- A day in the life of…; Unit 2 – School talks; Unit

3 – People‘s background; Unit 4 – Special education; Unit 5 – Technology and you; Unit 6 – An excursion; Unit 7 – The mass media; Unit 8 – The story of my village; Unit 9 – Undersea world; Unit 10 – Conservation; Unit 11 – National parks; Unit

12 – Music; Unit 13– Films and cinema; Unit 14 – The world cup; Unit 15– Cities and unit 16 – Historical places Topics determine the students‘ interest This part discusses the topics students‘ preference for those topics The data collected from questionnaire were presented in Figure 4.4 below