Luận văn difficulties in teaching and learning english listening skills in english experienced by teachers and 10th grade students at duong tu minh high school in thai nguyen and some suggested solutions

..16 ‘Table 3: Students motivation of learning listening lu Table 4: Students’ difficulties in general 18 Table § Factors affecting students’ participation and interests in listening les

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

DUONG THI LAN

DIFFICULTIES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH

LISTENING SKILLS EXPERIENCED BY TEACHERS AND 10"

GRADE STUDENTS AT DUONG TU MINH HIGH SCHOOL IN THAI

NGUYEN, AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS

'NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN TRONG VIỆC DẠY VÀ HỌC KỸ NĂNG

NGHE TIENG ANH CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VẢ HỌC SINH LỚP 10 TRƯỜNG THPT

DƯƠNG TỰ MINH THÁI NGUYÊN, VẢ MỘT SỐ GIẢI PHIÁP GỢI Ý

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English teaching methodology

Code: 60.14.10

Supervisor: Pham Thi Thanh Thay, MA

2.3 The importance of listening in tcaching and lcarning a foreign languag: Ở 2.4 Listening difficulties for foreign language learafs ccceeereeeree TỪ 2.4.1 Listening problems lo 2.4.2 Language Problems -.11 Summary 12 CHAPTER 5: METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research setting 13 3.2 Participants of the research 13 3.2.1 Teachers 13

in 3.3 Data collection instruments -.14 3.4 Data collection procedures no 15 3.5 Data analysis procedures l§ Summary l§

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Questionnaires 16 4.1.1 Teachers and students’ attitudes to teaching and learning listering L6 4.1.2 Listening difficulties experienced by students 18 4.1.3 Listening difficullias experioneed by teachers 23 4.2 Class öbservation -.32 4.3 Discussions of the findings no 33 4.4 Implivations 37 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION

5.1 Summary of the findings no 3o 5.2 Limitations of the study 40 5.3 Suggestions for fiuther research sàn nen ereiriiaereereeeeue, đŨ

REFERENCES

listening skill and lesson 16

‘Table 3: Students motivation of learning listening lu Table 4: Students’ difficulties in general 18 Table § Factors affecting students’ participation and interests in listening lessons 19

‘Table 6 Classroom conditions - 19 Table 7: The use of teaching aids 20 Table 8: Teacher’s roles 20 Table 9: Listening activities in the classroom 21 Table 10: Studenls? opinion about the Lextbouk 2 Table 11; Expectations of the students towards teachers of listening skilL 33

‘rable 12: I'he mumber of the teachers who participated in the listening course 24 Table 13: Factors have influones in students’ participation and interests in the

listening lesson

"Table 14: ‘Teachers’ employment of teaching aids

Table 15: Activities in listering lessons

Table 16: Activities in Pre-listening stage .cescssasessensesuseiesissietanineeecana T7

‘table 17: Techniques used in While-listening stage 38 Table 18 Activities in Post-listening stage 29 Table 19: Adaptation of the new textboOk cesses ssestestmseiesissieieniaeeencanas BO

‘Table 20: Teachers’ effort to have effective listening lassons các 30 Table 21: Teachers? need in having effective listening lesson 3

listening skill and lesson 16

‘Table 3: Students motivation of learning listening lu Table 4: Students’ difficulties in general 18 Table § Factors affecting students’ participation and interests in listening lessons 19

‘Table 6 Classroom conditions - 19 Table 7: The use of teaching aids 20 Table 8: Teacher’s roles 20 Table 9: Listening activities in the classroom 21 Table 10: Studenls? opinion about the Lextbouk 2 Table 11; Expectations of the students towards teachers of listening skilL 33

‘rable 12: I'he mumber of the teachers who participated in the listening course 24 Table 13: Factors have influones in students’ participation and interests in the

listening lesson

"Table 14: ‘Teachers’ employment of teaching aids

Table 15: Activities in listering lessons

Table 16: Activities in Pre-listening stage .cescssasessensesuseiesissietanineeecana T7

‘table 17: Techniques used in While-listening stage 38 Table 18 Activities in Post-listening stage 29 Table 19: Adaptation of the new textboOk cesses ssestestmseiesissieieniaeeencanas BO

‘Table 20: Teachers’ effort to have effective listening lassons các 30 Table 21: Teachers? need in having effective listening lesson 3

In the first place, situation analysis has a look at the background to the study including

thoroughly with ths duc consideration for Icucher’s Leaching and sludonls” learning siluations

Eventually, for the practical basis, questionnaires, class observations were carmied out with the teachers and students to gather the most reliable data for analysis to find answers to the research questions mentioned above

1.2 Aims and Objectives of the study

The main purpose of the sudy was lo probe difficullies in leaching and tsarning listening among the teaching staff and the 10% form students at Duong Tu Minh upper secondary school, in Thai Nguyen Province With this purpose the three following central questions wars invesligaled

1, What are the difficulties experienced by the teachers and the 10 form students when teaching and learning listening skill in the new textbook “ ‘Tieng Anh 10°?

2 Whal are some factors affecting the sui

by DTM HS teachers and students DTM HS?

3 What are some effective ways to improve DIM HS students’ learning and

of the listening process as perceived

teachers’ teaching methods of listening skills?

1.3 Scope of the study

‘This study points out difficulties in listening that teachers and 10 form students at Duong Tu Minh [igh School face, The sludy focuses ơn describing Ihe problems the leachers and students meet, and the factors causing such challenges, for instance, facilities, students’ English listening proficiency, and teachers’ methods, Due to the Limited time, the investigator contd nol imploment the + arch for a longer time and study on # larger population The sample population is only 6 leachers ont of 15 and 120 fteshmen from three obisses of the same English proficiency level

1.4, Design of the study

The study is divided into five chapters which arc summarized as follows:

The first chapter is the introduction of the rationale for the study, the aims, and the methods, scope of the study as well as the design of the study The second chapter is the litcrature review discussing the thcorctical background, which is relevant to the purposes of the study ‘Ihe third chapter shows the procedure of carrying out the research such as the participants, data collection instruments and methods of data analysis The fourth chapler roporls and discus

provided to help students overcome thew difficulties in learning listening skill The fifth chapter summaries the whole study, followed by references and appendices

1.5 Methods of the study

the finding oblained from the data Some suggested solutions arc also

‘The research is done by both quantitative and qualitative methods; it is carried out on the basis of situation analysis, material collection, survey questiommaires, class observations

1.2 Aims and Objectives of the study

The main purpose of the sudy was lo probe difficullies in leaching and tsarning listening among the teaching staff and the 10% form students at Duong Tu Minh upper secondary school, in Thai Nguyen Province With this purpose the three following central

questions wars invesligaled

1, What are the difficulties experienced by the teachers and the 10 form students when teaching and learning listening skill in the new textbook “ ‘Tieng Anh 10°?

2 Whal are some factors affecting the sui

by DTM HS teachers and students DTM HS?

3 What are some effective ways to improve DIM HS students’ learning and

of the listening process as perceived

teachers’ teaching methods of listening skills?

1.3 Scope of the study

‘This study points out difficulties in listening that teachers and 10 form students at Duong Tu Minh [igh School face, The sludy focuses ơn describing Ihe problems the leachers and students meet, and the factors causing such challenges, for instance, facilities, students’ English listening proficiency, and teachers’ methods, Due to the Limited time, the investigator contd nol imploment the +

arch for a longer time and study on # larger population The sample population is only 6 leachers ont of 15 and 120 fteshmen from three obisses of the

same English proficiency level

1.4, Design of the study

The study is divided into five chapters which arc summarized as follows:

The first chapter is the introduction of the rationale for the study, the aims, and the methods, scope of the study as well as the design of the study The second chapter is the litcrature review discussing the thcorctical background, which is relevant to the purposes of the study ‘Ihe third chapter shows the procedure of carrying out the research such as the participants, data collection instruments and methods of data analysis The fourth chapler roporls and discus

provided to help students overcome thew difficulties in learning listening skill The fifth chapter summaries the whole study, followed by references and appendices

1.5 Methods of the study

the finding oblained from the data Some suggested solutions arc also

‘The research is done by both quantitative and qualitative methods; it is carried out on the basis of situation analysis, material collection, survey questiommaires, class observations

in that text; (3) The student should be able to resolve anaphoric reference and to determine which was referred to, and (4) The student should be able to work out not only what is dircotly asseried in the text, but also what is implicd

On the other hand, Wolvin and Coakley (1985) state listening “the process of receiving, attending to and assigning meaning to aural stimuli”, his definition suggests that

listening is « complex, problem solving skill The lask of listsuing is more than perception of sound; although perception is the foundation, it alse requires comprehension of meaning This view of listening is in accordance with second-language theory which considers listening to spoken Janguage as an active and complex process in which Tisteners focus on selected aspects of aural input, construct meaning, and relate what they hear to existing knowledge (O’Malley & Chamot, 1989; Byrnes, 1984; Richards, 1985, Howard, 1983)

Therefore, the oncepl of Tistening and listening comprehension can bz broadly defined as everything thal improves on the human processing which mediates bebween sounds and the construction of meaning When listeners are expected to attend to what

they hear to process it, to comprehend, to interpret, to evaluate and to respond to the

incoming data, In order to do all these things, they have to get involved in the process and become active listeners

2.1.2 The nature of listening comprehension

Traditionally, listening uscd to be considered as a passive language skill alongside with reading skill, Studemts, were expected to listen word by word, trying to draw the meaning fram the individual syntactic and semantic components of the utlerances or

discourse Therefore, alhor important factors, uch as the context, the speaker's intention,

intonation, stress, etc were totally ignored, This point of view also resulted in the teacher’s methods ‘Ihe teacher often conducted the lesson as a listening comprehension “test” rather than Izaching il Students were asked to remember the fotat utterance they had just heard Recently, listening process has been thought of as an “active process” The modern view points out that to become a suiccessfill listener, the listener must employ a combination 4

It is widsly assumed thal listening plays a very important role in everyday conversation as well as learning a foreign language First, in real life, people wish to join in communication to exchange their information, experience, feelings and so forth, However,

communication is not considered to be suec what is said or referred to is comprehended by another person And there will be “communication treakdown” if the listener cannot understand the information given by the speaker It means that communication not only requires our abilitics to produce the language but also a thorough understanding of what is directed to us, Second, in learning a foreign language, listening is in close relationship wath other skills Therefore, having a good command of listemmng skill helps to achieve good performance of the others

Al my high school, (caching and learning listening is a really new challenging job In addition to the lack of well- equipped facilities, teaching listening methods are quite new and unfamiliar to teachers Since the new English textbook was in use, they have been incspericnced in teaching listening methods and approaches Another problem is students’ low levels of proficiency in term of vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, skills and so forth It

is the reason why students find it difficult and tough te listen to and they are not confident enough to do listening tasks successtiily

In literature so fir, there have heen nol many stutlies on the difficulties in teaching and leaming a foreign language in general, listening in particular, at a high school in Vietnam, Moreover, not many researchers study listening chificulties experienced by high school teachers

scarch

and students in using Ihe new “Tieng Anh 10 "textbook Therefore, the author of this

found an urgent need of taking a sorious took al such issue

In the first place, situation analysis has a look at the background to the study including the description of the current contex! al Duong Tu Minh Tigh School and listening skill in the new textbook “Tieng Anh 10” Secondly, for the theoretical basis, a lot of reférence matezials

on listening teaching methods and problems have been gathered, analyzed and synthesized thoroughly with ths duc consideration for Icucher’s Leaching and sludonls” learning siluations

Eventually, for the practical basis, questionnaires, class observations were carmied out with the teachers and students to gather the most reliable data for analysis to find answers to the research questions mentioned above

listening skill and lesson 16

‘Table 3: Students motivation of learning listening lu Table 4: Students’ difficulties in general 18 Table § Factors affecting students’ participation and interests in listening lessons 19

‘Table 6 Classroom conditions - 19 Table 7: The use of teaching aids 20 Table 8: Teacher’s roles 20 Table 9: Listening activities in the classroom 21 Table 10: Studenls? opinion about the Lextbouk 2 Table 11; Expectations of the students towards teachers of listening skilL 33

‘rable 12: I'he mumber of the teachers who participated in the listening course 24 Table 13: Factors have influones in students’ participation and interests in the

listening lesson

"Table 14: ‘Teachers’ employment of teaching aids

Table 15: Activities in listering lessons

Table 16: Activities in Pre-listening stage .cescssasessensesuseiesissietanineeecana T7

‘table 17: Techniques used in While-listening stage 38 Table 18 Activities in Post-listening stage 29 Table 19: Adaptation of the new textboOk cesses ssestestmseiesissieieniaeeencanas BO

‘Table 20: Teachers’ effort to have effective listening lassons các 30 Table 21: Teachers? need in having effective listening lesson 3

1.2 Aims and Objectives of the study

The main purpose of the sudy was lo probe difficullies in leaching and tsarning listening among the teaching staff and the 10% form students at Duong Tu Minh upper secondary school, in Thai Nguyen Province With this purpose the three following central questions wars invesligaled

1, What are the difficulties experienced by the teachers and the 10 form students when teaching and learning listening skill in the new textbook “ ‘Tieng Anh 10°?

2 Whal are some factors affecting the sui

by DTM HS teachers and students DTM HS?

3 What are some effective ways to improve DIM HS students’ learning and

of the listening process as perceived

teachers’ teaching methods of listening skills?

1.3 Scope of the study

‘This study points out difficulties in listening that teachers and 10 form students at Duong Tu Minh [igh School face, The sludy focuses ơn describing Ihe problems the leachers and students meet, and the factors causing such challenges, for instance, facilities, students’ English listening proficiency, and teachers’ methods, Due to the Limited time, the investigator contd nol imploment the + arch for a longer time and study on # larger population The sample population is only 6 leachers ont of 15 and 120 fteshmen from three obisses of the same English proficiency level

1.4, Design of the study

The study is divided into five chapters which arc summarized as follows:

The first chapter is the introduction of the rationale for the study, the aims, and the methods, scope of the study as well as the design of the study The second chapter is the litcrature review discussing the thcorctical background, which is relevant to the purposes of the study ‘Ihe third chapter shows the procedure of carrying out the research such as the participants, data collection instruments and methods of data analysis The fourth chapler roporls and discus

provided to help students overcome thew difficulties in learning listening skill The fifth chapter summaries the whole study, followed by references and appendices

1.5 Methods of the study

the finding oblained from the data Some suggested solutions arc also

‘The research is done by both quantitative and qualitative methods; it is carried out on the basis of situation analysis, material collection, survey questiommaires, class observations

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, the researcher would like to provide a theoretical background to the study to know more and deeply about Listening, Comprehension Teaching It consists of four sections The first scelion examines different views on the definition af Tistering The second section presents the stages of leaching Fistering The third section is about the importance of listening comprehension, ‘I'he finally section is designed to look at the listening difficulties for foreign language learners

Listening, as Underwood (1989:1) defines: “is the activity of paying, attention to and

trying lo gel meaning fram something we haar.” The author also cmphasizes: “To lislen successfully to spoken langnage, we need to be able to work out what speakers mean when they use particular words in particular ways on particular occasions, not simple to understand the words themselves” (Underwood, 1989:1)

‘As Celee-Murcia (1991-88) puts it, “Listening can be defined broadly as everything that impinges on ths human proce:

ing which meditates between sound and the construction

of meaning”

b Definition of listening comprehension

There have been a large number of definitions for listening comprehension made by methodologists

Gary Buck (2001:31) points out thal * Lis

cning comprehension is an aetivs process of constructing meaning and this is done by applying, knowledge to the incoming sound” in which “number of different types of knowledge are involved: both linguistic knowledge and non - linguistic knowledge” ‘lo put it in another way, Gary Buck

(2001:31) concludes “comprehension is affected by a wide range of variables, and thal

vi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Ts Teachers,

Ss Students,

1.2 Aims and Objectives of the study

The main purpose of the sudy was lo probe difficullies in leaching and tsarning listening among the teaching staff and the 10% form students at Duong Tu Minh upper secondary school, in Thai Nguyen Province With this purpose the three following central

questions wars invesligaled

1, What are the difficulties experienced by the teachers and the 10 form students when teaching and learning listening skill in the new textbook “ ‘Tieng Anh 10°?

2 Whal are some factors affecting the sui

by DTM HS teachers and students DTM HS?

3 What are some effective ways to improve DIM HS students’ learning and

of the listening process as perceived

teachers’ teaching methods of listening skills?

1.3 Scope of the study

‘This study points out difficulties in listening that teachers and 10 form students at Duong Tu Minh [igh School face, The sludy focuses ơn describing Ihe problems the leachers and students meet, and the factors causing such challenges, for instance, facilities, students’ English listening proficiency, and teachers’ methods, Due to the Limited time, the investigator contd nol imploment the +

arch for a longer time and study on # larger population The sample population is only 6 leachers ont of 15 and 120 fteshmen from three obisses of the

same English proficiency level

1.4, Design of the study

The study is divided into five chapters which arc summarized as follows:

The first chapter is the introduction of the rationale for the study, the aims, and the methods, scope of the study as well as the design of the study The second chapter is the litcrature review discussing the thcorctical background, which is relevant to the purposes of the study ‘Ihe third chapter shows the procedure of carrying out the research such as the participants, data collection instruments and methods of data analysis The fourth chapler roporls and discus

provided to help students overcome thew difficulties in learning listening skill The fifth chapter summaries the whole study, followed by references and appendices

1.5 Methods of the study

the finding oblained from the data Some suggested solutions arc also

‘The research is done by both quantitative and qualitative methods; it is carried out on the basis of situation analysis, material collection, survey questiommaires, class observations

in that text; (3) The student should be able to resolve anaphoric reference and to determine which was referred to, and (4) The student should be able to work out not only what is dircotly asseried in the text, but also what is implicd

On the other hand, Wolvin and Coakley (1985) state listening “the process of receiving, attending to and assigning meaning to aural stimuli”, his definition suggests that

listening is « complex, problem solving skill The lask of listsuing is more than perception of sound; although perception is the foundation, it alse requires comprehension of meaning This view of listening is in accordance with second-language theory which considers listening to spoken Janguage as an active and complex process in which Tisteners focus on selected aspects of aural input, construct meaning, and relate what they hear to existing knowledge (O’Malley & Chamot, 1989; Byrnes, 1984; Richards, 1985, Howard, 1983)

Therefore, the oncepl of Tistening and listening comprehension can bz broadly defined as everything thal improves on the human processing which mediates bebween sounds and the construction of meaning When listeners are expected to attend to what

they hear to process it, to comprehend, to interpret, to evaluate and to respond to the

incoming data, In order to do all these things, they have to get involved in the process and become active listeners

2.1.2 The nature of listening comprehension

Traditionally, listening uscd to be considered as a passive language skill alongside with reading skill, Studemts, were expected to listen word by word, trying to draw the meaning fram the individual syntactic and semantic components of the utlerances or

discourse Therefore, alhor important factors, uch as the context, the speaker's intention,

intonation, stress, etc were totally ignored, This point of view also resulted in the teacher’s methods ‘Ihe teacher often conducted the lesson as a listening comprehension “test” rather than Izaching il Students were asked to remember the fotat utterance they had just heard Recently, listening process has been thought of as an “active process” The modern view points out that to become a suiccessfill listener, the listener must employ a combination 4

in that text; (3) The student should be able to resolve anaphoric reference and to determine which was referred to, and (4) The student should be able to work out not only what is dircotly asseried in the text, but also what is implicd

On the other hand, Wolvin and Coakley (1985) state listening “the process of receiving, attending to and assigning meaning to aural stimuli”, his definition suggests that

listening is « complex, problem solving skill The lask of listsuing is more than perception of sound; although perception is the foundation, it alse requires comprehension of meaning This view of listening is in accordance with second-language theory which considers listening to spoken Janguage as an active and complex process in which Tisteners focus on selected aspects of aural input, construct meaning, and relate what they hear to existing knowledge (O’Malley & Chamot, 1989; Byrnes, 1984; Richards, 1985, Howard, 1983)

they hear to process it, to comprehend, to interpret, to evaluate and to respond to the

incoming data, In order to do all these things, they have to get involved in the process and become active listeners

2.1.2 The nature of listening comprehension

Traditionally, listening uscd to be considered as a passive language skill alongside with reading skill, Studemts, were expected to listen word by word, trying to draw the meaning fram the individual syntactic and semantic components of the utlerances or

discourse Therefore, alhor important factors,

uch as the context, the speaker's intention,

intonation, stress, etc were totally ignored, This point of view also resulted in the teacher’s methods ‘Ihe teacher often conducted the lesson as a listening comprehension “test” rather than Izaching il Students were asked to remember the fotat utterance they had just heard Recently, listening process has been thought of as an “active process” The modern view points out that to become a suiccessfill listener, the listener must employ a combination 4

scvcral complicated processes at the same time.

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, the researcher would like to provide a theoretical background to the study to know more and deeply about Listening, Comprehension Teaching It consists of four sections The first scelion examines different views on the definition af Tistering The second section presents the stages of leaching Fistering The third section is about the importance of listening comprehension, ‘I'he finally section is designed to look at the listening difficulties for foreign language learners

2.1 The defini m wf ]isi ing and the nature of listening comprehension

2.1.1 Definition of listening and listening comprehension

a Definition of listening

ILis beticved thal Histening is a significant and um essential area of development in a native language and in a second language; therefore, there are different points of view on the definition of listening, which present different views of scholars towards the concept

Listening, as Underwood (1989:1) defines: “is the activity of paying, attention to and trying lo gel meaning fram something we haar.” The author also cmphasizes: “To lislen successfully to spoken langnage, we need to be able to work out what speakers mean when they use particular words in particular ways on particular occasions, not simple to understand the words themselves” (Underwood, 1989:1)

‘As Celee-Murcia (1991-88) puts it, “Listening can be defined broadly as everything that impinges on ths human proce: ing which meditates between sound and the construction

of meaning”

b Definition of listening comprehension

There have been a large number of definitions for listening comprehension made by methodologists

Gary Buck (2001:31) points out thal * Lis cning comprehension is an aetivs process of constructing meaning and this is done by applying, knowledge to the incoming sound” in which “number of different types of knowledge are involved: both linguistic knowledge and non - linguistic knowledge” ‘lo put it in another way, Gary Buck

(2001:31) concludes “comprehension is affected by a wide range of variables, and thal

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, the researcher would like to provide a theoretical background to the study to know more and deeply about Listening, Comprehension Teaching It consists of four sections The first scelion examines different views on the definition af Tistering The second section presents the stages of leaching Fistering The third section is about the importance of listening comprehension, ‘I'he finally section is designed to look at the listening difficulties for foreign language learners

Listening, as Underwood (1989:1) defines: “is the activity of paying, attention to and

trying lo gel meaning fram something we haar.” The author also cmphasizes: “To lislen successfully to spoken langnage, we need to be able to work out what speakers mean when they use particular words in particular ways on particular occasions, not simple to understand the words themselves” (Underwood, 1989:1)

‘As Celee-Murcia (1991-88) puts it, “Listening can be defined broadly as everything that impinges on ths human proce:

ing which meditates between sound and the construction

of meaning”

b Definition of listening comprehension

There have been a large number of definitions for listening comprehension made by methodologists

Gary Buck (2001:31) points out thal * Lis

cning comprehension is an aetivs process of constructing meaning and this is done by applying, knowledge to the incoming sound” in which “number of different types of knowledge are involved: both linguistic knowledge and non - linguistic knowledge” ‘lo put it in another way, Gary Buck

(2001:31) concludes “comprehension is affected by a wide range of variables, and thal

In the first place, situation analysis has a look at the background to the study including the description of the current contex! al Duong Tu Minh Tigh School and listening skill in the new textbook “Tieng Anh 10” Secondly, for the theoretical basis, a lot of reférence matezials

on listening teaching methods and problems have been gathered, analyzed and synthesized thoroughly with ths duc consideration for Icucher’s Leaching and sludonls” learning siluations

Eventually, for the practical basis, questionnaires, class observations were carmied out with the teachers and students to gather the most reliable data for analysis to find answers to the research questions mentioned above

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, the researcher would like to provide a theoretical background to the study to know more and deeply about Listening, Comprehension Teaching It consists of four sections The first scelion examines different views on the definition af Tistering The second section presents the stages of leaching Fistering The third section is about the importance of listening comprehension, ‘I'he finally section is designed to look at the listening difficulties for foreign language learners

Listening, as Underwood (1989:1) defines: “is the activity of paying, attention to and

trying lo gel meaning fram something we haar.” The author also cmphasizes: “To lislen successfully to spoken langnage, we need to be able to work out what speakers mean when they use particular words in particular ways on particular occasions, not simple to understand the words themselves” (Underwood, 1989:1)

‘As Celee-Murcia (1991-88) puts it, “Listening can be defined broadly as everything that impinges on ths human proce:

ing which meditates between sound and the construction

of meaning”

b Definition of listening comprehension

There have been a large number of definitions for listening comprehension made by methodologists

Gary Buck (2001:31) points out thal * Lis

cning comprehension is an aetivs process of constructing meaning and this is done by applying, knowledge to the incoming sound” in which “number of different types of knowledge are involved: both linguistic knowledge and non - linguistic knowledge” ‘lo put it in another way, Gary Buck

(2001:31) concludes “comprehension is affected by a wide range of variables, and thal

In the first place, situation analysis has a look at the background to the study including the description of the current contex! al Duong Tu Minh Tigh School and listening skill in the new textbook “Tieng Anh 10” Secondly, for the theoretical basis, a lot of reférence matezials

on listening teaching methods and problems have been gathered, analyzed and synthesized thoroughly with ths duc consideration for Icucher’s Leaching and sludonls” learning siluations

Eventually, for the practical basis, questionnaires, class observations were carmied out with the teachers and students to gather the most reliable data for analysis to find answers to the research questions mentioned above

1.2 Aims and Objectives of the study

The main purpose of the sudy was lo probe difficullies in leaching and tsarning listening among the teaching staff and the 10% form students at Duong Tu Minh upper secondary school, in Thai Nguyen Province With this purpose the three following central

questions wars invesligaled

1, What are the difficulties experienced by the teachers and the 10 form students when teaching and learning listening skill in the new textbook “ ‘Tieng Anh 10°?

2 Whal are some factors affecting the sui

by DTM HS teachers and students DTM HS?

3 What are some effective ways to improve DIM HS students’ learning and

of the listening process as perceived

teachers’ teaching methods of listening skills?

1.3 Scope of the study

‘This study points out difficulties in listening that teachers and 10 form students at Duong Tu Minh [igh School face, The sludy focuses ơn describing Ihe problems the leachers and students meet, and the factors causing such challenges, for instance, facilities, students’ English listening proficiency, and teachers’ methods, Due to the Limited time, the investigator contd nol imploment the +

arch for a longer time and study on # larger population The sample population is only 6 leachers ont of 15 and 120 fteshmen from three obisses of the

same English proficiency level

1.4, Design of the study

The study is divided into five chapters which arc summarized as follows:

The first chapter is the introduction of the rationale for the study, the aims, and the methods, scope of the study as well as the design of the study The second chapter is the litcrature review discussing the thcorctical background, which is relevant to the purposes of the study ‘Ihe third chapter shows the procedure of carrying out the research such as the participants, data collection instruments and methods of data analysis The fourth chapler roporls and discus

provided to help students overcome thew difficulties in learning listening skill The fifth chapter summaries the whole study, followed by references and appendices

1.5 Methods of the study

the finding oblained from the data Some suggested solutions arc also

‘The research is done by both quantitative and qualitative methods; it is carried out on the basis of situation analysis, material collection, survey questiommaires, class observations

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

English has ben remarked with many changes, notably changes in the movement towards the teaching of English since it has become an international medium of communication in such felds as commerce, industry, seienee, and lechnology Thus teaching and learning Engtish in Vietnam is nol excluded from the international troud duc to the fel that Vietnam has recently adopted an open- door policy, which encourages broadening and improving relationship and cooperation with other countries in many aspects of life such as diplomatic, cconomic, cultural, scicntific and technological arcas, Consequently, English is taught not only as a major at many big universities in Vietnam such as Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh University, Vinh University, but also as a compulsory subject at various schools,

It is widsly assumed thal listening plays a very important role in everyday conversation as well as learning a foreign language First, in real life, people wish to join in communication to exchange their information, experience, feelings and so forth, However,

communication is not considered to be suec what is said or referred to is comprehended by another person And there will be “communication treakdown” if the listener cannot understand the information given by the speaker It means that communication not only requires our abilitics to produce the language but also a thorough understanding of what is directed to us, Second, in learning a foreign language, listening is in close relationship wath other skills Therefore, having a good command of listemmng skill helps to achieve good performance of the others

Al my high school, (caching and learning listening is a really new challenging job In addition to the lack of well- equipped facilities, teaching listening methods are quite new and unfamiliar to teachers Since the new English textbook was in use, they have been incspericnced in teaching listening methods and approaches Another problem is students’ low levels of proficiency in term of vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, skills and so forth It

is the reason why students find it difficult and tough te listen to and they are not confident enough to do listening tasks successtiily

In literature so fir, there have heen nol many stutlies on the difficulties in teaching and leaming a foreign language in general, listening in particular, at a high school in Vietnam, Moreover, not many researchers study listening chificulties experienced by high school teachers

scarch and students in using Ihe new “Tieng Anh 10 "textbook Therefore, the author of this

It is widsly assumed thal listening plays a very important role in everyday conversation as well as learning a foreign language First, in real life, people wish to join in communication to exchange their information, experience, feelings and so forth, However,

communication is not considered to be suec what is said or referred to is comprehended by another person And there will be “communication treakdown” if the listener cannot understand the information given by the speaker It means that communication not only requires our abilitics to produce the language but also a thorough understanding of what is directed to us, Second, in learning a foreign language, listening is in close relationship wath other skills Therefore, having a good command of listemmng skill helps to achieve good performance of the others

Al my high school, (caching and learning listening is a really new challenging job In addition to the lack of well- equipped facilities, teaching listening methods are quite new and unfamiliar to teachers Since the new English textbook was in use, they have been incspericnced in teaching listening methods and approaches Another problem is students’ low levels of proficiency in term of vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, skills and so forth It

is the reason why students find it difficult and tough te listen to and they are not confident enough to do listening tasks successtiily

In literature so fir, there have heen nol many stutlies on the difficulties in teaching and leaming a foreign language in general, listening in particular, at a high school in Vietnam, Moreover, not many researchers study listening chificulties experienced by high school teachers

scarch

and students in using Ihe new “Tieng Anh 10 "textbook Therefore, the author of this

found an urgent need of taking a sorious took al such issue

listening skill and lesson 16

‘Table 3: Students motivation of learning listening lu Table 4: Students’ difficulties in general 18 Table § Factors affecting students’ participation and interests in listening lessons 19

‘Table 6 Classroom conditions - 19 Table 7: The use of teaching aids 20 Table 8: Teacher’s roles 20 Table 9: Listening activities in the classroom 21 Table 10: Studenls? opinion about the Lextbouk 2 Table 11; Expectations of the students towards teachers of listening skilL 33

‘rable 12: I'he mumber of the teachers who participated in the listening course 24 Table 13: Factors have influones in students’ participation and interests in the

listening lesson

"Table 14: ‘Teachers’ employment of teaching aids

Table 15: Activities in listering lessons

Table 16: Activities in Pre-listening stage .cescssasessensesuseiesissietanineeecana T7

‘table 17: Techniques used in While-listening stage 38 Table 18 Activities in Post-listening stage 29 Table 19: Adaptation of the new textboOk cesses ssestestmseiesissieieniaeeencanas BO

‘Table 20: Teachers’ effort to have effective listening lassons các 30 Table 21: Teachers? need in having effective listening lesson 3

In the first place, situation analysis has a look at the background to the study including

thoroughly with ths duc consideration for Icucher’s Leaching and sludonls” learning siluations

Eventually, for the practical basis, questionnaires, class observations were carmied out with the teachers and students to gather the most reliable data for analysis to find answers to the research questions mentioned above

vi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Ts Teachers,

Ss Students,

It is widsly assumed thal listening plays a very important role in everyday conversation as well as learning a foreign language First, in real life, people wish to join in communication to exchange their information, experience, feelings and so forth, However,

communication is not considered to be suec what is said or referred to is comprehended by another person And there will be “communication treakdown” if the listener cannot understand the information given by the speaker It means that communication not only requires our abilitics to produce the language but also a thorough understanding of what is directed to us, Second, in learning a foreign language, listening is in close relationship wath other skills Therefore, having a good command of listemmng skill helps to achieve good performance of the others

Al my high school, (caching and learning listening is a really new challenging job In addition to the lack of well- equipped facilities, teaching listening methods are quite new and unfamiliar to teachers Since the new English textbook was in use, they have been incspericnced in teaching listening methods and approaches Another problem is students’ low levels of proficiency in term of vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, skills and so forth It

is the reason why students find it difficult and tough te listen to and they are not confident enough to do listening tasks successtiily

In literature so fir, there have heen nol many stutlies on the difficulties in teaching and leaming a foreign language in general, listening in particular, at a high school in Vietnam, Moreover, not many researchers study listening chificulties experienced by high school teachers

scarch

and students in using Ihe new “Tieng Anh 10 "textbook Therefore, the author of this

found an urgent need of taking a sorious took al such issue

listening skill and lesson 16

‘Table 3: Students motivation of learning listening lu Table 4: Students’ difficulties in general 18 Table § Factors affecting students’ participation and interests in listening lessons 19

‘Table 6 Classroom conditions - 19 Table 7: The use of teaching aids 20 Table 8: Teacher’s roles 20 Table 9: Listening activities in the classroom 21 Table 10: Studenls? opinion about the Lextbouk 2 Table 11; Expectations of the students towards teachers of listening skilL 33

‘rable 12: I'he mumber of the teachers who participated in the listening course 24 Table 13: Factors have influones in students’ participation and interests in the

listening lesson

"Table 14: ‘Teachers’ employment of teaching aids

Table 15: Activities in listering lessons

Table 16: Activities in Pre-listening stage .cescssasessensesuseiesissietanineeecana T7

‘table 17: Techniques used in While-listening stage 38 Table 18 Activities in Post-listening stage 29 Table 19: Adaptation of the new textboOk cesses ssestestmseiesissieieniaeeencanas BO

‘Table 20: Teachers’ effort to have effective listening lassons các 30 Table 21: Teachers? need in having effective listening lesson 3

1.2 Aims and Objectives of the study

The main purpose of the sudy was lo probe difficullies in leaching and tsarning listening among the teaching staff and the 10% form students at Duong Tu Minh upper secondary school, in Thai Nguyen Province With this purpose the three following central

questions wars invesligaled

1, What are the difficulties experienced by the teachers and the 10 form students when teaching and learning listening skill in the new textbook “ ‘Tieng Anh 10°?

2 Whal are some factors affecting the sui

by DTM HS teachers and students DTM HS?

3 What are some effective ways to improve DIM HS students’ learning and

of the listening process as perceived

teachers’ teaching methods of listening skills?

1.3 Scope of the study

‘This study points out difficulties in listening that teachers and 10 form students at Duong Tu Minh [igh School face, The sludy focuses ơn describing Ihe problems the leachers and students meet, and the factors causing such challenges, for instance, facilities, students’ English listening proficiency, and teachers’ methods, Due to the Limited time, the investigator contd nol imploment the +

arch for a longer time and study on # larger population The sample population is only 6 leachers ont of 15 and 120 fteshmen from three obisses of the

same English proficiency level

1.4, Design of the study

The study is divided into five chapters which arc summarized as follows:

The first chapter is the introduction of the rationale for the study, the aims, and the methods, scope of the study as well as the design of the study The second chapter is the litcrature review discussing the thcorctical background, which is relevant to the purposes of the study ‘Ihe third chapter shows the procedure of carrying out the research such as the participants, data collection instruments and methods of data analysis The fourth chapler roporls and discus

provided to help students overcome thew difficulties in learning listening skill The fifth chapter summaries the whole study, followed by references and appendices

1.5 Methods of the study

the finding oblained from the data Some suggested solutions arc also

‘The research is done by both quantitative and qualitative methods; it is carried out on the basis of situation analysis, material collection, survey questiommaires, class observations

vi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Ts Teachers,

Ss Students,

In the first place, situation analysis has a look at the background to the study including

thoroughly with ths duc consideration for Icucher’s Leaching and sludonls” learning siluations

Eventually, for the practical basis, questionnaires, class observations were carmied out with the teachers and students to gather the most reliable data for analysis to find answers to the research questions mentioned above

listening skill and lesson 16

‘Table 3: Students motivation of learning listening lu Table 4: Students’ difficulties in general 18 Table § Factors affecting students’ participation and interests in listening lessons 19

‘Table 6 Classroom conditions - 19 Table 7: The use of teaching aids 20 Table 8: Teacher’s roles 20 Table 9: Listening activities in the classroom 21 Table 10: Studenls? opinion about the Lextbouk 2 Table 11; Expectations of the students towards teachers of listening skilL 33

‘rable 12: I'he mumber of the teachers who participated in the listening course 24 Table 13: Factors have influones in students’ participation and interests in the

listening lesson

"Table 14: ‘Teachers’ employment of teaching aids

Table 15: Activities in listering lessons

Table 16: Activities in Pre-listening stage .cescssasessensesuseiesissietanineeecana T7

‘table 17: Techniques used in While-listening stage 38 Table 18 Activities in Post-listening stage 29 Table 19: Adaptation of the new textboOk cesses ssestestmseiesissieieniaeeencanas BO

‘Table 20: Teachers’ effort to have effective listening lassons các 30 Table 21: Teachers? need in having effective listening lesson 3

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, the researcher would like to provide a theoretical background to the study to know more and deeply about Listening, Comprehension Teaching It consists of four sections The first scelion examines different views on the definition af Tistering The second section presents the stages of leaching Fistering The third section is about the importance of listening comprehension, ‘I'he finally section is designed to look at the listening difficulties for foreign language learners

Listening, as Underwood (1989:1) defines: “is the activity of paying, attention to and

trying lo gel meaning fram something we haar.” The author also cmphasizes: “To lislen successfully to spoken langnage, we need to be able to work out what speakers mean when they use particular words in particular ways on particular occasions, not simple to understand the words themselves” (Underwood, 1989:1)

‘As Celee-Murcia (1991-88) puts it, “Listening can be defined broadly as everything that impinges on ths human proce:

ing which meditates between sound and the construction

of meaning”

b Definition of listening comprehension

There have been a large number of definitions for listening comprehension made by methodologists

Gary Buck (2001:31) points out thal * Lis

cning comprehension is an aetivs process of constructing meaning and this is done by applying, knowledge to the incoming sound” in which “number of different types of knowledge are involved: both linguistic knowledge and non - linguistic knowledge” ‘lo put it in another way, Gary Buck

(2001:31) concludes “comprehension is affected by a wide range of variables, and thal

listening skill and lesson 16

‘Table 3: Students motivation of learning listening lu Table 4: Students’ difficulties in general 18 Table § Factors affecting students’ participation and interests in listening lessons 19

‘Table 6 Classroom conditions - 19 Table 7: The use of teaching aids 20 Table 8: Teacher’s roles 20 Table 9: Listening activities in the classroom 21 Table 10: Studenls? opinion about the Lextbouk 2 Table 11; Expectations of the students towards teachers of listening skilL 33

‘rable 12: I'he mumber of the teachers who participated in the listening course 24 Table 13: Factors have influones in students’ participation and interests in the

listening lesson

"Table 14: ‘Teachers’ employment of teaching aids

Table 15: Activities in listering lessons

Table 16: Activities in Pre-listening stage .cescssasessensesuseiesissietanineeecana T7

‘table 17: Techniques used in While-listening stage 38 Table 18 Activities in Post-listening stage 29 Table 19: Adaptation of the new textboOk cesses ssestestmseiesissieieniaeeencanas BO

‘Table 20: Teachers’ effort to have effective listening lassons các 30 Table 21: Teachers? need in having effective listening lesson 3