Luận văn factors inhibiting efl learners’ listening comprehension

Additionally, this study highlights several variations regarding difficulties factors between high school and university students, for instance, listening for main ideas, using contex

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF ENGLISIT LANGUAGE TEACTIER EDUCATION

DAI HOC QUOC GIA HA NOI TRƯỜNG ĐẠT HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ

KHOA SU PHAM TIENG ANH

KHOA LUAN TOT NGHIEP

NHUNG YEU TO CAN TRO KY NANG

NGHE HIẾU CỦA NGƯỜI HỌC

Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Th.S Nguyễn Huy Hoàng

Sinh viên: Nguyễn Thị Thảo Vy

Khóa: QH2016.F1.E2

HÀ NỘI — 06/2020

Acceptance and Declaration

Thareby stale thal 7: Nguyen Thi Thao Vy from QH2016.F1F2, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Aris (THEL), accept the requirements of the college retention and use of Bachelor's Graduation paper deposited in the Library

Tn terms of the conditions, T agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the

library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper

T declare thal this thesis has been composed solely by myself and that it has not been submitted, in whole or in part, in any previous application for a degree Except where states otherwise by reference or acknowledgment, the work presented is entirely

any own

Signature

Nguyen Thị Thao Vy

Hanoi, June 2020

Furthermore, T would like to Uuank all the teachers and students of high schools and universities in both Hanoi and Hai Phong for their enthusiastic participation in answering the questionnaires and interviews Their answers and complementation immeasurably contributed to the study

Finally, I would like to oxtend my harlfelt thanks to my parouts and all of my friends who have given me much advice and encouragement to overcome the difficulties when completing this research

Abstract

Listening plays an important role in both educational context and daily

communication Despile ils muportance, the condition of teaching and learning listening

in Vietnam has experienced many troubles A varicty of obstructions have been reported

that cause English listening comprehension difficulties for EFL students (Underwood,

1989; Rosl, 2002) The present study allompis to investigate the listoning problems perceived by both high school and university students as well as the differences in their

perceptions The research was conducted al tolal 13 high schools and universities in Ha

Noi and Hai Phong, Vietnam with the participation of over 700 students By using suitable data collection instrument, which was questionnaires, the results reveal that the

majority of the listening comprehension difficulties pertaining to five main categories,

namely: the listening process, the input, the listeners, the task, and the physical settings Additionally, this study highlights several variations regarding difficulties factors

between high school and university students, for instance, listening for main ideas, using

context to guess the meaning, listening to a long text, listening in a poor acoustic condition, etc The results are discussed in relation to the teaching of English in Vivtnamese context and some pedagogical implications such as taking notes, applying suitable strategies, practicing listening every day, etc are proposed for both teachers and students in (caching and leaning in order to overcome listening obstacles and improve listening comprehension,

1.1 Rationale for the study

1.2 Aims and research questions

13 Significance of the study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

21 Definition of Histering comprehension

2.2 Importance of listening skil HH ri

2.4 Factors inhibiting students’ stoning comprehension Hee

3.4.1 Bactors related to the content and linguistic features of the text

2.4.2 Factors related to the speakers

2.4.3 Factors related to the leamers

24.4 Factors related to physical settings

2.5 Studies imveshgating factors inlibiting lstermg comprehension

26 Chapler summary

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Restatement of research aims and research questions

3.2, Research design T112 0121 11 erree

3⁄3 Participants

3.4 Sampling techniques ¬

3.5 Data collection instruments _

36 Data collection procedure

3.6.1 Delivering the questionnaires

3.6.2 Analyzing dala

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 28

Al Findings 28

4.1.1 udonts' gencral peroeption se 4.1.2 Faetors influencing listening comprehension

4.1.2.1 Factors related to the listening prooess

4.1.2.2 Factors related to the input "— -

4.1.2.3 Factors relaied to the listeners - 36 4.1.2.4 Factors related to the task - - 40

4.1.2.5 Factors related to the physical settings - 42 42 Discussion - - 4

42.1 Factors related to the listermg proecss - 43 4.2.2 Factors related to the matcrials 1

4.2.3 Eactor relatedto the speakers

4.2.4 Eactors relatedto the listeners 1

4.2.5 - lactors relatedto the physical settings

CHIAPTER $: CONCLUSION 5.1 Summary of Findings - - - 48

5.1.1 Difficulties encountered by students - - 48

3.1.2 Differences between high school and umversily students’ perceptions 49

52 Pedagogival implications - - 49

5.3 Limitations of the study and suggestions (or further siudies Raferences

nh THEHHH HH0 H1 de

w

List of Figures

Figure 21 Vocubulary and language knowledge

List of Tables

Table 2.1 Factors inhibiting students’ listening comprehension

Table 3.1 Participants’ information

Table 41 Students’ general perception of the difficuliy

Table 4.2 Differences among students related to general perceptions

Tabls 4.3 Factors related ta the listening process

Table 4.4 Differences among students related to listening process factor

Table 4.5 Factors related to the materials

Table 4.6 Differences among students related to material facto

‘Table 4.7 Kactors related to the speakers,

‘Table 4.8, Differences among students related to the speaker [H©Fof

'Table 4.10 factors related to the listeners

Table 411 Differences among students related to the listener factor

Table 4.12 Factors relaied to the psychological characteristics

Table 4.13 Differences among students related to psychology factor

Table 4.14 Factors relaied to the task

Table 4.15 Differences among students related ta the task factor

Table 4.16 Factors related ta the physical settings

Table 4.17 Differences among students related to the physical settings factor

ví

One’s first’ native language

‘A second language University of Language and Intemational Studies

‘Vietnam Maritime University Standard Deviation valus

Mean score

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This first chapter provides a -cul image of what listening comprehension is and how the process of listening comprehension works Moreover, rationale for the study,

research questions, significance of the slady, and oultine of the paper are highlighted

1.1 Rationale for the study

Tn guiding and enhancing the performance, listening comprehension represents the

most fimdamental element in developing abilities of learners (Rasouli et al, 2013) According to Krashen et al (1984, as cited in Hamouda, A, 2012), only when students absorb enough the comprehensible input, docs the acquisition happen Rast (1994, as cited in Tamouda, A., 2012) also claimed that listening plays a crucial role in learning

language in particular and in communivation in general as [he input it provides Listening

is the most frequently used skill in daily life communication (Morley, 1999; Scarcella &

Oxford, 1992) According to Miller (2003, p 61), more than 10% of our daily

communication is sprit on Hsloning, 35% on speaking, about 16% on reading, and only 9% on writing ‘Thus, listening is a fundamental language skill, and as such, it merits the top priority among the four skill areas for language students Listening, therefore, is segarded oruciat to not only a receptive skill but also the development of spoken language proficiency Yet listening remains one of the least understood processes in language

learning despite the recognition of the critical role it plays both in communication and in

language acquisition (Marley, 1991)

1inglish classes in many countries still currently focus on the skills of reading and

writing (Muliawati, 2017: Salma, 2016) This is especially a problem where the English

language is taughi as a subject al school and used only inside, but not outside, the classroom (Vandergrift, 2007) Therefore, many language students as well as English-

majored sladerts have lo encounter insurmountable troubles in listening comprehension

According te Carricr (2003) and Field (1998), in carlicr listening comprehension ficld for USL and LIL, the focus was primarily on testing students’ ability to listen to oral discourse and then answer the comprehension questions based on the incoming

information in the listening text without any instructions or guidance on the skills and

atralogies Teachors are oflen underprepared lo effeolively and explicilly teach listening,

as stated by Glisan (1985), Yang & Chen (2007) In addition, Graham (2017) concisely

articulated this problem that is normally cited in the literature, “listening is frequently

tested, but rarely taught” (p.15) Consequently, itromams the least completely understood and the most neglected aspect

Vietnam is one of the countries where English is used as a foreign language in

various fields h as international diplomacy, trade, science and teckmology, aud communication, and therefore, English has a tremendous influence on the political, economic, and socio-cultural developments of the country [lawever, listening skills have becn mdoremphasizod in the English learning process at most Victnamese schools

(Duong & Chau, 2019; Nguyen, 2018) his is because the official curriculum for Lnglish

language learning and teaching in Vietnam focuses on exam-driven instruction, ie

students are prepared for examinations on grammar, reading, and vocabulary rather than

communicative competence (Bui & Duong, 2018; Denham, 1992; Duong, 2014) even

though all four macro skills are meluded as mlegral seclicns in the textbooks at the high school level Teachers, with an aim of achieving high scores in the university entrance

exam, often overemphasized English grammar, reading, and vocabulary rather than

speaking and listening Some findings indicated thal lisiening for Ihe main ideas, specific information, inference, and sumunarizing the text are things that students find really

difficull 1o acquire (Abdi, 2005; Kebede, 2007; Scime, 1989) As a rosult, students have

few opportunities to practice their communication skills, especially their listening skills Furthermore, students are not provided enough linguistics knowledge (i.e phonology,

pragmatics, syntax, and semantics) as well as the appropriate exposure they need to deal

with the speed and pronunciation of the native speakers when listening

Consequently, many Vietnamese students, even those who get high marks in grammatical tests, cannot communicate suocessfully with the foreigners in daily

conversations (Nguyen & Tran, 2015) In line with Nguyen (2008), the inability lo grasp what the native speakers say is the most severe reason caused by the failure at listening

comprehension Another daunting problem is that teachers often “test” hstening rather

nw

than “leach” il, Students in Vietnamese High school often complaim about the difficulties

in listening as they cannot catch and understand the ideas of the speakers Gilakjani and Ahmadi (2011) realized that in English classes, most of the time, students are told to listen

to the audio and answer comprehension questions by themselves without being taught

how to listen to the specific task According to Cohen (1990) and Wenden (1987),

studonts should be taught strategies, wach means how to listen before focusing on the content, which means what to listen As a result, the students who experience the testing

of listening more usual than the teaching of listening could have a negative attitude

lowards language learning in general and lislening skills in particular

This phenomenon is even more serious in most of the countryside in Vietnam To

be more specific, students have no exposure to Linglish language except from what they

receive in the classroom (Nguyen, 2008) Students’ fundamental means of listening

English come from the teachers’ voice In addition, the low quality of audio and sturounding noises has a detectable effect on the process of practicing and testing

listening, especially in the countryside, where the audios are often either poor quality or

run off batteries The students have difficulties in listening because of the low-standard

sound For those reasons, most of the students in rural and mountainous areas suffer a

terrible shack when leaning to listenin the universily

As can be sean from this reality, il is urgent to investigate uot only the EFL listening problem factors that students confront during their learning process but also their

awareness of thei difficulties level Therefore, a research under the title “Factors

inhibiting EFL learners’ listening comprehension” was conducted to help students

become more aware of their listening difficulties

1.2 Aims and research questians

The aim of this study lies tumy strong desire lo my interest in the field of histening

skills by the investigation of the listening comprehension difficulties related to the EFL learners Lience, this study was to find out the perceptions and factors that caused troubles toward high school and university students while listening to Fnylish By employing

concwrent triangulation approach with multiple measwements, it may provide more

access 1o learners’ listering and learning processes, thus resulting im more valid and seliable data being collected (Vandergrift, 2007) [wo research questions are developed

for investigation

1 What are the factors (hal inbibu EFT students’ listening comprehension?

2 Ts there slalislically significant difference between FFT learners of different age

groups” perceptions of factors inhibiting therr listening comprehension?

13 Significance of the study

‘the present study will shed light upon L2 learning and draw the educationalists

attention further to listening comprehension By using quantitative, this study provided

valuable and in-depth insights into the perceptions of both high school and university students in regard to their own leaming style Due to the importance of listening

comprehension, il is really necessary to highlight the troubles thal face 1.2 earners in

listening comprehension In addition, knowing why listening is an issue towards HEL

students will help teachers find the suitable strategies that may improve students” skill

Investigating students’ opinions about their problems of listening comprehension can pul the teaching procedure in the right track ‘I'he findings of this study may offer suggestions towards pedagogical implication Tl is beller for students Lo be given training and actual guided practice from language teachers in using specific strategies to improve better listening comprehension

1.4 Outline of the paper

The presen! paper consists of five chaplers

Chapter T stars with backround to the study Then, the purpose of this surly is

provided Additionally, the research questions and research hypotheses are formulated

Chapter 2 reviews the related literature which provides an overview about EFL

listening and its approaches

Chapter 3 presents the methodology that was emplaved in this study This chapter

clarifies research methods and setting Likewise, dala collection, aud analysis procedures are described ‘I'hen the validity and reliability of the present study are discussed

Chapter 4 yresenis the findings and resulls of data analysis provess as well ng ils discussion

Chapter 5 deals with the summary of the major findings, the study limitations, and

suggestions for further research Uhimately, the iruplications of the findings are proposed

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Tn Uhia chapter, some essential principles of listening, comprehension including background, definition, the listening process as well as reference to some different

componerts, for example, models, strategies are mentioned Tn addition, the focus was

also put mainly on listening comprehension difficulties in order to find out what factors made listening a complicated process

2.1, Definition of listening comprehension

Listening comprehension is not a simple concept to define Liu (2008) remarked thal il was quile difficult to build a particular definition of listening comprehension as this

term had been characterized contrastingly by different scholars

Tn language teaching, listening skills signifies listening and understanding skills or

listening comprehension skills This is, additionally the sense of listening utilized in this study, where listening is implied trying to understand the oral messages individuals are conveying As indicated by Underwood (1989), listening is the action of focusing on and trying to understand what we hear, In the meantime, Brown and Yule (1983) stated that listening comprehension implies that an individual can understand what he/she has heard

Later, Friedman (2004) added that listening is “ar arl, nol a science”, which means il is

not just about hearing but much deeper as it has to do with mentally absorbing what is being spoken

Moreover, Vandergrift (1999) characterized listening as a sophisticated intellectual procedure in which audience must concentrate on different components, for example, sounds, pitch, semantic structures, and social auxiliary settmgs, in order to handle the approaching stimuli, retain what they get, and decipher it inside the sociocultural setting of message Howat and Dankin (1974) also stated that listening is the ability to realize and understand what others say by acquiring the speaker's accent, prommeiation, grammer and vocabulary Sharmg the same idea with Vandergrifi, Underwood (1989) noticed that listening is not just the process of recciving the information from the speakers, the students do not anly listen to it but they are also able

to process it, inlerprel it, understand if, evaluate il and eventually respond lo it elfectively

Tn this rogard, Finhtong (2011) comended that hslening comprehension is not just “a process-oriented activity in which listeners need to deal with the input actively step by

step” yet in addition “a creative activity that listeners build or allot meanings based on

the given information or their oxperienee and background knowledge”

In short, listening comprehension is a complex process in which students need to exert both their language knowledge such as, vocabulary, pronunciation and background knowledge lo what is spoken Thes, as Thomson (2003) cmphasived that listening is not just hearing, but is an “active and dynamic process” (p.78) which contains various kinds

of activities such as recognizing the messages from the speakers, remembering and making inference based on them In this way, cffcetive listeners should know how to enact different kinds of imformation, apply the knowledge they know to what they hear,

and attempt to understand what the speaker implies (Anderson & Lynch, 1988}

2.2 Importance of listening skill

Communicative and inleraction-based approaches gain more consideration duc lo the significance of listening comprehension in language education (Rost, 1994; Nunan,

2002; Cohen & Macaro, 2007) When being able to listen to English well, the students

have a decent opportunity to approach extensive knowledge in the outside world

in language classrooms, Gilbert (1988) noticed that students in all educational stages were relied upon to listen 65-90 percent of the time IIe (1997) added that listening

is significant lo the hves of students (hroughout all degrees of education Ferris (1998)

and Murphy (1991) assured that in the classroom, students and teachers use listening

skills most frequently Along these lines, Vandergriff (1997) claimed that listening

disguises the guidelines of language abilities as well as cneourages the emergence of olher skills More specifically, listening helps students to articulate exactly and perceive the

expressed form of words When learning a new word, studerts need to listen to ila few

times before identifying it Additionally, Fortis (1998) omphasized the importance of listening comprehension for achievement in the academic setting Admittedly, it is clear

that listening plays 4 crucial role in students? lives bevausc of the fact thal Tistening is

their medium of learning a sccond language These claims arc supported by Stevenson (2010):

For leamers of English Listening is vital because it is through this sense that they receive information on vocabulary, grammar pronunciation, spoken word order, as well as stress patterns

of words, phrases and sentences Tn uddition, added (o these is the effect that different aecenls, voice tone and pitch can have on their comprehension of the message (p.5)

As a resull, lo become a fluent English speaker, learners need to develop firm

listening ability This skill is not only an instrument to acquire different sources of knowledge but also provides L2 learners with the most important patterns of language Furthermore, il promotes students 10 figure out how lo pronounce words accurately, how

to use intonation, and where to put stress in words and sentences ‘his will make their speech more intelligible to other people

2.3 Listening processes

Tusight into listening process is essential to understand why hstening

comprehension is a major difficulty for EFL students The following is the way listening comprehension works

Richards and Schmidt (2007) characterized listening comprehension as the way

toward understanding discourse in a first or second language IL involves lwo distinet psycholinguistic approaches to understanding others’ speech, namely “bottom-up” and

“top-down” processing (Vandergrift, 2007) Originally, both the terms were defined as

computer science by IBM researchers Mills and Wirth (Nunan, 2010) and were later

introduced to the linguistic field Research on bottom-up and top-down processing has

been focused mainly on the use of either strategy as researchers still debale which provess

contributes most to listening comprehension (Iield, 2004; ‘sui & Mullilove, 1998) Some

researchers focused on top-down processing (Le., Hildyard & Olson, 1982; O'Malley &

Chamal, 1990), while other rescarchers (ic, Fskey, 1988; Perfetti, 1985) believed that

good bottom-up skills are required for effective L2 processing

Figure 2.} Vocabulary and language knowledge (Celce-Murcia, 2001, p 75}

However, learners need Lo learn how to use both processes lo succeed (Vandergrif,

2004) Students must hear some sounds (bottom-up), and hold them im their working memory long enough (i.e, a few seconds) to connect them to each other and then interpret

what they heard (Numan, 2010) At the same time, listeners also need 1o use their

background knowledge (top-down) to determine meaning with respect to prior knowledge and schemata (Brown, 2006) As both Nunan (1993) and Buck (2001) contended that these processes can be utilized simultaneously so that the impediments at one level would

be repaid by any another level without seeing its place in the chain of importance

Therefore, both types of strategies are necessary in helping students not only discriminate

among different sounds, but also understand what they are hearing,

24 actors inhibiting students’ listening comprehension

irom the above-mentioned definition about listening, it is undeniable that listening

is a complicated skill that maintains some vagueness in its nature It is underestimated

that individuals oan listen in their mother tongue with just a little or even no attempt On

the contrary, listening in a second language is increasingly troublesome in light of the fact

that il docs nol only require the learners’ ability, but also is influcneed by many dilTerent factors; as described in the following table

Table 2.1

Factors inhibiting students’ listening comprehension

Background knowledge Phonological awareness Word recognition

Factors related te the content and linguistic

features of the text

Proficiency of students Paychological factors

Surrounding environment

2.4.1 Factors related to the content and linguistic features of the text

Background knowledge

Wher students are deprived of the cultural knowledge of language, il may lake time for students to understand the specific situation Brown (1994) showed that the link etween language and culture is unified The point may contain tolally unexpected social issues in comparison with what students experience before, In this situation, students may encounter difficulties to envision what has been told Therefore, to have a better understandiny, the Leachers should give prior knowledge about the theme beforehand For example, if the listening text is about aster Day and it is quite confusing towards students

in that country the language which is taught can be a little bit unfamiliar

Underwood (1989) also discovered a few features beyond the troubles faced by EEL students in listening perception, Underwood expressed that without background Imowledge and contextual information, it was likely to become a deterrent for listening

comprehension Students could understand the surface meaning of whal they were

listening to, yol they were slill oblivious of the implicd meaning Graham (2006) additionally upheld the statement Underwood reached to He uncovered the fact that

students who are not familiar with the topic of the listening text raise a really compelling

issue of listoning comprehension

Sharing the same opinions, Anderson and Lynch (2003) asserted that lack of

‘background knowledge caused trouble in listening comprehension They, then expressed that language was the means used by people ina commurity to communicate and indicate their cultural belief, realities, thoughts, rules, assessments and lifestyles As need be, if

LI Jeamers have no awareness about the various parts of L2 culture, they can get troubles

in listening comprehension

Phonological awareness

Students do not often have much knowledge of the prototypical phonemes of L2;

or in other words, a source of listening issues was L2 learners’ failure to recognize L2 phimemes, as slaled by Rost (2002) Hence, they could not perceive and process everything spoken in front of them since they are not accustomed to L2 pronunciation in articulating clauses, the speakers want to express the meanings effectively Consequently, the words that assume a Jess pivotal role in the message might be shured or dropped, and different words might be increasingly noticeable (Brown, 1977) Liaison is defined as the connection of words in the discourse when the second word starts with a vowel e.g., an apple Moreover, clision often occurs when leaving out a sound or sounds, ¢.g., suppose may be pronounced in rapid speech Both are normal phenomena that make it hard for learners (o recognize or porccive singular words in the stream of discourse They are

accustomed to seeing words written as discrete entities in their materials

In the study investigating listening comprehension problems that English majors

have to deal with, Yert (1987) listed some of these factors as the most siriking issues Trị

listening comprehension, such as: sound separation, sound stream division, stress and intonation, vocabulary, expression and linguistic structure It is clearly seen that the vast amajority of the issues thal Vert detormined were identilied with pronunciation Likewise,

Rixon (1986) expressed that the way Knglish words were pronounced was a problem

11

experienced by FFT students in listening comprehension At (he poinl when students were curious about how L2 words were pronounced, their acknowledgement of these words

has been impacted on and comprehension was affected accordingly

Tn addition, researchers also pay alferition to one more outstanding eature of

English, which are stress and intonation They often use stress to feature content words

to convey the meaning Students somehow cannot realize between the content words and fimetion words Furthermore, they do not know the way that words in verbally expressed constant discourse are regularly not given a similar stress as they are said in isolation (Underwood, 1989) It leads to a result that they cannot hear the word that they definitely know Also, foreign students sometimes neg lect to perceive the language structure points

in listening due to the stress

Word recognition

To explain the reason why listening comprehension was convoluted for DEL

learners, Rerendsen (1986) found out thal word acknowledgement was another cause

Words in continuous discourse were often dropped and assimilated, not only inside words themselves, but also across word boundaries Indeed, there are no clear boundary markers that one can hardly perceive words beginnings and endings Besides, L2 listeners neglected to understand a word as a result of form-meaning mismatch L2 sometimes

could know the structure of a word, however they do not know exactly its meaning Thus,

they could not recognize spoken words In short, lack of lexical information made listening comprehension difficult for L2 learners

Underwood (1989) contended that students just know a limited number of words

so itis difficull for them to hear unfamiliar words and then, binder their ability to

understand what was spoken in front of them Additionally, Goh (2000) rehearsed that there were fen clear issues in listermng comprehension Five of them alluded to failure i word acknowledgement and inability to focus m perceptual processing In the same lines, Yan (2007) agreed that there were additionally ten problems that obstructed the way of lisicning She mentioned that having such a lage number of words, nol knowing the

meaning, not being able to remember, not being, acquainted with the topic of the text, ete.,

were the boundaries thal students creountered in lislaring comprehension As well, Hasan (2002) called attention to the problems related to listening text, for instance,

unfamiliar words, long, complex texts and difficult grammatical structures led to listening

miscomprehension

Colloquial language is also another challenge that arises Because of authentic materials use nowadays, listening materials are often made up of daily conversation, they anay conlain a great deal of colloquial words and expressions, for example slang as well

as some words like stuff for thing, guy for man, ete Normally, speakers mostly use colloquial language which is not taught at school context: so that the students who have

‘been regularly exposed to formal or bookish English might not be familiar with these

articulations Brown (1992) points out that LISL leamers who have been exposed to

standard written English and "textbook" language sometimes find it surprising and hard

to deal with informal language

Vocabulary plays a key role in listening, particularly for a foreign language learner In the listening skill, we should focus on the size of the new vocabulary to which learners are confronted Brown auf Yule (1983) nolived (hal students begin searching for the meaning of a word and loose the thread of speech That is the reason they should

prepare to go on listening and to accept the fact that it is not important to understand every

word siice good lisloncrs would ampower speakers and liberale ihe conversation, according to Brown and Yule Consequently, when teaching the listening skill, teachers should know and choose the suilable strategy in order to devise sessions aimed al practicing to sub-skills of reaching the meaning of unfamiliar words from the listening

context

2.4.2 Factors related to the speakers

Body movement and [acial expression

Tf students just listen to a spoken text withoul, watching the speaker lalking,

listening comprehension tums out to be a bit troublesome Not socing the speaker’s body

language and facial expressions made listening became difficult Brown (1994) reported that the speaker's body movement and stressed syllables have a connection because slreas

13

was constantly placed on words that convey the main information of the verbal text Thal helped the listener understand the message of what was spoken in front of him or her

Moreover, Rixon (1981) attested that seeing the speaker while speaking makes the language redundant through the way thal gestures and facial expressions would reinforce the semantic output of the speaker

Lcsitation and pauses

Another difficulty experienced by LIL leamers was that there were less pauses in spoken texts Most of the research on disfluencies in L2 listening comprehension has verified thal pauses can be uselul to norelocal audicnee, though ths impact also depends

on the audience's proficiency level and whether the pause is filled or silent Ilesitations and pauses in unconstrained discourse lead to a result of perceptual problems and comprehension defects for non-native speakers, as stated by Hasan (2000) It can be clearly seen that the more pauses were there in a text, the better understanding was accomplished by students When people say a sentence, they ofien hesitale, repeal themselves, make statements that are ungrammatical and change their minds halfway through a sentence

However, studenls were not able 1o understand what is spoken if the speaker did not pause enougli while speaking Some evidence assumes that knowledge of filled pauses such as um must be leamed like other features of a language, and until this knowledge is complete, these disfluencies may be misinterpreted (Voss, 1979; Watanabe et al, 2008) Larsen-I'reeman and Long (1993) expressed that the incorporation of pauses in discourse encouraged listening more than diminishing the pace of speech Additionally, Korst (1997) presumed that including pauses to normalspeed spooch facilitated more noteworthy understanding

Speech rate

Different researchers discussed about speech rate and its influence on listening, comprehension Literally, some researchers such as, Rost (1990), Ellis (1994), Brown (1998), Underwood (1989), ete found out that the speed rate of speech should be a

concer when leaching listening TLis really hard for studeniis to construct meaning out of the information conveyed rapidly and could not manage how speedy speakers were

Turthermore, the findings of Flowerdew's and Miller’s investigation (1996)

concluded thal the maim five obstructions in hsltenmg comprebeusion were speed of

delivery, now terminology and concopts, difficulties in concentrating and issues related

to the physical condition Recently, Osuka (2010) found out that the impairing factors of the Japanese’ listening comprehension referred to the [asl vale of speech and the inability

to perceive Hnglishsounds Correspondingly, in her exploration directed on KEL students

at Al Yarmouk University, Fa’fr (2013) realized that English accent, colloquial expressions, pronunciation, fast rate of discourse and restricted yocabulary were the problems that hindered LiL Jearners in listening comprehension the most

Blau (1.990) inferred that reducing the input speed was one of the efficient methods that could help underslanding for sceond language students Therefore, it is undeniable for most language students and teachers that a slower speech rate could facilitate lower level students’ listening comprehension

Speakers’ accents

Additionally, the factors which are related to the speaker, there are shill some

factors that would cause a break in listening comprehension For instance, various speakers use many different accents, which is not simple and easy for students to

comprehend in Hslening (Abidin & Tuan 2013) Understanding the spoken language

implies concerning and dealing with a speech rate or the pitch voice (adjustment of

idiosyncrasies) Wei (2003) let listeners’ ability become mare competent, vet challenges

presented when atiempling Lo adopt the distinel accents of Ihe speaker Tn this situation of

a speaker with an alternate accent, a listener should adapt to differences emerging from

boll the speaker's own idiosyncrasies and additional variation the speaker imparts to

others from the equivalent linguistic background

Many foreign language learners are suprised and dismayed when listening to someone else other than their teachers, because they are used to their teacher’s accents

Moreover, understanding Ihe spoken form of language requires the adaplation of the

15

idiosyncrasies of a particular speaker (Undsrwond, 1989) Tkeno and Hansen (ciled im

Bloomfield et al., 2010) find that unfamiliar accents lead to lower accuracy Accented speech has been found to affect both the extent to which listeners successfully realize a speaker’s message and the cffort involved as listeners identify particular words in the

message (1"loccia et al., 2009) T'o some extent, in academic courses, the students are quite

farniliar with the native speakers like American or English, however, in reality, they can listen to the speakers from non-native English-speaking, countries as well Consequently, students are not able to catch the words or convey the messages of the conversations and

the broken down communication is the outcome:

2.4.3 Factors related to the learners

achievers Underwood (1989) also reported that the things made listening hard was

unfamiliarity with speoch markers and the signs while the spcakers move from one point

to another in informal settings, hence lead ta the failure in hearing the adjustment in the pitch and distinctive inlonation patterns The spcakers utilize the discourse markers to demonstrate that they are moving the thoughts, giving examples, or repeating the previous

points, as stated by Underwood (1989) Being not able ta hear what these markers are

will prevent the students from followimg the constant stream of the discourse

Lack of visual help

In addition, Underwood (19893 concured that another boundary of listening

perception was the lack of visual help In class, EFL students often listen to audios without seeing the outlook and body language of Ihe speakers They expressed thal paralinguistic

and language have a solid relationship He atlesied that socing the speakers’ gestures, sesponses, facial expressions, body languages and physical setting encouraged KEL

students’ understanding of what is spoken in front of them

‘Ur (2000) clarified thal listening comprehension was an issue toward EFT students

since what they listened to in the class was not quite the same as real lite In the classroom, there appears repetition from the teachers, which means that the teachers often repeat the lisienting text tore than one Lime, thus lel students answer al] questions much casicr However, in everyday situations, listening te the radio or broadeasts, watching a program

on television, etc., a listener cannot get the opportunity to repeat and replay what the speaker has said Possibly a speaker could say once again, but not more than that In a capsule, if 1:}'L students do not listen the authentic cases, their listening practice will be

in vain, and listening comprehension will become hard

Lack of guided sirategies

EFT students thought that it was casy to understand whal their teachers were

saying because they were used to it for a Jong time (Moran, 2005), But listening to audio content was really hard for them since they had never received instruction or guided strategies to use Hence, they ignored some crucial strategies that would make listening comprehension easier and simpler As well, Khanchali (2005) commented that listening

it is hard to grasp information due te the fact that student always bear in mind that they

need to understand every single word in order to have a full understanding of the content This caused difficulty for them in handling what they were listening to Khanchali

likewise expressed thal both teachers and students needed to get famihar with the

strategies to apply in English language

Proficiency of students

Teng (2002) conducted a survey among 95 technology students and found out that

the factor with he highest (requency was proficiency of students, and then came speakers’

clarity and concentration Additionally, Yang and Chen (2007) expressed that the

fundamental source af trouble experienced by junior students was simply themselves Their ability level as well as Tirmiled vocabulary size hindered studenls’ listening

17

comprehension He deseribed that low-level students are considered as (he weakness in

listening to individual factors, while high-level students said that the problem they

encountered was related to the text

Psychulogical factors

Stadents’ concentration is one of the pivotal factors that influence listening

comprehension since it can be hard for students to focus on leaming In listening

comprehension, even the smallest interruption in concentration may extensively min

comprehension Tf studenls find the listening content imeresting, comprehension would

be simpler On the other hand, listening texts normally need an immense amount of effort

80 a8 nol lo miss [he meaning, hence sometimes students find listening bormg even though

they are interested in the theme

As indicated by Yagang (1993), the listening comprehension process is additionally a sophisticated mental procedure In psychology, it is expressed that when

an individual feels nervous or anxious, he or she canmot concentrate Hence, his or her

listening ability is greatly decreased Boredom and disappointment are other obstructions

to listening comprehension because they may affect the degree to which attention is given

to listening, This happens when poor stimulation is caused by lack of engagement in the topic, no more inspiration, failure during the time that the teacher presents meaningful

‘material in a stimulating way, or introducing the lecture in a monotone instigating sleep

2.4.4, Factors related to physical settings

Other listening comprehension obstructions that Watson & Smeltzer (1984) and Yagang (1994) paid attention to were noises, whether they came from the surrounding

environment or the ones that arose from the listening equipment These noises may

emerge from telephones ringing, a door knock, low quality equipment, swrounding noises, volume control, ete They remarked that those sounds might interrupt DEL

students’ comprehension and took their minds off the listening text With the noise

originating from hallways and different classes, several students experionce trouble in listening to the teacher’s voice As a result of the noise in the classroom and the

inadequate preparation regarding the lab, students cammot focus ant listening to the

18

anaterials IV the listening lask is carried oul with so much noise around, i is without any doubt that students will not have a good outcome in listening Because they are not only

distracted by the noise but also it affects the quality of the recording being This interferes

with the students from hearing and concentrating on the assignment (Hamouda, 2013)

Having the same opinions, Hasan (2000) expressed that it was hard for students to focus while listening if there were interruptions It is certain that any break during their altention could distract ther and debilitate their liskoning comprehension

2.5 Studies investigating factors inhibiting listening comprehension

students who major in English language and translation in Qassim University The result

showed that hstening comprehension appears to be the most fragile skill thal students

encounter different types of problems Data was accumulated by questionnaires and interviews The research found speed of discourse, various accents of speaker, promumeialion, insufTicion! vocabulary, anxiely, and bad quality of recording were the significant listening comprehension issues experienced by HFL Saudi learners

Chen (2002) conducted an investigation with 190 college students towards their problems in hstening comprebension; as a result, he found out thai the tọp five problems were the following Kirstly, students only concentrated on figuring out the meaning of the spoken text and missed what happen after that Secondly, students were unable to chunk

streams of speech Then, they did nol perceive words they already knew They were also

not sure about the main ideas of the text “And finally, they were unable to shape a mental

represeniation from the words they have heard It can be noticed that the previously

anentioned reasons are relaled o ward recognition

Likewise, in a study conducted in University Sains Malaysian (USM) in China,

Abidin and Tuan (2013) found out that the most salient issue faced by students was the

lack of prior knowledge in vocabulary Similarly, Sum (2002) stated thal the problem

blocking listening, comprehension was that students forgot the meaning of certain words while listening, hence could not recall what just had been said

19

Research mm Malaysia by Abidin (2013) used 4 qualilaGve method fo collec! data

from three Chinese students taking English Listening Comprehension (HLC) in

University Science Malaysian (1J5M) With an aim to investigate students’ perspective

through the main question concoming the problems of the Chinese students in their ELC self-learning process, concerning three steps including the pre-listening, while listening and post-listening, (he inlorview was conducted Findings {rom this study indicated that the primary problem faced by the Chinese students is the lack of earlier knowledge in Tinglish jargon, hence hinders their understanding in the listening procedure In addition,

the distinctions in the accent of the nalive speakers prevented the appropriate

understanding of the listening text, the limited span of concentration, as well as the

learning habits of Chinese students were discussed as the problems of the ELC learning

On the other hand, Anadapong (2011) mentioned some issues in his research at Bangkok University ‘his study was led with thirty of Business students at Bangkok University with the point exploring their [nglish listening obstacles and listening

proficiency The resull revealed thal sludents explained the primary reason caused

listening is the listening text itsel{, Other factors that obstructed listening comprehension

were lack of either practicing listening skill or exposure to various types of listening

Traterials

Yousif (2006) invcstigated leclure cơmprehersiơn prơbleins rogarding list year students in their second semester at Almajmah College of Education The analysis of the

data provides an index of semantic, conceplual, discourse, acoustic, enviromental and

mental factors that ruin viable comprehension ‘he results of the study have implications for both LIL educators and subject matter lecturers in the specific setting in which it was conducted as well as in comparison with lertiary levels They discussed some obstructions that sway comprehension, for instance: listeners, speakers and listening text

ax well as listening comprchension problems Gencral finstings together with eriliques of individual investigations in every area were presented Bottom-up and top-down

processes are considered as the two cognitive processes that can combine together during

listening In addition, there are some main factors that make listening comprehension difficult, such as, linguistic feanmes of the language, the listeners, the speakers, the

content and the physical selling However, il can be seen that most, literature is wrillen in the context of foreign countries that somehow is not appropriate for Vietnamese students,

Therefore, with the own observation and detailed explanation presented in the following

Lior,

chapters, the researcher hopes to compensale [or the above Limi

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapler consists of some scclions, including the restatement of the research aim in the present study, the research design that provided a brief explanation of the

selected approaches for dala collection and analysis, (he research selling, and the

procedures which delincated the stops used to conduct the study

3.1 Restatement of rescarch aims and research questions

‘this study was undertaken with the hope of providing some insights into the factors that inhibit students’ listening comprehension as well as how the students

perceived about the usefulness of lislening strats; nụ

‘The research then seeks the answers for the following questions:

1, What are the factors that inhibit stidents’ listening comprehension?

2 Is there statistically significant difference students of different age groups’ perceptions of factors inhibiting their listening comprehension?

3.2 Research design

Ta the light of the nature of the questions given above, a quantilalive melhiod was employed for the study; or in another word a descriptive research Hadi (1994) once stated that in here just describing the situation or condition the object or phenomenon without a view to take some conclusions generally is the most appropriate one Prasetyo and Jannah (2008) emphasized that descriptive research is conducted to give detailed picture about

phenomenon

Additionally, Suryabrata (2008) stated that the aim of descriptive research is to

make systematic description, factual, and accurate about fact and the characteristics of population Moreover, according to Siegel (2015), choosing an appropriate design

depends on ils own tesearch objective When looking bask al ihe target of this study that

is to evaluate a group of LIL students’ difficulties in listening comprehension in.an actual

classroom context, quantitative design should be adopted To have a better understanding

of the coulext as well as a rich and diverse deseriplion, design for this study can meot

those requirements (Denscombe, 2014; Démyei, 2007)

Based on the definition and descriptions above a deseriplive rescarch was conducted to find out clearly the phenomenen and the reality of the students’ difficulties

in Jeaming listening skill through the way of collecting as well as accumulating the basic

data in a description way Itmeans to make a deseription about the difficulties of learning listening at both high school and university students So, this research is emphasized on tryng lo find out (he sludents’ dilTicullies in learning listening comprehension

3.3 Participants

This study was carried out for both high school students Lo university students from different schools and universities to explore the difficulties in learning listening skills

The participants of this research comprised Ingh school and university students who have

Jeamt listening as a main subject at high school This study was conducted in 9 high schools and 4 universities in both Llanoi and Lai Phong ‘the total number of participants

was 710, a3 deseribed m more detail m table 3.3

Table 3.1

Participants’ information

‘Total: 432 students

University of Language and International Studies Ha Noi 114

Ễ Academy of Journalist: and Conmmunication Ha Noi 31

Talal: 318 studenis

3.4 Sampling techniques

The strategy which the study followed 1o choose these participants is simple random sampling That is to say; the study attracted participants randomly in which all of

them have an equal chance lo participate in the survey This method is reliable in

collecting valid data, bocause st is widely applied in cducational rescarches The decision

of choosing different schools and universities was because of some following reasons

At high schools, students have reached a certain level of English during their

learning lime even though their English proficieney may range from high-boginming to intermediate level ‘They got accustomed to listening skills as a separate and main subject

Wine high schools also varied in the locations as some are in the ety center bul others are

on the outskirts Howover, nomnally, students at high schools often focused the majority

of their time on grammar but ignored other skills ‘hey just got the opportunity to practice listening skills through doing exercises and assignments

Four umiversitics were selected as escarch subjecis duc to the fact Khát these

students no longer focused on grammatical structure or theory; however, they have to acquire all four skills in order to pass language proficiency tests Furthermore, these students all passed the entrance exam to attend university and experienced at least one semester of learning English lence, listening becomes really important It can be noticed

that learning listening at university is totally different from high school As a result, in

the now Jearning approach, it could be a significant obstacle Therefore, figuring out and dealing with these problems in their first steps are extremely necessary and urgent

3.5 Data collection instruments

The instruments [or this study include questionnaires with 39 questions which were divided into twa parts A self-report questionnaire was developed to collect the

relevant data about factors thal cause the hsiening difficulties Afler considering the

theory of listening and the difficultics in learning skills in accordance with the real practice of this skill of the students, the researcher came to the conclusion to adapt the

queshiommaire of Lowi (2012) The factors meluded the process, input, listener, task, alTeet

and context.

The questionnaire conlains 39 question ilemns im Lola Tn more detail, Parl A

contains only one question that is designed to investigate the students’ general perception

about learning listening and their ability 38 other question items in Part B are written in

the form of numerical ratmg scale to examine how students experience listening difficulties Listed out in the questionnaires ‘This type of close-ended question is easier and faster for the researcher lo analyze the results In scoring the questionnaire, the writer used the Likert scale Sugiyono (2012) clarified that Likert scale is used to measure the attitudes, opinions, and perceptions of a person or a group to the social phenomenon The

levels of opinion im this study are ranked from 1-6, from the least difficull to the most

difficult, A scale without a neutral point was chosen to encourage the subjects to

thoroughly consider each item and express a definite opinion about it Additionally to

avoid any confounding effect thal learners’ linguistic competency may have on their efforts to understand the items written in English, the questionnaire was translated into

the learners? mother tongue

The original questionnaire in Part B consisted of 40 queslions which were divided

into six different factors labeled listening process, input, listener, task, affective

dimension of listening and unfavorable characteristics of the learning context

Meanwhile, the writer made modifications based on the comments and revisions [rom the

supervisor who teaches in English study program Therefore, the numbers of

questionmaire terns which were given to the sample were reduced to only 38 The number

of items for each indicator depends on the statements, relevance to the students’ condition and also students’ needs

3.6 Data collection procedure

3.6.1 Delivering the questionnaires

Step 1: Designing the Questionnaires

In this step, the questionnaire was designed for different participants to join and

raise opinions about their listening difficulties perspectives Based on this questionaire

adapted from Lotfi (2012), the researcher desired to know to what extent the students

perceive the solutions for these problems

Step 2: Piloting

To find out which areas of the questionnaire are ambiguous and should be

corrected or improved the questionnaire were delivered to 3-4 respondents Afterwards,

when they wenl through all the items, the researcher asked them [or some comments and

suggestions Finally, the adaptation was made

Step 3: Administering the Questionnaires

‘the researcher delivered over 700 survey questionnaires using Google form to

different high schools as well as universities in both Ha Noi and Hai Phong Before asking

the students (o do the survey, they would have a chance 1o brielly see the explanation of the format, the length and the purpose of this study Students were reassured that the questionnaire resulls would be confidential and would not affect heir grades for the class 3.6.2 Analyzing data

The process of analyving data ix really important toward a study Honea, in the first step, data from questionnaires were gathered and analyzed The data transcription

was checked carefully and the incorrect or incomplete ones were eliminated to make the

collected data reliable cnough Statistical analysis was porformed to render specific statistics These numbers were then arranged and described in tables for better ilhustration and explanation, making the study more concise and scientific Aller delivering and collecting over 750 questionnaires, and then the researcher Jeft out 40 incomplete ones (30 from high school students and 10 from university students) The researcher classified the primary data according to the rescarch questions to decide variables your data set that can be analyzed to answer the research objective ‘I'hen, by the way of producing descriptive statistics (means, modes, ranges, standard deviations), the writer was able to make tables to show the relationships for comparisons and contrasts After that, to do better analysis, the researcher had to decide whether the statistical analysis techniques

were appropriate

According 10 dala analysis, the sofi-ware SPSS (Sialistics Package for the Social

Science) was used Descriptive Statistics were used to determine the mean scores of the

students’ perception toward the role of listening skill development and listening

problems Moreover, a one sample Marm-Whitney U Tesl was conducted to check the significant differences ameng the actual mean scores Based on the results, the researcher could determine the factors affected on listening comprehension

Tu this chapter, the research methodology employed to conduct the research was

introduced and discussed Besides, the selection of sample, sampling methods,

description of data instruments as well as the procedure conducted in the survey were

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This chapler focuses mainly on the students” opinions about listening challenges and their solutions towards this matter The present chapter includes the findings from

collected data gained from questiormaires aud semi-siruclured interviews, which are

organized according to the three rescarch questions Then the meaning, of the findings is referred before altemative explanation of the findings is stated

4.1 Findings

4.1.1, Students’ general perception

As mentioned in the research question of Chapter 1, the first question is aimed at

finding out the general perception of students about listening difficulies and it is presented in the following tables

Table 4.1

Students’ general perception of the difficulty

University students CN — 308) High school students (N — 402)

In the first part of the questionnaire, the students were asked to evaluate their difficulty levels im listening skill The slatisties showed bigh mean scores helwoen university and high school students This question item receives a mean of 4.04 with the

standard deviation of 0.93 according to university students, while high school students

got the mean of 4.90 and the standard deviation of 0.93

This means that nearly 70% of the total students rated listening skill as “the most

difficult” one comparison with three other skills Only about 6% of the university students

think thal there is nothing difficult, which shows that their listening skill is quile good, whereas there are no ligh school students who are confident with their listening skill

22% of remaining shudents stated thal their listening performances are al average level

that they can understand 70% of listening, information.