Luận văn improving 11th form students' listening comprehension through modified listening task of the new textbook english 11 at kinh mon high school haiduong

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNTVERSITY, TTANOT UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES Jp SSE OFS pe pre VŨ THỊ THẰNH DINH IMPROVING 11°" FORM STUDEN

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI]

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDLES,

$s OF THE NEW TEXTBOOK ENGLISH 11 AT KINH

MON HIGH SCHOOL, TWAT DUONG

(NẴNG CAO KHẢ NĂNG NGHE HIEU CHO HOC SINH LOP 11 TRUONG

THPT KINH MON, HAI DUONG THONG QUA VIEC THIET CHINH LAL

MOT SO BAI TAP NGHE TRONG SACH GIAO KHOA TIENG ANH 11)

M.A.MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 601410

HANOI -— 2011

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNTVERSITY, TTANOT

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

Jp SSE OFS pe pre

VŨ THỊ THẰNH DINH

IMPROVING 11°" FORM STUDENTS’ LISTENING

COMPREHENSION THROUGH MODIFIED LISTENING

TASKS OF TITE NEW TEXTBOOK ENGLISTI 11 AT KINTT

MON HIGH SCHOQL, HAI DUONG

(NANG CAO KITA NẴNG NGHE THẾU CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 11 TRƯỜNG

THPT KINH MON, HAI DUONG THONG QUA VIỆC THIẾT CHÍNH LẠI

MOT SO BAI TAP NGHE TRONG SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TIENG ANI 11)

M.A.MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 601410

SUPERVISOR: NGUYÊN THỰY PHƯƠNG LAN, M.A

HANOI - 2011

1.1.1 DeBnitions oflistsning con ¬

1.1.4, Factors affect students’ listsning comprehension, 5

13 Material adaptation oo 00 cece coe ee tee cect ee tee ae sie nie a

1.3.1 Definition of material adaptation

1.3.2 Reasons for adapting materials

1.3.3 Principles for adapling malcrials

1.3.4, Techniques for adapting materials

1.3.5 Levels of material adaptation

1.3.5.1 Macro adaptation

1.3.5.2 Adapting a unit

1.3.5.3 Adaptation of specific activities

CHAPTER TWO: THE METHODOLOGY

2.1, Research method of the study 00.0

2.1.1 An overview of action research

2.1.2 Action research modcls

2.1.3, Action research cycle and procedure for this research

2.2 Data collection instruments

2.2.1, Pre and post tests

2.3.1, The teacher/ researcher

2.3.2 The non- participate observer

2.3.3 The students

2A SUINMAPY es oc eco sect ceca tees

CHAPTER THREE: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

3.4 Initial data

3.1.1 Results fiom pre-listening test

3.1.2 Results from pre-action stage observations

3.1.3 Results from stulents’ questionnaire 1

34

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3.1.3.1 Students’ evaluation about listening skill and their own listening

competence,

3.1.3.2 Students’ opinions about listening tasks in English 1 L

3.1.3.3 Students’ feelings when doing listening tasks in English 11

3.1.3.4 Students’ cvaluation about the effectiveness of listening tasks to their

listening competence

3.1.3.5 Students’ preferences for listening tasks

3.1.3.6 Students’ opinions about the way their teachers treat listening tasks

3.4, Data collected in the GCHÍOH SỈHBE cà cục cà Sàn HH nh HH ees ces ean tas ine sans ene

3.4.1 Resulls from action stage observations

3.4.2, Results ftom Questionnaire 2

3.43, Results from teaching diaries

3.44, Results from post-test

3.5, Action research €VAHGHÏÔHL ve tà nà th nh mm nà Ho mo Hàm màn

3.5.1 Students’ involvement in tasks before and after action plan

3.5.2 Stndonis’ progress roffoelzd Ihraugh tests

3.5.3 Summury of major findings and discussions

3.5.3.1 The unsuitability of listening tasks in the textbook affects students’

vil

3.5.3.2 Students” preferences for listening tasks

3.5.3.3 Modified listening tasks could help improve students’

comprehension,

PART II: CONCLUSIO:

2, Recommendations

3, Limitations of the study

4 Suggestions for further study

REFERENCES

APPENDICES

listening

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

List of tables

Table 1: Results from pre-listening test

Table 2: Students’ involvement in the tasks

Table 3: Frequency of listening tasks in listening lessons

‘Table 4: Students” feelings when doing listening tasks in English 11

Table 5: Students’ evaluation about the effeetivencss of listening tasks

‘Table 6: Students” preferences for listening tasks

Table 7: Students’ opinions about the ways their tead

‘Table 9: ‘Types of listening tasks in English 11

Table 10; Students’ involvement in the tasks

‘Table 11: Students” evaluation about modified listening tasks

Table 12; Results of posttest cece

Chart 1: Students’ involvement in tasks before and afler action plan

Chart 2: Students’ progress reflected through tests

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

- MOET: The Ministry of Education and Training

EFL: Englishssu farcign langungs

-AR: Action research

- TESOL : ‘Teaching Lnglish to Speakers of Other Languages

PART IL: INTRODUCTION

1, Ralionale far the siurly

The years 2006, 2007 and 2008 marked a milestone in the ways of teaching and

learning nglish when the Ministry of Lducation and ‘Training (MOLT) introduced the new

sels of English textbook English 10, English 11 and English 12 10 school curriculum The aim of MOET is to develop students’ communicative competence so as to meet the demand of integration and globalization That is the reason why in the new textbooks, four skills including reading, speaking, listcning and writing arc put in priority and integrated

Of the four skills mentioned above, listening is considered to be the most challenging one Most students find it hard to master this skill and soon feel bored with

is not an easy job for the teacher as modifying tasks means having to take many things into accounts such as the objectives, the criteria or the student's needs, However, for the benefit

of students, itis worth doing so

For the above reasons, especially for the researcher’s desire to help her students better

at listening, the choice of the study entitled “Kmpraving 11% form students’ listening comprehension through modified listening tasks of the new lexthook English 11 at Kink Mon High School, Hai Duong” is not accidental

2, Aims of the study

ks

The main puspose of this sescarch is ta study the effects of modified Tistening

of English 11 on improving 11" form students’ listening comprehension at Kinh Mon

Upper-Secondary School ‘'he specific objectives of the study are:

«'o investigate students” attitudes towards listening tasks in English 11 and the

difficulties they face

To study whether the modified listening tasks could help students improve their listening comprehension

3 Research questions

Asa basis for my investigation, the following research questions were formulated

1 What makes smdents uninieresied in listening lessons?

2 How can the madified listening tasks help improve students’ listening comprehension?

4 Scope of the study

Due to the limited knowledge, energy and time, the researcher was unable to carry

out the investigation on a large scale ‘I'his action research was only conducted for only 8

weeks with the four listening lessons and in the context of 50 clcventh-grade students al

Kinh Mon High School in the academic year 2011-2012 only Hence, the results of the

study is only limited to the above teaching context and participants

5, Design of the study

This study consists of three parts:

Part [- The introduction: provides the basis information such as rationale for the study, aims of the slurly, research questions, methods of the study, scope of the sludy and the

design of the study

Part If The development: consists of three chapters ‘he first chapter is literature review whieh discussed theorclical background relevant lo the purposes of the study The next one is the inethodelogy which gives » đelailed description of how the study was

conducted, The last chapter is to report the data analysis as well as the results of the study

Part HE The conclusion summarizes the action research Then some

recommendations are proposed, some limitations of the study are pointed out as well as

some suggestions for further research are given out

PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ON

What is listening? Through years, various definitions of listening have been proposed Lislering is more than merely hearing words TLis considered lo be an aclive process by which students receive, construct meaning fiom, and respond to spoken and or nonverbal messages (Emmert, 1994)

Brown (1994) argues that listening is a skill in which to identify and understand what is boing said, Histonors must comprohand “a spoaker’s a

wor pronunciation, his grammar

and his vocabulary”

Sharing similar ideas, Barker (1971) defines listening as “the selective process of attending

to, hearing, understanding and remembering aural symbols”

In short, no matter how variously listemng is defined, it 1s obvious that listening is the most important skill for learning to speak a language It provides a foundation for all aspects of language and cognitive development

1.1.2, Definitions of listening comprehension

Regarding listening comprehension, Boyle (1981) suggests that listening

comprchension rsfors ta the process of imdarstanding spocch in a sccond or [orsign language It is a perceptive skill through which listeners can identify and retain information they get from the speech,

Woven and Coakley (1985) define listening comprehension as "the process of receiving,

attending to and assigning meaning to aural stimadi" Vhis definition shows that listening

comprehension is not only a process of perception of sound but it also requires comprehension of meaning,

Rixon (1986) divides listening comprehension into two types: extensive and intensive

listening Extensive lislming involves listening to a recording to gel a general understanding, for example, watching a film, understanding and enjoying the story, or listening and carrying out instructions Intensive listening, on the other hand, involves more detailed analysis of the language used or listening for specific information Listening

To sum up, listening comprehension is a demanding and involved process One nus!

be able to deal with different accents or pronunciation, unfamiliar lexical items and syntactic struclures, competing background noise and also make a conscious efforl lo nol

‘switch off or become distracied while listening All of this must bs achieved and dealt with more or less simultaneously in order to identify and understand the meaning in any

given message

1.1.3 The significance of listening comprehension

Listening comprehension is very important in the process of learning a language Aocoding to Rost (1994: 141), lislening comprehension is “vilat in the language classroom because it provides input for the camer Without understanding input at the right level, any leamer simply can’t begin” He also argues that “Spoken language including lislening provides # mean of intaraclion for the learners Because learners must interact to achieve understanding access to speaker of the language is essential, Moreover, leamer’s failure to understand the language they hear is an impetus, not an obstacle, to interaction and learning” Obviously, lislsning comprehension is an essential skill for almost interaction, It is therefore the most primary medium for input in language leaming, process and by speeding up the students’ ability to perceive speech, the amount of input they get will increase and thus aid students' language acquisition

To conchule, given the imporlanee of listening in language leaming and teaching, il

is essential for language teachers to help students become effective listeners

1.1.4, Factors affect students’ listening comprehension

Tt can not be denied that listening comprehension is a crucial skill that all lcamers should acquire when learning a language However, it is not easy to grasp In fact, many Jeamers complain that it is the most difficult skill in comparison with reading, speaking and writing Why is listering comprehension so difficull and what factors affect learners? listening ability?

According to Brown and Yule (1983: 74), there are four main factors:

-Support: pictures, diagrams, visual aids, e.t.c

Anderson and Lynch (1988) suggest five fhetors which make listening difficult as follows:

“The organization of information

“The familiarity of the topic

~The explicitness and sufficiency of the information

“The type of referring expressions used

-Wheler the text describes a ‘static? or “dynamic? relationship

Similarly, Joseph P Boyle belicves that the difficultics in listening comprehension come from three factors as follows

- Listener factors: including experience in listening to the target language, general

intclligonee and background knowledge as well as physical, educational and especially psychological factors

- Speaker factors: referring to language ability of the speaker, speaker's pronunciation, accent or voice, spcaker’s specd of dclivery and prestige and personality of the speaker

- Materials and medium: referring to the language used in the listening passage such as stress, intonation, strong or weak forms , the difficulty of the content and concepts and distractors like noise or interferenes

Shortly, there are a variety of factors which influence students’ listening comprehension After several years of teaching, | discover that my students have met a lot

of difficulties in listening comprehension resulting from topic familiarity, language speech,

pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar, difficulties of the oral texts as well as their own psychology

1.2 Listening tasks

1.2.1, Definitions of task

“Task” is defined variously Task is considered to be a kind of activity which is

designed to help achieve a particular leaming goal Crooke (1986) defined task as ‘a piece

of work or an activity, usually with a specified objective, undertaken as a part of an

educational course, at work, or used to elicit data or research’

However, the fullest and the most logical definition about task is of Lee’s (2000) In Lee’s

view, “a task is ‘(1) a classroom activity or exercise that has: (a) an objective obtainable

only by interaction among participants, (b) a mechanism for structuring and sequencing interaction, and (c) a focus on meaning exchange; (2) a language learning endeavor that requires leamers to comprehend, manipulate, and/or produce the target language as they

perform some sets of work plans”

Whatever task is defined, it is undeniable that in teaching and learning, tasks play a

vital role With tasks, teachers and learners can measure the improvements

1.2.2 Criteria of a good listening task

A good listening task in CLT approach has several features

‘4 Goal: Establish a clear purpose for listening: to use language to accomplish a goal,

not to use language merely as language itself

& Input: Require listening to an authentic, connected piece of discourse

+ Activities: Activities must

- Reflect a subject or topic that will interest students

- Provide a topic that is broad enough for every listener to approach from some angle

or understand

- Involve in solving a true problem or relate to learners’ own life

- Allow enough time for listeners to respond to the listening task (written or oral) in some meaningful way

3% Learner role: A good listening task

- Motivates listeners to consider their knowledge of the topic

"

- Allows Ls to use all of the language skills they have, rather than specific forms or vooabulary, and tend Ip self-cortcel when they reatize they need lo

- Allows listeners to make use of contextual and nonverbal cues

1.2.3 Types of listening tasks,

Tn order to develop students’ listening compretiension, understanding about kinds of listening tasks is very important Listening tasks are very diversified However, according

to Ur P (1996), listening tasks can be classified by the natures of students’ response

% Noovert response With no overt response, listening tasks can be categorized as follows

Following a written text: Students listen to and read it at the same time

Listening to a familiar text: Students listen to an already known text This kind of task

requires not much listening comprehension skills but simply gives pleasant experience in listening to meaningful English sounds

Listening aided by visuals (e.g, pictures, diagrams ): Students look al visual malcriats

while simultanzously following a spoken description of it

Listening to an informal talk: Students can listen to their teacher or any good speakers of English,

Listening to something entertaining (c.g stotivs, songs, films, and tclevision programs) this kand of task provides students with useful interludes to put in before or after more demanding exercises, or when students’ concentration is at low ebb

% Short response

Some kinds of task students can do in the form of simple and short answers are

Following insiructions: Slutenis tislen Io commands; they will show their comprchension by complying wilh the commands Responses can be physical movernent (eg, stand up, sit down ), building models and picture dictation (draw as you are told to)

Ticking off items: Learners tick beside the items: Learners tick beside the items that they

hear in the listening

Truc/False: Identify whether the statement is true or false based on the listening Detecting mistakes: Some fact is mentioned with intentional mistakes for students to point

out,

Cloze; students make a guess of what can be fill in the blanks in the listening text,

Guessing definitions: this is synonymous with guessing games Sts listen to a definition or

details (scanning) of the listening

Pictures: one picture or a series of pictures may be used Sts are then asked to identify

pictures or components as they are referred to, either naming or ordering them in the order

in which they are mentioned

Maps Using a map, students are asked to name a specific place as they listen Besides

that, changes can be made Sts have to listen and mark these changes

Ground-plans: ground-plans are a kind of maps bul single skeich can be interpreted in

many different ways relating to various listenmg tasks Its advantages lies in its simphiity

it can be very easy to trace

Grids: a grid is simply a rectangle marked off into squares and used to display data Sts

may be presented with an inadcquatcly or inaccurately filled-in grid, fill in or correct the

information on the grid as they hsten

Family trees family tree is a kind diagram Students listen to slories or descriptions of

families, then identify family member relationship

Graphs: Students are given a graph with some missing details While listening to the

information, they G11 in the missing details

+ Longer response

With longer response, listening tasks can be

Answering questions: based on the content of the listening, students are required to give longer and full answer to the questions

Note-taking students take notes of the talk

Paraphrasing and translating: students use their own words to rewrite or retell the

listening texts cither in the sare language or in their mother tongue

Summarizing; leamers write a summary of the content of what they have just listened Long gap-fllling: similar to a cloze exercise, the only difference is that the information to

be filledin the gap is langer

Dictation is also a recommended kind of task which can boost leamers’ listening skills a lot

Predictions: after hearing the first part of an utterance or passage, students make a guess at

1.3, Material adaptation

1.3.1 Definition of material adaptation

Madsen and Bowen (1978: 1x) argues that adaptation is an action of employing ‘one

or more of a number of techniques: supplementing, expanding, personalizing, simplifving, modernizing, lacalicing, or madifying cultural! situational content’ Similarly, Tomlinson

(1998) believes that adaptation means “reducing, adding, omitting, modifving and

supplementing.”

It is also quite necessary to differentiate the terms “adapting” and “adopting” Adaptation is a process subsequent to, and dependent on adaptation In addition, while

adoption deals with the whole course book, adaptation is only concerned with the parts (hat

make up the whole Last but not least, adoption is related to evaluation, but adaptation is

related to changing or adjusting various parts

Tn short, adaptation malches internal lo exicrnal factors Tl involves changing some

of the intemal characteristics of a course book to better suit a particular circumstance

1.3.2 Reasons for adapting materials

Cimningham (1995) has pointed oul thal “Materials are nol always clear regarding

the methodology they use in tenns of ‘what’ and ‘how’ to teach There are also cases of!

inconsistency between stated and actual methodology Moreover, course book cannot

relevant to all teaching leaming contexts” Ilence, adapting materials is badly in need

Teachers should adapt publishcd materials according to their students’ necds and

proficiency

Besides that, il will be useful Lo compare our own reasons with those in the following Hist

(Proposed by McDonough and Shaw, 1993: 86).This list indicates some of the possible

areas of mismatch which can be dealt with by adapting in this study

- Not enough grammar coverage in general

- Not cnougt guidance an pronunciation

- Not enough practice of grammar points of patticular difficulty to these learners

- §ubjeot- matter inappropriate for leamers of this age and intellectual level

= The communicative focus means that granmmar is presenied ursystematically

- Amount of material too great/ too little to cover in the time allocated to lessons

- Too much too little variety in the activities

- Dialogues too formal, and not rcally representative of everyday speech

- Vocabulary list and a key to the exercises would be helpful

- Accompanying tests needed

Tn this study, ths theorics of material adaptation as well as the list of reasons

presented above will be certainly helpful for modifying some listening tasks in listening sections of English 11

1.3.3, Principles for adapting materials

Tis obvious that material adaptation is me

done casually and arbitrarily It must follow some certain principles According to

sary However, this process can not be

McDonough and Shaw (1993), adapting materials must ensure three principles, namely

personalizing’, “individualizing` and localizing?

Personalizing’ refers to inoveasing, the relevance of content in relation to leamers’ interests and their academy, educational or professional needs

Individuaticing’ addresses the learning styles both of individuals and of the manbers of a class working closely together

‘Localizing’ considers the matters of international geography of English language teaching and recognizes that whal may work well inthis learning environment may nol de so in thal

environment

In brief, the above principles play a vital role in adapting materials, In this study, the author also bases on these principles for modifying listening tasks of English 11

1.34 Techniques for adapting materials

‘Yo adapt materials, McDonough and Shaw (1993) offer a list of techniques as

follows:

* Adding: ‘The term “Addition” mainly means that materials are supplemented by adding more fo them “while laking into account the practical effect on time allocation’ There are two ways of adding, namely extending or expanding, Extending means teachers supply more of the same type of materials to make a quantitative change in the material

ans adding some things differen to the malerial to make qualitative

«Simplifying, When simplifying, teachers can make many clcments of a language course such as the instructions, explanations, exercises or activities become easier and more accessible to learners

*Re-ordering: Re- ordering refers to the possibility of putting parts of a course book in a

differen! order This may moan adjusting the scquenee of presentation within a unit or taking units in a different sequence trom that originally intended

Tanner and Green (1998: 122) also propose four different techniques for adapting

inalerials, They are changing, removing, replacing and adding,

*Changing: Changing means making small changes to the existing material in the course

book to maks the material more appropriate lơ students

«Removing: Removing means thal a course book’ activity will be removed from the

lesson

*Replucing: Roplacing means that one activily in an arca nol covered sufficionlly in the

book will be replaced by a more suitable activity

«Adding: It means that the teacher can add an cxtra activity in an arca not covered

sufficiently in the book

Tn shorl, there are a large variely of techniques which can he used to adapt a material, However, the most commonly used ones may be modifying, replacing, adding and simplifying As a teacher of English, the researcher thinks that these techniques can be used individually or in combination wilh others according to learning context as well as students’ level, needs and interests,

1.3.5, Levels of material adaptation

‘Textbook adaptation can be done at thres levels

1.3.5.1 Macro adaptation

Macro adaptation is ideally done before the language program begins, The teacher can compare what is covered in a textbook with what is required by the syllabus or cxamination to find that some certain areas or even whole unit of the textbook can be omitted and certain contents need to be supplemented

Macro adaptation is quile significant in such a way thal iL helps teachers and students avoul waste of time and energy and especially, helps teachers sec in advance what they needs to supplement so that they can keep an eye on materials that could be used

1.3.5.2, Adapting a unit

Adapting a unit eould be done throngh reor ng the activities, combining

actvities, omitting activities, rewritmg or supplementing exercise material, etc Unit

adaptation is beneficial as it helps to make the classroom teaching more smooth and cohosive and helps the teacher belter fulfill the aims of a uni

1.3.5.3 Adaptation of specific activities

‘The third level is adaptation of specific activities in a unit Occasionally an activity

is regarded as valuable, bul il is not well-designed or it is wot feasible in a particular class

If the teacher still wants to use the activity, he or she needs to adapt it

CHAPTER TWO: THE METHODOLOGY

2.1 Rescarch method of the study

‘To carry out the research, action research (AR) was used

2.1.1 An overview of action research

Action research is known by many other names: participatory research, collaborative

inquiry, emancipatory research, action learning or contextual action research There are a

number of definitions of AR

Action research is a form of collective self-reflective enquiry undertaken by participants in social situations in order ta improve the rationality and justice of their own social or educational practices, as well as their understanding of those practices and the situations

in which the practices are carried out The approach is only action research when il is

collaborative though it is important to realise that action research of the group is

achieved through the critically examined action of individual group members (Kemmis

and McTaggart 1988: 5-6)

Simply, action research is “learning by doing” It means that a group of people identify a

problem, do something to resolve il, see how successful their efforts were, and if nol satisficd, try again Wallacc (1998: 1) and Coles and Quirke (2001:14), AR is the process

of systemic collection and analysis of data in order to make changes and improvement or solve problem

AR is designed to bring change for the better and all people participating in the study will

benefit as ‘stakeholders’ (Dick and Swepson, 1997) ‘he classroom could become a

laboratory for experimenting with, contesting and evaluating the malsrial and classroom tasks in a teacher’s own context and situation (Nunan, 1991: 62) Brown indicates that the teacher will learn most effectively and change behavior in circumstances where there is personal engagement in identifying a practical concer as the foous of the study, designing

of the study, laking action, collecting evidence, formulating conchusions and fecding these back to practice,

2.1.2, Action research models

There are many models of action rescarch uscd in the previous studics on language Action research involves small-scale investigative projects in the teacher’s own classroom

and includes a number of phases recurring in cycles: planning- action- observation- reflection

‘According to McBride and Schostak (2002), AR involves seven steps and the eycles can be demonstrated as follow:

Step 1: Identifying a focus of interest or a problem => Step 2: Collecting data -> Step 3 Analyzing data’ generating hypotheses -> Sie 4 Planning, action steps -> Step 5:

Implementing action steps -> Step 6: Collecting data to monitor change -> Step 7: Analysis

Kurt Lewin (1946) describes the circles involving three steps:

Step 1 Unfreesing: Faced with a dilemma or disconfirmation, the individual or group

tep 3: Hypothesis

ention > Step 5: Evaluation -> Step 6: Disseminatien -> 8lep 7: Follew- up

becomes aware ofa need to change

Step 2; Changwwg: The situation is diagnosed and new models of bchavior are explored and

tested

Siep 3: Refreezing: Application of new behavior is evaluated, and if reinforcing, adopted

Among the models of action research mentioned above, the research made up her mind to choose Nunan’s Action Research Cycle for this study because all the steps are very clear and sasy to follow

2.1.3, Action research cy and procedure for this research

As stated above, Nunan’s Action Rescarch Cyelc was adapted for this rcscarch However, due to time limited, only five steps were conducted as follow:

Step 1: Problem Identification (week 1)

To identify the problem, the roscarcher spon! one wook observing her sindsnts, recording classroom interaction in listening lessons in grade 111, talking to students and discussing, with colleague teachers

‘Then, the researcher found out that the majority of students at Kinh Mon Lligh school in

dint

general and in grade 117 in particular were unintes

ping lessons During the

listening lessons, they often just sat silently, listened to the tapes with the hope to complete

the tasks in the textbooks ‘his led the researcher to the first research question: ‘What makes students uninterested in listening lessons?

Step 2: Preliminary investigation (week 2)

‘This investigation would allow students to express their opinions on listening

1 was delivered to students on the second day of week 2 and collected on Saturday of the same week, Listening lessons and listening tasks in English 11 were analyzed based on the criteria of a good task presented in Chapter 1, I'wo listening lessons (Unit J and Unit 2) were observed by a collsague teacher along with observation sheets

Step 3: Hypothesis (week 3)

“The data collected ftom week 2 was then analyzed to form the hypothesis After

reviewing the initial data, the first research queshon: ‘what makes stsdents uninterested in

listening lessons?’ was answered, TL was the unsnilability of the original }

English 11 that made students bored with listening lessons and then their listening,

comprehension was not enhanced ‘I'hersfore, the hypothesis formed was that the modified

ening tasks it

listening lasks could help the students improve their listening comprehension in the

listening lessons and the second research question ‘How can the modified listening tasks

help improve stidents’ listening comprehension in the listening lessons?" was formed

Step 4: Plan Intervention (week 4-7)

* Action plan (week 4)

It is obvious that the most important outcome of the plaming action is a detailed

plan of what the researcher intends to implement or modify the activities hat is the reason why in this step with the above mentioned hypothesis, the researcher prepared a

carcful action plan In this action plan, the rescarcher adapted the original tasks in three

* Action implementation (week 5-7)

In this step, the action plan was applied in three lessons and lasted three weeks Hach lesson tasted 45 minutes, This aimed al studying th offeets of the modified listening tasks

on improving students’ listening comprehension, The action mplementation was carried out by the researcher with the participation of fifty students of class 111 at Kinh Mon Upper- Seeondary School and one observer who was invited lo observe the class during the listening lessons

« Collecting data (week 5-7)

Also ftom week 5 to week 7, three listening lessons using the modified listening

tasks were observed Three

Step 5: Evaluation (week 8)

In this step, the data collected in weeks 5-7 which reflect students’ listening comprehension improvement in listening lessons using the modified listening tasks were analyzed, The analysis was done to indicate how the modified listening tasks affected on students’ listening comprehension, what the researcher has learnt as well as what

experienc:

can be drawn from these lessons Aualyzing the post data helped answer the

socortl rescarch question “How can the modified listening tasks help improve studenis

listening comprehension in the listening lessons?’

2.2 Data collection instruments

Tn order lo do this action rescarch snecessfully, pre and post dala were collected by using qualitative and quantitative method with pre and post tests, survey questionnaire, classroom observations, document analysis (listening tasks) and teaching diaries

2.2.1, Pre-test (Appendix 1) and post- test (Appendix 6

Testing was chosen as a mean of colleeting data for this study firstly because test results can be empirically documented Furthermore, testing is a quite reliable way to assess

students’ improvement as the test score can show a relative degree of validity and reliability

In this study, the researcher used tests to measure students in two periods: one was done at the pre-action stage to test students’ listening level at that time and one was at post-action

slage lo measure students’ improvernent Both these tests were done within HNeen mimes

Questionnaire 1 consists of 9 questions Question 1 is used to find out students’ opinion

about lcaming listening skill Question 2 probes how studonts sel -ovatuate thoir listening competence Question 3 aims to discover whether students always complete listening tasks

in the textbook, Question 4 examines frequency of appearance of types of listening tasks in English 11, Question 5 is about students’ opinions about listening tasks in the texthook Students’ feclings when doing listening tasks arc the focus of question 6, Question 7 examines students’ opinions about the effect of listening tasks on their listening compelence Question 8 probes whal kinds of listening lasks sludents like best in listening lessons The last quastion seeks how the teacher treats listening tasks in class

Questionnaire] is written in Vietnamese in order for students easily understand It does not

require students to provide their name fo ensure confidentiality The questionnaire copies will be distributed to the students on Monday of wock 2 and collacied on Saturday of the same week

2.1.2.2 Questionnaire 2 (Appendix 3)

This questionnaire is adapted from Peacock (1997) Tis lo evaluale students? improvement created by the modified listening tasks in listening lessons during three weeks of the implementing phase

The questionnaire is made up of two questions, The first question is to probe whether students enjoy and satisfy with the modified listening tasks, In this question, there are three closed items on a semantic differential scale of adjectives showing students’ opinions

seored from one to five Students” comments and suggestions to make the listening tasks more appropriate are the focus of question 2

Like Questionnaire 1, Question 2 is written in Viemamese and does not require students to provide their names, ‘The questiomnaire copies will be delivered to students at the end of each lesson and collected in the next lessons

2.2.3, Classroom observations (Appendix 4)

‘The observation sheets were used five times, twice at the pre-action stage (week 2) and

were applied lo invasligate whether the modified listening tasks could help students beller

in listening, For each lesson, the non-participant observer observed 45 minutes, She has a set of checklist involving students” concentration on the listening tasks, their involvement

in the tasks and their enjoyment and persistence She also observed students” reactions to the modificd listening tasks and their preferences for listening tasks

‘The observation sheet consists of six items, each of which is ranked on the scale of one (ow) Jo five thigh) A nom-participanl observer completes the sheet until the lessous ends and after that she will work out the daily total score

Five listening lessons are observed Unit J riendshipi and Unit 2 (Personal experiences) are observed at the pre-aclion stage with the original tasks to see whelher the tasks are suitable and motivating studenls Unil 3 (4 party), Unil 4 (Volunteer seork) and Unit 7

‘World population} are observed duting the action stage with modified tasks

All the information colleeted from the class observations along with data from other data instruments were analyzed Lo cvaluate the effects of modified listening tasks on studonts" listening comprehension

1.1.4, Teaching diaries (Appendix 5)

Teaching diaries refers to the recording what the teacher do in classrooms, By gathering information about what is going on in the classroom, analyzing and evaluating the information, the teachers can identify what is appropriate to students or what is not Thon some changes and improvements are mads Normally, leaching distics reflect the lesson plans, the way of teaching and leaming,

In this study, three teaching diaries at the action stage were written and then analyzed,

1.2.5 Textbook analysis

Textbook analysis is foouscd on analysing the text malcrial s

lernatically There are different ways to analyze a textbook The analysis can include the structure off the text, the focus of the author, design and organization, language content, topic and methodology of Ihe boak or the usefulness of the Isamning assisis and the aims and

approaches

In this study, listening tasks in listening lessons of English 11 were analyzed to see whether they are suilable or nol, These listening tasks ware analyzed basing an the criteria

of a good listening task mentioned in Chapter I, Section 1.2.2 This analysis helped the

researcher have a sufficient evaluation of the listening tasks in the textbook ‘hen, the researcher could decide which tasks in ths textbook should be modified to beller students

listening comprehension

The results of the textbook analysis are presented in Chapter 3

2,3 Participants

This study was carticd out in the school year 2011-2012 at Kinh Mon High School,

where the data were collected, analyzed and improvement strategies were tried out ‘The people who took parl in this sluly were

2.3.1 The leacher/ researcher

“Ihe researcher has been teaching English at Kinh Mon High School for 6 years She

is thirly years old She gradualed from [anoi National Universily- College of Languages

and International Studies and row she is attending a Masler Course in TESOL al this

college, too

2,3.2 The non- participant observer

The abserver invited to take parl in this siudy is a leacher of English al Kinh Mon

High School She got a B.A in English from Hanoi National University- College of

Languages and Intemational Studies She is at the age of forty and has been teaching

English for 15 years

2.3.3, The students

‘Ihe subjects of the study are fifty grade 11 students (28 females and 22 males) in the

researcher's class- Class 11]- al Kinh Mon High School in the acadermie year 2011-2012

Their ages are between 16 and 17 They come from different commmnes of Kinh Mon

district All of them have leamt English since class 6 However, their English proficiency

is quite low, especially listening skill Most of them do not pay attention to listening study

as they think thal this skill is nol very important and especially it is not lested in any

‘National Examination In the school year 2011-2012, the student has a 45 minute period per week for the listening skill

3.1

itial data

3.1.1, Results from pre-listening test

As stated in Chapter 2, on the first day of week 2 students would do a test to measure their level

Below are the resulls of the test

Table 1: Results of the pre-test

ores mde mp 20% and only 6% vould gel from mark 7 10

3.1.2, Results from pre-action stage observations

At pre-action stage, the researcher taught Unit 1 (Friendship) and Unit 2 (Personal experienicss) with non-modified tasks, The lessons were observed by another teacher During the observations, this teacher took notes and gave the total marks of students’ involvement in the tasks in the two periods The following is the description of one lesson: