Luận văn an investigation into the first year students’ attitudes towards learning english listening at faculty of electrical engineering technology hanoi university of industry haui

Numbers of them have shown that various factors have strong impacts on the success of learning English language in general and learning English listening in particular These factors can

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HANOT UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

PHAM THI VINH

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE FIRST — YEAR — STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS LEARNING ENGLISII LISTENING AT FACULTY OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY,

TIANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY (IAUD

(Thái độ của sinh viên năm nhất ngành công nghệ kỹ thuật điện đối với việc học nghe tại trường Đại học Công Nghiệp Hà Nội)

M.A Minor Propramme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60140111

Hanoi — 2014

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY IIANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

PHAM THI VINH

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE FIRST — YEAR — STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS LEARNING ENGLISII LISTENING AT FACULTY OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY,

HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY (HAUD

(Thái độ của sinh viên năm nhất ngành công nghệ kỹ thuật điện đối với việc học nghe tại trường Đại học Công Nghiệp Hà Nội)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Mcthodology

Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Dr Tran Thi Tuyết

Hanoi - 2014

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

Thereby slate that 7: Pham Thi Vinh, am the author of the thesis entitted “An investigation into the first - year - students’ attitudes towards leaming English listening at faculty of Dlectrical Engineering Technology, Uanoi University of Industry (HalJI)", which is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master

of Arts at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, and this thesis has not been submitted for any other degrees

Ha noi, 2014

Pham Thi Vinh

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, T would like lo express my mosl sincere gratitude to Dr Tran Thi Tuyết, my honorable supervisor for her great guidance and encouragement without which the study would not be completed [er patience and the amount of time she spent on revising manuscripts with muddled up contents have been truly appreciated Besides, her sense of thoughtful criticism and recognition of the work have played a crucial role to the progress and completion of this study

Jalsa take this opportunity to express my thankfulness to all of my course instructors and lecturers of the University of Languages and International Studies - Vietnam National University, Hanoi [or their valuable advice and suggestions

throughout my study

In addition, I am appreciative of my first - year - Electrical Engincering,

‘Technology students as well as my colleagues at Llanoi University of Industry for their wholehearted cooperation in participating in survey questionnaires and

interviews which gave greal help lo form a significant part of this study

Last but not least, my heartfelt gralilude goes 1o all these who have kindly

advised and helped me towards the completion of my study report.

ABSTRACT

The cwrenl study sheds light on atlilude which is considered oue of the most key factors affecting learners’ achievement in foreign language leaming It can be seen

that attitude varies and different smadents lead different attitudes Thus, this study

was conducted to examine attitudes of the first — year — Electrical Engineering

‘Technology students towards learning linglish listening at Llanci University of Industry The 120 male students and 5 teachers involved in this study Also, queslionnaire and mlerview were chosen as the instruments for data collection Tn the context of the study, it mainly focused on the influence of some determinant factors (leamers’ factors, teachers’ factors and learning environment’ factors) on

students lo cvahuate their altitudes towards learning listening skills Overall, the

findings indicated that the participants kept negative attitudes towards learning

Foglish listening Some possible causes accounted for their unfavorable attitudes

could be named as their disinterest, limited level of English, uncreative teaching

methods, poor Jeaming conditions and inappropriate materials Based ơn the vesearch findings, some Tecommendations were discussed to foster posilive altitudes

towards Icarning listening skills

Keywords: Attitude, language learning, questionnaire and interview, learners’ factors, teachers’ factors and learning enyiromment’s factors

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

š Bcope ofthestudy ào

6 Significance of the study

7 Orgsnization ofthestudy

PART B: DEVELOPMENT, nencererree

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVLEW coccooee

1.1 Overview of the current situation of teaching and learning listening

skills in Vietnamese contest eccescssesesseesineeneenene

iE -.VH

1.3.2 Role of attitudes in students" language learuing "2©:

1.3.3 Eactors aifecting students' atfitudes towards langunge lcarning 12

22 The study cee —

3.1.1 The infiuencc of iuternal factors on students" attitndes 2Ì

4.1 Students hold negative attitudes towards learning English

4.2 Some factors leading to students’ negative attitudes

towards Icarning listening skills

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Haul Hanoi University of Industry

DSL Lnglish as a second language

LIST OF APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: STUDENTS’ QUESTIONNATRE ( Vieinmmese version) APPENDIX 2: STUDENTS’ QUESTIONNAIRE (English version)

APPENDIX 3: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

vii

LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Students” perception

Table 2: Students’ interest

Table 3: Students’ ability

Table 4: Teachers’ behaviors

Table 5: Teachers’ practices

Table 6: Leaming conditions

Table 7: Listening malerials

vill

PART A: INTRODUCTION:

1 Rationale

English is known as an intemnational language that is widely used to communicate in all fields of the life such as science, technology, culture, education economy and so on Therefore, mastering English has become an essential requirement in many nations all over the world as well as in Vietnam

In Vietnamese educational system, one of the most concerned problems is how

to help teachers und students teach and learn Fnglish effectively English has been introduced as a compulsory subject at grade three in most Vietnamese primary schools, so English learning process extends through primary school,

secondary achool, high selol and universily Communicative compelence is required as the ultimate aim of foreign language teaching and learning in all schools, it means that students are required to focus on all four skills, namely listening, speaking, reading, and wriling However, in reality, lhe cmuphasis on some basic knowledge of English in terms of grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension or wriHen forms

seen for the purposes of examinalions instead

of communicative purposes in many Vietuamese schools (Hoang, 2010) As the result, it is likely that the majority of Vietnamese students are good at grammar,

writing, and reading but weak in listening and speaking (Nguyen, 2008) Among

four skills, listening skill seems to be the most difficult to students ‘They have to

face much trouble in learning English listening skills

In English as second language learning context (ESL), many studies have

been conducted on how to teach and learn listening skills effectively Numbers

of them have shown that various factors have strong impacts on the success of

learning English language in general and learning English listening in particular

These factors can be motivation, anxicty, attitudes, aptitudes, intelligence, personalities, age, etc (Gardner, 1960; Lehmann, 2006 - cited in Shames, 2008)

Agmong them, the malfer of altiturles is one of ths most crucial [batures affecting

second language learning It is said that both positive and negative attitudes have

associated with learners’ language Icaming Positive attitudes can enhance students’ language learning and help them achieve their goal easier, meanwhile,

số it (Flas, 1994)

negative ones can dec

As an English teacher at Hanoi University of Industry (HaUl), 1 have

recognized that my students, especially the freshmen met many difficulties in

learning listarring skills All of them have learnt English for al least 7 years;

however, their listening abilities were quite poor As far as 1 has observed, my

students reflected different attitudes towards learning listening skills Some

studenls showed their favorable ailitudes and wanted to nuprove their listening

abitities, but others felt uncomfortable and under pressured in listening lessons

Hence, I think it is vital to identify students’ attitudes to learning English

listening Afler identifying students’ altitudes, we can also find oul some reasons

for their favorable or unfavorable attitudes to facilitate positive attitudes and

limit negative attitudes towards learning listening skills

For all whal T have just mentioned, T decide to choose the lope “An

investigation into the first year students’ attitudes towards learning nglish

listening at faculty of Electrical Engineermg Technology, Hanoi University of Industry (HaUl)” for my munor thesis Hopefully, the efforts im doing this

research can contribute effectively to help my students overcome their

difficulties, and make thom feel more comfortable in practicing Euglish listening

and assist them in improving their listening skills

2, Aims of the study

The study is conducted to identify the Electrical Engineering Technology

students’ attitudes towards leaning listening skills

The specific aims of the research are as follows

- The study invesligates the students’ altitudes al HaU towards

learning Linglish listening

- The study aims to find out factors affecting their attitudes towards

learning English lisLening

- Then the study can provide some suggestions to facilitate students’ positive attitudes in their Listening learning process

3 Research questions

In order to classify the aims, the paper answers the following research questions:

1 What are the first — year — Llectrical Lngineering Technology

students’ allitudes lowards learning English listening?

2 What should be done to foster students’ positive attitudes towards

learning English listening?

4 Methed of the study

Both quantitative method and qualitative method were used; however, the quantitative one was the main focus The quantitative data was collected through students’ questionaire to examine the [inst — year — sludents’ altitudes al faculty of Blectrical Engineering Technology at ITaLI School towards learning listening skills

In addition, to make the data collected more reliable and authentic, qualitative

amethod was applied with semi - structured interviews for (cachers lo check

students” attitudes in class hen, some guides were drawn to help students have

posilive alliludes to leam English listsning All the comments, remarks, recommendations and conclusions provided in the study were based on the data

analysis of the study

5 Scope of the study

Due to the limited time and within an M.A minor thesis, the study mainly concentrates on investigating students’ attitudes towards leaming Inglish listening

in a case of the first- year students at the faculty of Electrical Engineering

‘Technology at HaUI School All of them has been studied English for at least seven years and they have continued to learn English as a fundamental subject in the

universily The researcher inlends Lo discover the attitudes of the largel population

towards leaming [inglish listening, then offers some recommendations to foster students’ positive attitudes to learning listening skills

attitudes is beneficial to students, teachers and researchers as well Most

importantly, the results of the research may give the answer to the question whether students’ allitudes are in linc with the aim of facilitating posilive atliludes towards leaming English listening At tertiary level, it is essential to impart language programmers by realizing the right attitudes perceived by students because there is a

strong correlation between atliludes and language learning achievernenL Last but

not least, such efforts in the study hope to contribute to the development of educational field by instilling in students more interest in learning English

listening and stimulating them to accomplish higher English language

proficiency

7 Organization of the study

The study is divided info three parts: the Thtroduction, the Development and the

Conclusion

Part A: Totraduction — deals with the rationale, aims, scope, methods,

significance and organization of the study It expresses the reason why the

researcher chooses this study and the methods for the fulfillment of the study

Part B: Development! — consists of four chapters

Chapter 1 Literature Review is intended to give some theoretical background

related to listening skills, individual differences influencing on students’ success in

learning listening skills, the attitude concepts and some components affecting

students’ attitudes

Chapter 2 — Methodology — reviews the setting of the study, participants, data

collection instruments, dala collection procedures:

Chapter 3 Data analysis provides a comprehensive analysis on the collected data

from questionnaire and interviews

Chapter 4 — Findings and suggestions — discuss some major findings and also offers some recommendations to facilitate positive attitudes of students to leam listening skills

Part © Conclusion presents a summary of the study, limitations of the study and suggestions for the further research.

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

To provide a theoretical background to the study, this chapter is devoted lo the

reexamination of concepts most relevant to the thesis’s topic Firstly, the overview

of the current situation of leaming and teaching listening skills in Vietnamese

comexd is taken inlo consideration Resides, individual differences infuencing on

students’ success in language learning as well as learning listening skills are also discussed Lastly, some theories involving concepts of attitude (definitions, its role

and some components affecting attitudes) are also introduced

15 Overview of the current situation of teaching and learning listening

skills in Vietnamese context

1.5.1 Introduction

Richards and Renandya’s research (2002) reveals that listening skills were not given

much attention by researchers as well as ESL leamers in the eatly history of lamguage teaching Sharing the same view, Mendelsohn (1994:9) states that the

teaching of listening skills is almost ignored and less concerned Also, listening

skills in the second language learning area are neglected (Chiang & Dunkel, 1992) However, the attention te Iearmmg and tcachmg listening skills has been recently

increased and gone along with the development of Linglish language teaching The

importance of leaching and learning listening skills is considerably emphasized with

the discovery of Communicative Language Leaching where it is believed that leamers leam mainly through the act of communication (elgesen, 2007: 25)

Miller (2003) points out that there has been a growing interest in the theory and

practice of listening skills dedicated to understanding the nature of listening and to developing effective listening skills and materials Thus, it can be seen that many

concer

about teaching and leaming listening skills have been raised to EST

communities recently

1.5.2 The teaching and learning of istening skills in the Vietnamese context

‘The significance of Linglish teaching has been emphasized considerably in

Victnamese education system since 1980s afler BSi mai policy English is a

compulsory subject at both lower and upper secondary levels and an elective subject

in primary levels At tertiary, English is also introduced as a compulsory subject to

all studenis However, Nguyen (2008) staies that many students arc normally good

at doing exercises of written forms, these forms of exercises mostly concern grammar, reading or writing comprehension, they have many difficulties in

speaking and listening Nguyen also claims that many Vietnamese students still

cannot communicate successfully with foreigners even in simple daily conversations despite the fact that they are good students with high marks in

English tests In Victnamnese context, this situalion is understandable because there

are some common problems in teaching and learning Lnglish in general and

listening skills in particular

The lirst problem lies on the qualily of the teaching staf Most English teachers in

Vietnamese schools are deeply influenced by grammar translation method (Le,

2011), Hence, there is a tack of skillful and professional staff in terns of language knowledge and methodology, practicing communicative skills and updating modem

technologies in language teaching Lesides, teachers of Lnglish have limited opportunilies to communicate in person with foreigners or nalive speakers al schools, It is claimed that many of them do not nonnally communivative in English fluently, so it raises the question of how they can deal with teaching skills that

mainly depend on communicative interactions

Second, despite the emphasis on the development of practicing communicative skills, it is rarely reflected in classrooms (IIoang, 2010) Ie claims that most

Vietnamese schools and Vielnamese students mainly focus on the imporance of

reading comprehension, vocabulary or some structures for the purpose of passing

the entrance examinations into colleges or universities Thus, it can be indicated that

duc lo the neglect in listening skills in language classes as well as the unawarcness

of the importance of listening skills, it causes Victnamese leamers’ weakness in

Linglish listening skills In addition, the majority of students have few chances to

interact with English for

gners at schools, except in some urban schools

Therefore, understandably they have to struggle with many difficulties in using Tnglish in actual situations

Third, the insullicieney of poor facilities and teaching malcrials also causes Ihe

difficulties for Vietnamese learners in Jeaming English in general and listening skills in particular (Iloang, 2010) In fact, the average class of forty-five to fifty

students wilh poor facilities such as low lighting, inadequate ventilation, and

inoperative heating and cooling systems can have negative impacts on the learning

of Vietnamese students Besides, limited materials for teachers and students,

including supplementary exercises, methadology or Waimng books, diclionaries,

magazine or newspapers in Lnglish, tapes and recorders are also barriers in

listening teaching and leaning process

Tn sim, it might be said thal in Victwamese conloxl, there arc many

limitations on the development of teaching and learning Hneglish communicative

skills in general and listening skills in particular Listening seems to be the most challenging skill for most students and they have to suffer trom numbers of

difficulties in their learning of listening skills Accordingly, it causes much trouble

for all teachers and authorities to help students increase their lisLering poficiency,

‘Therefore, finding solutions to this situation is necessary despite the fact that it may xequire much time and energy

1.2 Individual differences influencing on students’ success in learning English listening skills

As have been said in the previous part, most students have to face with many

difficulties in teaming listening skills A challenging question raised among

teachers as well as researchers is that how to improve students’ listening abilities and help them achieve success in their English listening learning However, under the same ciroumslanee, some students gain much higher proficiensy im learning

English: skills and some do not make any progress This can be cxplained with

individual differences among learners Individual differences stand for the variation

or deviations amumg individuals in regard to a single characteristic or numbers of

characteristics Obviously, each student is an independent individual with various characteristics In foreign language context, researchers have confirmed that

individual differences have strong impacts on the success of English language

learning in general and learning English listening in particular (Oxford, 1990; Ellis,

1994; Cook, 1996)

Oxford (1990) noles that individual characteristics affecting language

leaming are very complicated, including motivation, attitudes, language anxiety, self-confidence, language aptitude, family size, and personality variables

Sharing similar view with Oxlord, Skchan (1991) also suggesls thal

individual differences such as aptitude, motivation, learner strategies and learner

styles are the factors affecting language learning achievement

Similarly, Lighthown and Spada (1999) claim that “many of us believe thal

leamers have certain characteristics which lead to more or less successful language

learning” They believe that leamers possess characteristics such as personality, intelligence, aptitudes, ages and attitudes and motivation wluch can determine more

or less successful language leaming

Tn sum, from the opinions of the researchers above, i can be conchuded that

there is a great variety of learners’ individual factors affecting students’ second language learning Among these factors, scholars have recently spent considerable

attention to the impact of students’ attitudes on language learning (Gardner, 1985,

Baker, 1992, Fakey, 2000) Attitude is suggested to be one of the key predominant factors affecting learners’ success in language learning and conducting attinidinal

research in the field of language leaning is essential Therefore, this study was

designed to investigate the impact of attitude on students’ language leaming.

1.3 The concepts of atlitude

13.1 Definitions of attitude

Many researchers refer to different defimtions of attitude from various

aspects Hspecially, they distinguish language attitude from general attitudes by the fact that language attitudes are precisely about language (Faso, 1984:148) It can be

understood Lhal language attitude refers to altitude people hold towards language

Ryan and Giles (1982) define language attitude as “any affective, cognitive and behavioral index of evaluative reactions towards different language varieties or their

speakers” According lo their opinions, attitude is the way we feel, think and behave

to different languages ina particular situation

Sharing the same view about attitude, Gardner (1985) mentions that “an individual's atlifude is an evalualive reaclion to some relevent or altitude object on

the basis of the individual's beliefs or opinions about the referent” It also means

that people’s beliefs or perceptions can lead their attitude favorably or unfavorably

to an abject

Based on Gardner’s argument, Wenden (1991) refines a comprehensive definition

of the altitude concepl He categorizes allilude concept into three components: behavioral, cogmutive and affective The bchavioral aspect of attitude mentions the

way one behaves in a specific context, The cognitive component refers to the

beliefs, ideas or apimons about the object of the atlilude The affective one is

expressed through the feeling of “like” or “dislike” the objects or swrounding situations The three components are interrelated and they are always present

whenever a person holds an attitude

Also, Baker (1992:10) defines attitude as “a hypothetical construct used to explain the direction and persistence of human behavior” From this point of view, attitude

inlerprets the way human beings act and behave in a consistent marmer towards ar

abject,

Looking from a different angle, Brown (1994-168) also suggests that “ Attitudes, Like all aspects of the development of cognition and alTeet in human beings, develop

10

carly in childhocd and are the result of parents’ and peer’s attitudes, contact with people who are different in any number of ways and interacting affective factors in

the human oxperienee” Hore it secms that alitude is formed through a long process

and it is affected by many factors in the daily lives of each person

In sum, most of the definitions have indicated that, attitude can be

understood as an emotion thal has « considerable mfluenee on behaviors of bumar

beings People’s reactions and responses toward certain things in general and toward a specific language depend on attitude to this language Therefore, attitude is

am imporlam concepl in second language learning

1.3.2 Role of attitudes in students’ Language learning

Considering the role of attitudes in learning a language, many studies have

shown thal there is # reciprocal relationship between learners’ altitudes and thir

language learning Attitudes towards a particular language might be either positive

or negative: some individuals might possess neutral feelings In fact, both negative and positive altitudes parlly decide the success or failure of sceond language

learning

TLis believed that those who keep the posilive altitudes Lowards the targel language can attain higher proficiency in language leaming, Gardner and Lambert (1972) in

their extensive studies provide evidence that positive attitudes towards a language

can enhance siudents’ proficiency Also, Brown (2000:181) discusses several

studies about the effects of attitudes on language leaming and concludes that

“positive attitudes towards the self, the native language group, and the target

language group enhanced proficiency”

Karahan (2007:84) states that “positive language attitudes fet leamer have positive

oriemtation towards learning English” [le believes that students become more active

in their learning process when they hold the favorable attitudes, so (heir positive

attitudes can help them access to the target language easier

Brown (2000:181) also supports this opinion when he claims that second language kearners benefit from positive altitudes and negative alliludes may toad te decreased

11

motivation, and in all likelihood, because of the decreases input and interaction, to unsuccessful attainment of proficiency It seems that leamers with positive attitudes can become su

slul in avhicving their goals whereas those with negative

attitudes find it difficult to acquire the expected level of proficiency in language leaming

From all of these views, itis evident that attitude is considered as one of Ihe

amost crucial elements impacting to the students” achievement im language learning

It is obvious that second language leamers gain many benefits when they possess

positive altitudes Therefore, il is essential to discover students’ attitudes towards

their target language to facilitate their positive attitudes and limit their negative ones

13.3 Factors affecting students’ attitudes towards language learning

In second or foreign language learning, attitude has recently received

remarkable attention from language researchers (Gardner, 1985, Baker, 1992 Dornyei, 2001) They share the opmions that there are numbers af dilferent factors

affecting students’ attitudes towards language learning In the context of this study,

some of intemal and external faclors are considered as determinant factors directly influcneng students’ attitudes would be discussed

Kumaravadivelu (2006) states that attitudes are “the matter of individual

dilTerences”, so different sludents lead different aflitudes Thus, internal factors

namely students’ perception, students’ interest and students’ ability are considered

to be the key factors affecting students ‘attitudes

Perception is a way of thinking or point of view of each person, sa each

Jeamer has certain perceptions about the target language Such individualized perceptions shape what students think, haw they make decisions, and how they

define whal is taporlant Therefore, lhe way students perform thet thinking

(perceptions) is what results in their attitudes (Walther & Langer, 2008: 87)

In addition, learners’ interest to a specific subject alsa has a strong impact on their allitudes Tt is suggested that Ihe inner fectings and emotions of lcamers

influence their attitudes towards the target language (Choy & Troudi, 2006)

Students with interest in a subject are likely to be more motivated to manage their

own Iearring and develop the requisile skills to become ¢lfeclive learners of that

subject In contrast, low enjoyment can become a barrier leading to students’ negative attitudes in their leaming process

Also, another internal factor dhat mfluences students’ atliludes towards

learning language is the level of ability It is generally agreed that the ability to lear a language and the attitudes to that language are in some way correlated

(Baker, 1992; Gardner 1985) They argue that the ability of language learning, a

high proficiency level and achievement in the second language will enhance favorable attitudes towards the target language Hence, students’ attitudes are also

in direct relation to their ability

Apart from internal factors, external factors also have strong impacts on the

development of students’ attitudes Masgoret and Gardner (2003) believes that learner’s attitudes towards the learning situation can be cheited through their

evaluation of the couse, the teacher, the materials and/or teaching

environment Thus, iL is inferred thal students’ alliludes are affected directly from

factors associated with teachers and leaming environment

Indeed, a number of studies have indicated that behaviors of the teacher are

very important in the formation of students’ attitudes (Fontana, 1988, Moore, 1993)

Good and Brophy (1994 - cited in Domyei, 2001: 121) claim that the teacher should

be a patient, encouraging person who supports students” learning efforts Thus, it is

believed that good behaviors of teachers towards learning might have a beneficial

impact on students’ attitudes towards education in general and the target language

in particular Such aftitudes are useful to students, for example: help bring interest,

enjoyment and furtin classroom, ele

Vurthermore, teachers’ practices in class are also worth mentioning, It is reasonably assumed that there is an essential link between teachers’ practices and

students’ altitudes (Masgorcl & Gardner, 2003) Hammer (2001) suggests that a

13

teacher is a person with multiple roles such as subject specialist, classroom director, employee and curriculum amplementer ‘hus, teachers’ practices should guarantee

leadership or guiding role in the leaching and learning context Teachers need

guides and instructions to help students actively participate in class activities

Therefore, teachers” practices are extremely influential on students’ attitudes in the

learning, process

Additionally, it has been shown that students’ attitudes towards learning are closely linked to leaming environment (Dntwisiie & Intwistle 1991, 2003)

Leaming enviroument can be considered as the combination of learning conditions

and learning materials

Leaming, conditions can form positive or negative attitudes of students in

learning proves Tn fact, such clerncnis as infrastructure, class size and class

atmosphere can affect learners” attitudes towards their learning (Wolf & Fraser,

2007), For instance, the number of students in a class is quite large with 40 ar 50

students, il cam easily make noises and Jead sturents to lose concentration in

lessons Accordingly, students can feel tired and they may have disfavored attitudes

to their learning

Also, it is said that materials such as textbooks, referent books, video and

audio tapes, visual aids, etc have attribution to shape learners’ attitudes (Garden,

1985-40) As the matter of [acl, malerials should be designed appropriate [or

leamers’ needs and interest If materials meet students’ needs, they can encourage students” positive attitudes towards language leaming, Iowever, if materials cannot

make students satisfied, they can demotivate students and then they may lead

students to negative attitudes

14 Summary

This chapter has presented relevant literature, which has helped to form the

theoretical framework for the study ‘'hrough what have been discussed in this

chapter, it is important to reconfirm that in foreign language learning, students’

altitude becomes an essential component in language learning context, in general

14

and in lcarning listening skills in particular Moreover, in the case of this study, two groups of factors that play a vital role in influencing students’ attitudes are taken into consideration The first group is informal factors associated with the students themselves (students’ perception, interest or ability) ‘The second one is external factors associated with teachers (teachers’ behaviors and teachers” practices) and learning environment (learning conditions and materials)

In sum, from what | have mentioned above, it is essential to conduct this research to investigate the first — year — Llectrical Engineering Technology

students’ alludes towards learning English listening

15

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, two parts are going to be presented, The first part is the description

of the situation where the study was conducted with the deseription of the HaUT

students and teachers and the Hnglish course ‘The second one is the overview of

participants, instruments of the study as well as procedures of data collection

2.1 The setting

2.1.1 The students’ backgraund information at Hall

The students at IJaUIL come from different parts of the countries; mostly come from

cities/ provinces in the Norlh of Vieluam such as Hanoi, Ha Nam, Nam Dinh, Hai

Phong, ‘Thanh Iloa, etc Non - Linglish major students belong to different faculties economics, mechanical engineering, automobile, chemistry, electronic and computer seienec, cic The majority of thom are male; female students only aecoutt

for a few percents out of the total number Some students have learnt English from

primary schools, but others did not study until they were at the sixth grade All of

them have studied Frglish belore enlering the university, however, they are not good at English, In the entrance exam to the university, they are required to test

Math, Physics and Chemistry but Bnglist is unecessary This causes the general situation that English is not paid much attention by many students, Besides, students

learn Linglish in almost isolated environment from Linglish native speakers, so they hardly gel any chanve to communicate with foreigner in both classroom and outside classroom Consequently, their ability to speak and listen to English is hardly improved; meanwhile, they are often doing better at writing and grammar exercises

than other skills (Nguyen, 2008) From my classroom observation and discussion

with the participants, many of them claim that among the four skills, listening is

regarded to be the hardest for them

2.1.2 The English teachers at HaUI

LlaUl is known as one of the biggest universities in the North of Vietnam; therefore, the number of teaching staff in general and English teachers in particular is quite large There are about 117 English loachers at HalT and the majorily of them are

16

female teachers They graduated from different universities, The greatest

proportion, about 60% of the teachers at LlaUl was graduated from Vietnam

National Universily, Hanoi, The University off Languages and International Studies

(ULIS) Some teachers were from Hanoi University (about 25%), and the rest was

from Ianoi National University of Education ot other universities The teaching

stall’s age ranges from 22 to 47 Most of the teachers are still very young, some

have just graduated from university, and they do not have much experience in teaching Ilowever, teaching staffs in laUI have still tried to improve their teaching

experience through pursuing MA courses and other forms of further education

2.13 A brief description of the English course

The study was conducted with non — English major students at HaLI where English

has boon tanght as a compulsory subject

There are two stages for the Lnglish courses at IlaUl The first stage is General

English which provides general knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, phonology and develops language skills will the focus on speaking skills Al this slago, studonis

leam English daring the first five semesters; each semester consists of 90 periods

and 45 minutes per period However, students are required to lake parl im the replacement test before starting this English course If students pass this test, they

can skip the first semester of linglish The textbook used during the first four

semesicrs is the scries of New — headway textbook (Elementary and Pre-

Intermediate) by Liz, John Soars & Sylvia Wheeldon, The fifth semester is taught with the textbook International Lxpress (pre- intermediate) published by Oxford

University Press After the first stage, students are expected to improve their

communicative competences and enhance other skills to have good background Imowledge in the second stage The aim of the second stage is to focus on Lnglish

for Specific Purposes Tt lasis one semester with 60 periods This stage provides

students with specialized knowledge directly related to their jobs Depending on discipline areas, the materials are selected and designed to use by HalII teachers

These matcrials mainly focus on increasing students” specific vocabulary, reading and translation

2.2 The stu

2.2.1 The participants

The study is conducted in order to explore the non — English major students”

altitudes lowards listening learning and [ind out some suggestions for helping

students in their listening skills Both teachers and students are chosen as

participants in the study The first group of participants is the first — year — non —

Finglish major students (course 8 - al universily grade), Besides, the second group is

the teachers who have been teaching Linglish subject at LaUI for at least two years

The first group chosen for the study is all 120 freshmen at the Faculty of

Flectrieal Frygincering Technology They are from four different classes and they

are in the second semester of the school year One thing noticeable is that all of

them are male and no female in this faculty They are mainly from cities or provinces in the North of Vielram Most of thom have spent three to tine years

studying English at Secondary and/or High School After graduating from high

schoals, the majority of students have general knowledge of grammar anil an active vocabulary which they can use mostly in written fonns However, their listening,

abilities are limited, Lence, when they become the first year students of non-

Foglish major in the university, they have to deal with many difTicultics in learning

English listening Especially, a problem of the large numbers of students is that they have a tendency to become passive in English class Many students do not have the

habit of leaming independently and tend to depend largely on the given course book

and the teachers

The second group comprises 5 teachers: 3 females and 2 males who have had

al least Lwo years of experience working as English teachers Two of them have

completed MA courses from Maculty of Post graduate Studies, The University of Languages and Intemational Studies, the rest have BA degrees: they are all experienced and dedicated (cachers All of them have had opporlumitics to leach

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different subjects in English and especially in specific language skills Hence, they can understand many difficulties in learning listening skills of non linglish major students at Ha All of them are devoled to help students improve their learning

2.2.2, The instruments

To have a good understanding of the issues under discussion, it is essential to

refer to an imporlant source of dala collection assoctaled with the hterature review

‘The research was conducted with both qualitative and quantitative methods, using

questionnaires for students and semi - structured interviews with teachers

Firstly, the questionnaire was used in the study as the main source for collecting data It is said that questionnaire is one of the most useful instruments for the research because its unprecedented efficiency in terms of (a} researcher time, (b)

archi

res effort, and (¢) financial resources (Gillham, 2000, as ciled im Hoa and

Minh, 2006:11) Therefore, this instrument was chosen in order to collect a huge

amount of information in a little amount of time Besides, administering questionnaire can help to process the dala fast and rclalively convenicrl

Secondly, interview was chosen as the second instrument to ensure the

information collected objective and reiable For Phipps and Borg (2009), flexibility

is one of the valucs of semi-structured interviews in seacarching someone’s beliefs

because respondents have the freedom to talk in an open-ended manner, Most of the interview questions were open-ended in an allempl to “allow ihe respondenls opportunities to develop their responses in ways which the interviewer might not have foreseen” (Numan, 1992:99), In the study, the interviews were designed for 5

teachers and conducted individually in an informal setting to check students"

altitudes to learning English listening and some suggestions to facilitate positive attitudes of students in their learning process

The procedures of data collection were as follows

1 Piloting questionnaire for students

2 Delivering and gathering back the questionnaire

3 Conducling interviews with selected teachers

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4, Analyzing the collected data and discussing the findings

5, Offering suggestions

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CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS

This chapter of the thesis is the comprehensive analysis of the data collected from the questionnaire conducted on 120 students at the Maculty of Lilectrical Ungineering

Technology and the semi - structured interviews with 5 English teachers The

analysis of the data is presented m two parts the first part is the results of the

questionnaire for students and the second one is from the teachers’ interviews

3.1 Data analysis of the students’ questionnaire

‘the questionnaire was designed based on the theoretical framework on the literature It aimed to identify the students’ attitudes towards leaming [English listening The mternal and external factors which were suggested Lo affect students” attitudes were all taken into consideration when designing questionnaire In detail,

internal factors pertained to the students’ perception, interest and level of ability

Then, extemal factors were composed of tcavhers’ factors amd leamnng

environment’s factors

3.1.1 The influence of internal factors on students’ attitudes

The anns of this section were condacled Lo explare how the imlemal factors

consisting of students’ perception, interest and level of ability affected students’ attitudes to their learning of listening skills The results indicated that these internal factors orcated negative impacts on students’ attitudes towards learning English

listening skills

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3.1.1.1 Students’ perception

Strongly | Agree | Neutral | Disagree Strongly

1 Leaming listening is very

pass the exams

5, Being good at English

Table 1: Students’ perception

AAs can be seen from the table, most of the respondents realized the significance of

learning English listening in their leaming process

All 120 students agreed that learning listening skills was very important because it

helped them communicate effectively In the next item, a limited number (14.1%) of students found that learning English listening was a waste of time Items 3 to 5

explained the reasons why mastering learning English listening skills was important

to students All students argued that learning listening skills well could help them

have more chances 1u hind jobs in the fulure Resides, it was also believed ta be able

to support for the improvement of other skills (64.2%) Passing their exams was

also the desire of 95% of the students

However, the majorily of the participants (95.3%) found thal it was a challenge to

leam listening skills It is unsurprising to the responses of the participants in this