A study on the use of listening test-taking strategies and their relationship with students' performance at Que Vo I Upper Secondary School in Bacninh

LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Summary of the Test Procedure Table 2: Statistics for Participants Responding to Listening Test-taking Strategy Questionnaire Table 3: Student Performance for F

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration

Acknowledgements

Abstract

Table of contents

List of charts and tables

Part one: Introduction………

1 Rationale………

2 The aims of the study………

3 Scope of the study………

4 Research questions………

5 Research methodology………

6 The design of the study………

Part two: Development………

Chapter one: Literature review………

1.Introduction………

1.1 Listening strategies………

1.2 Listening test/task………

2 Listening Strategies in Second Language Learning 3 Listening Task in Relation to Task Performance and Strategy Use Chapter two: Methodology………

II.1.The setting of the study………

II.1.1.Overview of the new ―Tiếng Anh 12‖ textbook………

II.1.1.1.General description………

II.1.1.2.Listening skill in the textbook……….…

II.1.1.2.1 Stages of teaching listening ………

II.1.1.2.2 Listening skills, tasks and activities………

II.1.2.The context of teaching and learning listening skill at upper-secondary school II.1.2.1.In Vietnam

II.1.2.2.At Que Vo I upper-secondary school………

II.2 Research methodology

II.2.1 Research questions II.2.2 Subject of the study II.2.3.The data collection Instruments II.2.4.Procedure II.2.5.Data Analysis Chapter three: Results and Discussions………

III.1.Questionnaire Results III.2.The Listening Test Results and researcher‘s observations III.2.1.The Listening Test Results III.2.2.Researcher‘s observation III.3.Students‘ Strategy Use Under Different Test Tasks Part three: Conclusions, Recommendations and implications on listening teaching… I Conclusions………

II Recommendations………

III Limitations and suggestions for further studies………

Reference………

Appendix 1………

Appendix 2………

Appendix 3………

Appendix 4………

LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS

LP: language proficiency

HLP: High language proficiency

MLP: Medium language proficiency

LLP: Low language proficiency

* Strategy likely stimulated by the treatment ◊ Strategies reported by students

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Summary of the Test Procedure

Table 2: Statistics for Participants Responding to Listening Test-taking Strategy Questionnaire

Table 3: Student Performance for Four Forms of Listening Support

Table 4: Students’ Reported Strategy Use with Repeated Input

Table 5: Students’ Reported Strategy Use with Vocabulary Support

Table 6 Students’ Reported Strategy Use with Previewing Test Questions

Table 7 Students’ Reported Strategy Use with Topical Knowledge Stimulus

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Second language listening comprehension is a complex process and crucial in the development

of second language competence; yet, the importance of listening in language learning has only been recognized relatively recently (Nunan,1998;Celce-Murcia, 2001) Since the role of listening comprehension in language learning was either overlooked or undervalued, it merited little research and pedagogical attention in the past But at present, some researchers have devoted some time to listening and believe it to be an important skill in teaching and learning For instance, Nunan (1998) believes that: ―… listening is the basic skill in language learning Without listening skill, learners will never learn to communicate effectively In fact over 50%

of the time that students spend functioning in a foreign language will be devoted to listening….‖ (p 1)

As listening is assuming greater importance in foreign language classrooms and in language acquisition (see, e.g., Nord , 1978; Byrnes, 1984; Long, 1989; Feyten, 1991; Dunkel, 1991),the new textbook which is designed based on communicative approach driving at developing and consolidating communicative skills like speaking ,reading , writing and listening was introduced to schools over our country for several years

For several years of the application of the new textbook at my upper-secondary school, there are many listening problems emerge One of the most serious problem is that students find listening difficult and touch to listen to and they are anxious, not confident enough to do listening tasks or listening tests successfully For more than ten- year- teaching English experience and through the observation and talking with students, I find that what make them anxious and fail in listening tasks or listening tests is the strategies they use Therefore, my minor thesis here studies the use of listening test-taking strategies and their relationship with Students‘ performance

2.The aims of the study

The study aims to reach the following targets:

-Studying the listening strategies used by students when taking a listening test: the frequency and vary in listening proficiency in using strategies at three diffirent phases through survey questionaire and students‘written report

-Investigating their use of test-taking strategies correlate with their listening performance -Suggesting recommendations to improve listening teaching and learning at Que Vo I upper-secondary school

3.Scope of the study

This minor thesis conducted at Que Vo I upper-secondary school used a listening test-taking strategy questionnaire to explore listeners‘ general picture of test-taking strategies at three different stages—before, during, and after a test, then further investigated any correlation with listening test performances, and finally a student report was used to examine how HLP and LLP students adjusted their strategy use under different test task conditions There are a number of reasons for this choice:

- Listening is still a rather new skill to the students and teachers at Que Vo I upper-secondary school

-It is difficult and a nightmare to the students

-Students always get bad marks and they are always lack of confidence

for the listening tests

Besides, at the present pedagogical context ,out of the three grades: grade 10,grade 11, grade

12, grade 12 is the most reliable to classify into different language proficiency and they are experienced and armed with most listening strategies Therefore, students of grade 12 were chosen

Beside that answer the two sub-questions to help the teachers to find out good way to

improve students‘ listening competence and performance

1 What strategies are the most and the least frequently used by the learners when taking a test? How are students of varying listening proficiencies similar or different in their strategy use at the three different phases?

2 Do students of different levels of listening proficiency use different strategies for different test tasks? If so, what are the strategies?

5 Research methodology

The research is done by both qualitative and quantitative methods: It is carried out on the basic of the situation analysis, material collection, survey questionnaires , class observations , and students‘ written reports

In the first place, situation analysis, has a low at the background to the study including the description of the current context at Que Vo I upper-secondary school and listening skill in the new textbook― Tiếng Anh 12‖.Secondly, for the theoretical basis ,a lot of reference materials

on listening methodology and problems have been gathered, analyzed and synthetized thoroughly with the due consideration for teachers‘ teaching and students‘ learning situations Eventually, for the practical basis, questionnaires, class observations, reports were carried out with the students to gather the most reliable data for analysis to find the answers to the research questions as mentioned above

6 Design of the study

The study consists of three parts: Introduction, development and conclusion

The first part is the introduction, which provides information about rationale, purposes, scope and significance of the topic as well as research questions, method and design of the study

The development part consists of four chapters: literature review, research methodology, results and discussion, and recommendations Chapter one, literature review of listening

comprehension problems, listening comprehension strategies and Listening Task in Relation

to Task Performance and Strategy Use Chapter two, methodology, presents in details the setting, and procedures as well Chapter three, results and discussion concerns the findings, discussions and implications of the study Chapter four, recommendations, concerns the

researcher‘s recommendations and suggestions for enhancing the effectiveness of teaching and learning listening skill

The last part, conclusion, summarizes the main issues touched upon so far in the study Apart from that, the research addresses some limitations of the study and gives suggestion for further studies

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW

1 Introduction

Over the last thirty years, one popular topic in second language (L2) research has been the

use and development of language learning strategies Researchers have examined various strategies used by language learners of different levels, skills, cultures, fields of study, and different genders Despite the large body of research that has been produced, Vann and

Abraham (1990) argue that the way strategies are utilized by learners in actual tasks remains neglected As a result, a new direction for task-based strategy assessment was suggested by Cohen (1998), and Hsiao and Oxford (2002) However, in 2004 Oxford et al again made a similar comment, stating that, ―a significant dearth of research exists concerning the

relationship between tasks and strategy use‖ (p 3) Macaro et al (2007) claim that strategic behaviour has not been explored in listening tasks and suggests this as a direction for future research Obviously, the strategies used for specific assessment tasks represent a gap in our understanding that needs to be filled

1.1 Listening strategies

In the realm of L2 learning and instruction, language strategy has been defined in a number of

different ways (see Chamot, 1987; Oxford, 1990, Cohen, 1998; Macaro, 2006), as has

language task (Breen, 1987; Nunan, 1989; Skehan, 1996; Richards & Rodgers, 2001);

therefore, I will not elaborate on these definitions here However, to limit the scope of this

study, listening strategy will refer to ―conscious plans to manage incoming speech,

particularly when the listener knows that he or she must compensate for incomplete input or partial understanding‖ (Rost, 2002, p 236),

1.2 Listening test/task

Task will be defined as ―an activity that requires learners to arrive at an outcome from

given information through some processes of thought, and which allows teachers to control and regulate that process‖ (Prabhu, 1987, p 17) In many cases, including the case here, a task often means a test, and the terms are often used interchangeably Due to there being so many language strategies, for example, strategies for vocabulary learning, the four-skill learning strategies, and many task types as well (see Bygate et al., 2001), the scope of this

study will be limited to listening test-taking strategies under varying task characteristics A brief review of L2 listening strategies will be undertaken before focusing on a more

contextualized situation, specifically testing

2 Listening Strategies in Second Language Learning

Over the past two decades, listening comprehension skills have become an essential

component of learning an additional language, and listening strategy use has been studied extensively (see Berne, 2004, for a comprehensive review).Rubin (1994) classifies research topics on listening strategies in the L2/FL field These topics parallel those of general learning strategies They include the types of the strategies used, contrasting strategy use at several proficiency levels, the use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies, the relation of the

strategy use to text, task, and setting, etc These topics concern the types and applications of listening strategies and the relationship to other learning factors There has been little research

on the barriers that listeners face in acquiring listening strategies Nevertheless, some of the existing studies do offer an understanding to the general application of listening

comprehension strategies (e.g., Bacon, 1992a, b, c; Goh, 2002; Murphy, 1985, 1987;

O'Malley, Chamot, & Kupper, 1989; Rost & Ross, 1991; Teng, 1998; Thompson & Rubin, 1996; Vandergrift, 1992, 1996, 2003; Wu, 2003)

In the 1980s, the research by Murphy (1985, 1987) explored the types of strategies used and the contrast of strategy usage at different proficiency levels Murphy (1985) investigated college students by analyzing their oral and written responses to listening selections

Seventeen specific strategies were identified and categorized The results show that both more and less proficient listeners could be distinguished by the frequency of the strategies they used For instance, more proficient listeners used the strategies of elaborating, inferencing, anticipating, conclusion drawing, self-description, etc., more frequently than less-proficient learners Murphy (1985) also explores the sequential patterns of the strategies that both more proficient listeners and less proficient listeners followed For example, more proficient

listeners tended to apply "wide distribution" strategies (i.e., in relation to an open and flexible use of strategies) while less proficient listeners were found in use of "text heavy" strategies (i.e., in relation to reliance on the text and paraphrasing) [-4-]

In the 1990s, Rost and Ross (1991) examined the use of certain strategies correlated with language proficiency, and, with training, whether the use of listening strategies increased and listening comprehension improved They focused on EFL listeners' feedback on paused texts The use of clarification questions in native speaker vs nonnative speaker discourse was also investigated The results show that more proficient listeners resorted to "hypothesis testing" (asking about specific information in the story), "forward inference" (inquiring by using information already given in the story), and continuation signals or backchannel

communication more frequently than "lexical pushdowns" (asking about word meanings), and

"global reprises" (asking for general repetition, rephrasing, or simplification) After training, listeners at elementary as well as intermediate/advanced levels showed improvement on listening comprehension tasks and were able to ask more hypothesis-testing questions

Bacon (1992a, 1992b, 1992c) conducted a series of experiments in foreign language listening The comprehension processes of learners were examined across different factors The results show that there are significant differences between male and female listeners in strategies, confidence, and affective response (1992a) And, significant differences could also be found between effective and less effective listeners in both their level of comprehension and learning (1992b) Positive views were expressed regarding the use of authentic input for listening (1992c)

Goh (2002) looked into the mental tactics or specific techniques through which a general strategy is operationalized The subjects were Chinese learners of ESL in Singapore

Immediate retrospective verbalizations were conducted to collect data It was found that, for instance, in order to operate the contextualization strategy, learners related new information to

a wider familiar context by using tactics such as placing input in a social or linguistic context, finding related information on hearing a key word, or relating one part of text to another Similarly, to operate monitoring strategy, the learners might use tactics such as identifying words or ideas not understood, checking current interpretation within the context of the

message or prior knowledge, or confirming that comprehension has taken place

These studies have focused on identifying the relationship between strategy use and other variables, such as higher versus lower proficiency learners, quality and quantity, the effect of strategy instruction on listening performance, and most recently, strategy development over time Research in this area has generally shown:

1 More advanced listeners use more and varying strategies than less advanced ones (Murphy, 1987; Chien & Li, 1998; Goh, 2002; Chao & Chien, 2005) [1]

2 The better a listener‘s proficiency, the more metacognitive strategies he/she uses (Vandergrift, 1997a, 1997b)

3 When encountering more difficult texts, listeners tend to use bottom-up strategies (Bacon, 1992; Vogely, 1995)

4 Successful learners are able to use both linguistic and background knowledge at the same time, however, poor learners may over rely on one kind of knowledge (Rost & Ross, 1991; Vandergrift, 1997b)

5 In the area of strategy instruction, no immediate effect on enhancement of listening comprehension was found in most studies (O‘Malley et al., 1985; O‘Malley, 1987; Thompson & Rubin, 1996; McGruddy, 1999; Ozeki, 2000) except for Goh and Taib (2006) where higher listening proficiency was assumed to be needed to make the instruction effective

While these studies show a strong relationship between differences in strategy use and L2 listening proficiency, as Anderson (2005, p 762) states, ―there are no good or bad strategies; there is good or bad application of strategies.‖ This means that the differences in strategy use between a more successful or less successful listener lies in how the strategies are executed not the strategies themselves Therefore, to look into differences in strategy use amongst different levels of learners, it is important to use various methods–interviews, diaries,

checklists, actual tasks, and so forth–to examine how students apply their strategies in specific situations and whether they change them in another context Such an examination is one of the purposes of this study

3 Listening Task in Relation to Task Performance and Strategy Use

Understanding the spoken form of a second language without difficulty is not easy;

consequently, L2 instructors often include support in listening tasks in the hope that students will be able to perform better and not lose confidence in their listening skills Some listening support may be embedded in the task design, such as multiple listening options or question preview, others may occur before a task begins with pre-listening activities Some popular forms of pre-listening activities are pre-teaching vocabulary, providing topical knowledge, and

contextual support Although these types of support come in different forms, they all fall within three interrelated domains—teaching, consciousness-raising, and planning (Skehan, 1998) For example, pre-teaching vocabulary may not only provide learners with linguistic knowledge but also raise their consciousness regarding what they may hear, and thus, learners may plan how to cope with a task based on the vocabulary learned However, the effects of these forms of listening support have not yet been conclusively reported on (see Berne, 1995; Teichert, 1996; Ruhe, 1996; Chung; 1999; Herron et al., 1998; Elkhafaifi, 2005; Chang, 2005; Chang & Read, 2006, 2007) Although its effectiveness varies according to learners‘ listening proficiency, text types, task types, and many other factors, few studies investigate how

students utilize the information provided by their L2 instructors or test developers, through which it is anticipated that their comprehension is enhanced

As mentioned, research into listening task-based strategy use is limited A study by Ikeda and Takeuchi (2000) reports that reading task difficulty had some impact on the types and

frequencies of strategy use Students reported using more strategies when doing a difficult task, and high-proficiency students also reported using a wider range of strategies and more analytic types of strategy for difficult tasks Another study by Oxford et al (2004) using tests

to elicit students‘ reading strategy use, found that reported reading strategies were not

significantly influenced by task difficulty or proficiency alone, but when specific items were examined, it was found that high proficiency learners used top-down and holistic strategies, whereas low proficiency ones used more mechanical and bottom-up strategies

Vogely (1995) studied listening comprehension strategies used and perceived by learners of Spanish on an authentic task Vogely‘s students report using the following strategies (in order

of importance): getting the overall meaning of the text, relating the background knowledge with the information in the text, understanding the meaning of each word, focusing on the details, and mentally sounding out the words and phrases However, it is of interest that

strategies considered effective by listeners were not actually used because they did not know either when or how to use them Another aspect of listening strategy use that has received little attention is the effect of text difficulty (topic familiarity) on strategy use Bacon‘s (1992) research shows that university Spanish learners utilized more bottom-up strategies when encountering difficult input, such as faster speech and unfamiliar topics This finding seems to confirm Vogely‘s results The study also reveals that less successful listeners usually followed

the same plan of attack for each task, and suggests that learners must adjust their strategies according to different tasks

More recently, Chang (2008) investigated the test-taking strategies of Chinese college students with high and low levels of anxiety under four different task conditions—previewing test questions, repeated input, vocabulary instruction, and topical knowledge preparation The data was gathered by immediate post-test interviews with 22 students The results showed that different test tasks influenced test takers‘ listening strategies to varying degrees, with

previewing test questions tending to have a greater impact on strategy use than other types of support Previewing questions made some students more selective and helped learners focus

on information necessary only for the answers Repeated input gave students the chance to revise their comprehension, assisted the learners‘ strategy use, and allowed them time to reduce nervousness With the provision of topical information, students tended to focus on the details because they had been exposed to the global background of the topics Finally, with vocabulary instruction before the test, students tried to predict the topic or content by using the words in the vocabulary lists

The types of listening support used in Chang‘s study apparently show an effect on listeners‘ strategy use However, one limitation of the study was that the global differences in test-taking strategies between different levels of LP (language proficiency) was not examined since students were divided into four groups, each receiving different support This meant that the reported differences could not be detected by the variation of tasks If students experience four different forms of a test task, it may be possible to detect whether they use different strategies

to cope with different task conditions Consequently, this study seeks answers to the following question:

1 How does the use of test-taking strategies correlate with learners‘ listening

2 Do students of different levels of listening proficiency use different strategies for different test tasks? If so, what are the strategies?

CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY

II.1.The setting of the study

II.1.1.Overview of the new “Tiếng Anh 12‖ textbook

II.1.1.1.General description

The new “Tiếng Anh 12‖ textbook is the sixth volume which succeeds a new series of English

textbook for grade 6 to 11.Unlike the old one where language input was presented in terms of linguistic structures which were then mechanically practiced through a series of rule-focus exercises, the new one is underpinned by a theme-based approach to the introduction of language input Lessons are arranged according to topics which are true to life, and familiar with upper-secondary school students This is an important advantage of the textbook as it is relevant to the students‘ needs and thereby arousing their interests The purpose underlying in the textbook is to develop students‘ communicative language skills including listening,

speaking, reading, writing vie different interesting and well-designed units The innovation of the new textbook is supported by what Cunningworth (1995:86) says about a good textbook:

―a study of a language abstract system would not equip learners to use it in the real world Textbook must and do represent language as it is actually used and they contain subject matters and deal with topics of various kinds‖

The new “Tiếng Anh 12‖ textbook consists of sixteen units; each unit present a theme

which is updated and relevant to many aspects of life : home life, future job, life in the future

…These theme are represented via five sections :reading, speaking, writing, listening and language focus respectively Such division aims to improve students‘ communicative skills and systematize important linguistic components

Reading is selected as the first section in every unit on purpose Via the reading text and tasks which focus on developing different reading skills, it is useful to stimulate and help students get familiar with the theme and relevant information and language items Teaching procedure

of reading, speaking, listening and writing sections is divided into three stages to achieve different language skills or knowledge on purpose This refers to the domination of

communicative approach and characterized features of the new textbook

II.1.1.2.Listening skill in the textbook

Listening is the abilities to identify and understand what others are saying This involves understanding a speaker‘s accent or pronunciation, his grammar and his vocabulary and

grasping his meaning (Goh, 2002).An able listener is capable of doing these four things

simultaneously Hence, listening is an important skill and probably the most difficult one Traditionally, listening passages and methodology was not the matter of universal interest

in English curriculum at upper-secondary school Listening did not make up any part of the unit procedure and testing as well The only means of listening was that the teacher or students read the texts, questions and answered Even though this language skill was mentioned and teachers seemed to ignore and made no effort to improve it

In contrast, the new “Tiếng Anh 12‖ fosters to develop language skills, including listening

comprehension Indeed, listening lessons make up 20% of 86 periods of English syllabus Noticeably, each lesson is divided into stages: pre-listening, while-listening and post-listening

in order to obtain certain language comprehension or skills

II.1.1.2.1 Stages of teaching listening

Listening lessons attempt to develop students‘ listening skills such as intensive and

extensive listening Procedure of a listening lesson consists of three stages: pre-listening, while-listening, and post-listening

Pre-listening stage prepares students by getting them to think about the topic or situation

before they listen to the texts In other words, it gives students a purpose to listen It also gets students to relate to what they already know about the topic and not least important arouse their interests in listening There are certain goals that should be achieved before students attempt to listen to any text They are motivation, contextualization, and preparation

.Regarding students‘ motivation, the teachers should select a text or task arousing students‘ interest and curiosity Contextualization, in addition, is concerned with natural environment that gives us a huge amount of information about the linguistic content we are likely to hear Listening to a tape recording in a classroom is very unnatural process Therefore, the teachers need to design tasks that will help students to contextualization the listening and access their existing knowledge and expectations to help them understand the text which has been taken from its original environment Moreover, preparation is one of necessary process in pre-

listening stage It is vital to cover specific vocabulary or expression that student will need

before they start listening as we challenge within the lesson to be act of listening not of

understanding what they have to do

While-listening stage gives students a guide or framework to practice listening In other

words, it helps students to listen better, more accurately, thoroughly through carefully

designed comprehension tasks When we listen to something in our every day lives we do so for a reason Students too need a reason to listen, that will focus their attention Ideally, the listening tasks that are designed should guide them through the text It is a must that teachers provide useful techniques to facilitate students‘ comprehension The following techniques include giving clear instructions, playing tapes on purposes, classifying levels of difficulty of task form easier to more complicated, and so on

For each listening lesson the tape is played twice, each for every task Therefore, students can listen twice and have a chance to understand more and catch the information they miss on the first listening

Post-listening stage is like the follow-up stage After students have practiced the target

skill in the while-listening stage, they do an extension This helps them to take the information

or whatever they have produced in the previous stage, and do other meaningful activities There are two common forms that post-listening tasks can take They are reactions to the content of the text, and analysis of the linguistic features Therefore, the students can use language naturally in target situations Also, they acquire more deeply the language

knowledge (words, forms and structures) and develop an understanding of the text much easier

In short, the new textbook applies the effectiveness of four forms of listening support,

which we label topic preparation (TP), vocabulary instruction (VI), repetition of the input (RI), and preview of questions (PQ) to reduce the negative effects of listening anxiety and provide the basis for a more valid assessment of the students‘ listening comprehension ability This is proved in the ―Reducing Listening Test Anxiety Through Various Forms of Listening

Support‖ by Anna Ching-Shyang Chang Hsing-Wu College,Taipei, Taiwan and John Read

University of Auckland, New Zealand

I.1.1.2.2 Listening skills, tasks and activities

In an analytic approach to teaching, the teacher systematically spends time on the

component skill that makes up overall ability In teaching listening, the teacher will identify component skills of discriminating sounds, recognizing words and so on, and design specific tasks and activities that include the use of such skills

The new “Tiếng Anh 12‖ textbook, different listening skills are utilized depending on

what to listen for Listening for general understanding, listening for specific or detailed information, predicting, guessing, and interpreting are several typical examples Listening tasks are various and flexible based on linguistic difficulty level, topics and students‘ interest Students do not have to concentrate on every word or sound but general information to develop their listening comprehension via true or false sentences, multiple-choice questions, short answers…

II.1.2.The context of teaching and learning listening skill at upper-secondary school II.1.2.1.In Vietnam

It is clear that English has been taught in Vietnam as an important language for a long time However, the teaching and learning of this foreign language have merely centered upon reading and grammar Due to grammar- translation method of teaching, Vietnamese students

of English are relatively good at grammar but not good at communicatively competence According to a large project to investigate the English teaching method reform in northern parts of Vietnam, only 5% of students are able to communicate in English after graduation (Hoang et al, 2005) This fact gives the rises to the need for nationwide innovation in the teaching methodology As a result, The Ministry of Education, in 2006, made a great effort to implement Communicative Language Teaching at all secondary schools A set of the new textbook was compiled and officially used in the light of communicative approach, in which four skills of English are highly prioritized

Concerning the teaching of listening skill, sixteen out of 86 periods in the syllabus are spent on listening, accounting for 20% (Hoang et al, 2005) Moreover, like the other skills, listening is designed as an independent part of the lessons with three different phases: pre- listening, while-listening, post-listening Furthermore, the theme of listening coincide with topic of the less on, and are up-to- date, equip the students with necessary knowledge of

modern world This is the first step to prepare students for integrating themselves into a

dynamic or active cycle of global development

Together with the innovation concerning the textbook, teacher- training program and workshops are held annually by Ministry of Education and Training and British Council as assist teachers with specific guidance in teaching methods

To sum up, the above mentioned features reflect very well the great endeavor of Vietnam educators to blow a new wind into the method of teaching and learning listening skill in particular and teaching and learning foreign language in general, which has been sleeping in backwardness and poor quality for such a long time

II.1.2.2.At Que Vo I upper-secondary school

12th form Students at Que Vo I upper-secondary school are eighteen years old and have experience in English, including listening skill for four years at lower-upper schools and two years at upper-secondary school Nevertheless, they basically are beginners of English

Moreover, they do not have clear determination on English learning goals Thus, they are likely to be motivated or demotivated easily This matter of fact should be taken into account

in using teaching methods and approaches in order to foster and develop their listening skills efficiently

The class is now equipped with many necessary facilities such as tapes, cassette players, televisions, CDs, and overhead projectors and other aids designed by teachers themselves The teachers are all graduated from Vietnam National University, college of foreign language, English department A majority of them are young and novice teachers In general, these teachers are well-qualified in terms of their proficiency in English and knowledge They all attended the teacher- training program and workshops are held annually by Ministry of Education and Training and British Council as assist teachers with specific guidance in

teaching methods They are still in early stage of communicative language teaching

experience

Regarding teaching and learning listening skill to 12th form students, the implementation of the new textbook has created a dynamic change Students from that on had a chance to inquire listening skill formally The teachers made effort to apply communicative approach in order to realize the objectives set out for teaching listening skill It can be figured out that teachers and

students may face some difficulties in the listening lessons because this is still the early stage listening skill is taught at secondary schools

II.2 Research methodology

II.2.1 Research questions

Given the purposes stated in the chapter 1, the thesis is intended to seek out information on the

three research questions as following:

1 What strategies are the most and the least frequently used by the learners when taking a test? How are students of varying listening proficiencies similar or different in their strategy use at the three different phases?

2 How does the use of test-taking strategies correlate with learners‘ listening performance?

3 Do students of different levels of listening proficiency use different strategies for different test tasks? If so, what are the strategies?

II.2.2 Subject of the study

The study was conducted on 180 students aged 18, 19 in classes 12 A1, 12A3, 12A4, 12A8 at Que Vo I upper-secondary school will participate in the study They are all non-English major students These students have studied English formally in school for six years They are taking a required English listening section in the new English textbook by Tư Anh, Mai Phương Vi (for English -major students) and Hoàng Văn Vân (For non-English major students) as mentioned above, and are in the final year of the course of the set of the new English textbook used all over the country when this research was undertaken

Since this study will take listening proficiency into account, the participants will be classified into three different levels of proficiency: low, intermediate, and high, based on scores gained from a listening comprehension tests of their first term and their teachers‘ evaluation Those who obtained scores of 8 or above will be grouped in the high proficiency level, those who scored from 5.0 to 7.9 will be in the intermediate level, and the rest will be in the low level Excluding those who do not complete the questionnaire and one who do not

take the test seriously, there are a total of about 150 students–50 students in each level

II.2.3.The data collection Instruments

Listening Test-Taking Strategy Questionnaire

The listening test-taking strategy questionnaire was delivered to 180 students All the questions were written in Vietnamese to enable the students to fully understand and to allow

their full expression of ideas The questionnaire contained three subcategories (before, during, and after taking a test) with a total of 30 items rated on a five-point scale—always, usually,

often, sometimes, and never

Stimulated Written Report: Immediate Retrospective Account of Strategy Use

To uncover whether students knew how to adjust their listening strategies when test tasks were different, after each subtest every student had to choose the strategies used from a list (items taken from the questionnaire of listening test-taking strategy) Further, they were strongly encouraged to ―write in‖ (Oxford et al., 2004, p 34) any of their own strategies not shown on the list They also explained the reasons why or how they used the listening support

in their test

Class observation

Class observation is specifically constituted to bring about learning , hence , ―it is not unreasonable to collect data about what goes on there‖ (Nunan,1992:91) In addition to survey questionnaires and written reports , class observation was also applied to clarify and test the validity of information about actual teaching and learning listening context ; the challenges in presenting and acquiring English knowledge and skills and communicative activities in listening lessons The observation was carried out in four listening lessons in different classes

at Que Vo I upper-secondary school

Listening Test

A 40-item listening test comprising four subtests was constructed based on four comparable levels of difficulty of different stories (The talks were limited to no more than three minutes each and each subtest had 10 questions spread evenly over the three test formats: 4 multiple-choice questions, 3 short answer questions, and 3 true-or-false questions

Study Materials

A vocabulary list: For the subtest involving vocabulary support, four key words and four key

phrases were chosen to be taught before the test Apart from the equivalent Vietnamese meaning, pronunciation of these words and phrases was also demonstrated by their instructor

Topical material: For the subtest involving topical knowledge support, an approximately

500-word handout in Vietnamese story relating to the topic was prepared for the students To ensure every student obtained the topical knowledge necessary for the subtest, the instructor led the whole class in reading through the material

II.2.4.Procedure

I conducted my study within 6 weeks at the end of the second term at classes 12 A1, 12A3, 12A4, 12A8 at Que Vo I upper-secondary school , Bacninh province where I have been

teaching English for more than nine years Firstly, The listening test-taking strategies

questionnaire was administered to the participants a week before the listening test Before filling in the questionnaire, all students were informed of the purpose of the study If they consented to participate, they signed a consent form and returned the questionnaire to the researcher To elicit students‘ best performance, the test results counted for part of their course grade, as without this, student motivation and effort in the test could have been profoundly

affected (Young, 1990; In‘nama, 2006)

To decide which support type should come first was a difficult decision; however, according to previous research (Chang & Read, 2007, 2008), students showed a higher level of confidence with vocabulary support and repeated input than with background knowledge Accordingly, students took the test with repeated input first, followed by vocabulary instruction, question preview only, and topical knowledge Since repeated input and previewing question subtests involved no pre-listening activities, students first listened to the stories included in their regular listening schedule

Before the test began, students were instructed how to take the tests and how to write down the strategies they used They were also advised that there were no good or bad strategies, as long as they felt comfortable with them When the students finished each subtest, they spent 10 minutes writing down the strategies they used and if possible, the reasons why

they used these strategies Those who wrote down their strategy used in great detail were rewarded by the researcher with a small gift

The total running time for each subtest was around 45 minutes, for a total of 180 minutes The procedure is summarized below

Table 1 Summary of the Test Procedure

Week 1 Session 1 Week 1 Session 2 Week 2 Session 1 Week 2 Session2

Question Preview (Paul McCartney fights for kangaroos)

Topical Inducement (Jogging)

Listening to stories Vocabulary

instruction

Listening to stories Topical knowledge

inducement ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

Preview questions Preview questions Preview questions Preview questions

observations The answers in response to the questionnaire by the students were consolidated and categorized by the researcher The results were subsequently tabulated and converted to percentages for the convenience of analysis The data from students‘ written reports regarding strategies used for four forms of listening support was analyzed manually because students answered specifically about their strategy use Information gained via the class observation also helped to assist interpretation

CHAPTER THREE: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

III.1.Questionnaire Results

RQ1 What strategies are used the most and the least frequently by the learners when taking a test? How are students of varying listening proficiencies similar or different in their strategy use at the three different levels?

Table 2 presents the students‘ responses to each item of the questionnaire The table shows that students applied strategies more frequently while taking a test, and less so after the test

The most popular strategies rated across the three levels were:

Strategy 10: Guessing the meaning of unknown words by using context clues: HLP: 0%, 0% ,8%, 36%, 56% respectively; MLP: 0%, 8%, 24%, 40%, 28% respectively, LLP : 4%, 24%, 20%, 32%,20% respectively

Strategy 7: Trying to hear every word clearly: HLP: 0%,8%, 24%, 24%, 44% respectively; MLP: 0% ,0%, 32%, 32%, 36% respectively and LLP:0%,24%, 36%, 24%,16% respectively

Strategy 9: Filling the gaps by guessing based on words and phrases understood: HLLP: 0%, 4%, 20%, 28%, 48% respectively; MLP:0%, 8%, 24%, 44%,24% respectively and LLP:4%,28%,32%, 28%, 8% respectively

Strategy 4: Preparing oneself in advance to pay full attention to the tasks: HLP:0%,12%,16%,28%,44% ; MLP:0%, 32%, 24%, 24%,20% and LLP: 8%, 28%, 36%,16%,12% respectively

Strategy 14: Giving up on words not understood or missed so as to keep up with the speaker: HLP: 4%, 8%, 36%, 40%,12%; MLP:0%, 16%,32%, 36%,16% and LLP: 0%,28%, 28%, 36%, 8% respectively

Strategy 8:focus on message, not every word was popular with HLLP (05, 4%, 28%,36%,32% respectively ) and MLP (0%, 16%,28%,40%,16%), but was less popular with LLP students (4%,24%,44%,24%,0%) It is apparent that ―guessing‖ based on any information available and

―effort‖—trying to hear every word and prepare oneself well were the two most basic strategies under whatever listening test conditions

There were also some strategies not popular though not necessarily for all levels (e.g., Strategy

5) These were mainly after taking strategies (26, 27, 28, and 30) and some during taking strategies (13, 18, 21, and 24), but only one from before taking a test (5) Strategy 24 (close eyes and listen) was ranked last This has to do with students‘ test-taking experiences

test-because multiple choice and gap filling are the two most popular test methods in these students‘ learning experiences Students have had little experience of such strategies as writing

a summary based on what they heard, otherwise this strategy might be more popular Obviously, the choice of strategy has something to do with task type and previous test experience

With regard to the reason why most after test strategies were least employed, the best

explanation was the nature of listening—fleeting and ephemeral Chang‘s (2008) students reported that they did not remember what was said , particularly unfamiliar words or phrases,

so they rarely took any remedial action to ask their instructor or classmates for answers Another interesting finding from student responses to the questionnaire was that some very high proficiency students never discuss their problems with their classmates after a test , the main reason was that they were the best in class Discussion with someone whose proficiency

is lower than oneself is likely to be useless From these considerations, it is likely that the response to the questionnaire do not reveal much about the hidden reasons why a learner uses

a certain strategy without looking at specific items or understanding respondents‘ backgrounds and experiences

Table 2 Statistics for Participants Responding to Listening Test-taking Strategy Questionnaire

1 Before taking an

English listening test, I

think about the purpose of

the test and then choose

strategies to manage it

2 If I know the content

that will be tested, I try to

think of possible questions

that I will have to answer

3 Even though I don‘t

know what will be tested, I

will do my best to do the

preparation, e.g., doing

more listening practice,

memorize more words

advance to pay full

attention to the tasks

5 I tell myself that I am a

good listener and I can do

well on my listening tasks

6 I tell myself not to be

7 I try to hear every word

8 I focus on the message

(main ideas and key

words), not every word

9 I fill the gaps by

guessing based on words

and phrases I understand

10 I guess the meaning of

unknown words by using

context clues, such as the

grammatical structures, for

example, the verb tenses,

passive voice, etc

don‘t understand or miss

so I can keep up with the

19 I use the title to predict

what the speaker would

say and listen to confirm

20 I try to understand the

topic first, then listen for

23 I try to relax and keep

telling myself it is useless

25 I try to find some clues

from the questions and

After taking a test

26 I like to think about

my problems or

difficulties For example:

Was the task complicated?

Was the accent difficult to

28 I like to ask the

instructor to explain the

listening passages and find

out my problems 8%

29 I like to discuss and

check my answers with

MLP and LLP students, so did MLP to LLP For during a test, there was no significant

difference in the rates between HLP and MLP but significant differences were found between

HLP and LLP, and between MLP and LLP The frequency of strategies used after taking a test

was obviously very comparable across the three levels, and much lower than during a test The

results for during and before strategy use in this study found that higher-ability listeners

demonstrated more effective use of cognitive and metacognitive tactics

In the following, the top five most well-liked strategies by each LP group will be examined according to the ranking of each strategy in the respond to the questionnaire As shown in Table 2, Strategies 10, 9, and 7 were the top 5 most popular strategies, and another four (Strategies 4, 8, 14, and 19) were chosen by different LP levels Strategy 4 was used by HLP students more often (0%, 12%, 16%, 28%, 44% respectively) but less so by MLP (0%, 32%, 24%, 24%, 20%) and LLP (8%, 28%, 36%, 16%, 12%) Strategy 14 was used more frequently by both MLP and LLP students (0%, 16%, 32%, 36%, 16% and 0%, 28%, 28%, 36%, 8% respectively) but not by HLP ones (4%, 8%, 36%, 40%, 12% respectively) Strategy

19 was ranked as the fourth most popular strategy by LLP students (4%, 14%, 8%, 20%, 4%) but by neither MLP (0%, 12%, 18%, 12%, 8%) nor HLP ones (0%, 4%, 14%, 22%, 10%) The overall picture shows that there are some basic strategies that all participants will use under whatever conditions, but the difference lies in their preference rankings and frequency of use For example, trying to hear every word was used by students across all levels, but this is ranked the most frequently used strategy for MLP students and was ranked 2nd by LLP students , the rates even lower than the HLP‘S rates Therefore, looking at the frequency of applying a strategy can be a better means of distinguishing the difference between students of different LPs than counting the quantity of strategies being used To sum up, the findings for this section are:

-Most students employed strategies more often during the test After the test, students used strategies much less when compared with during and before the test

-HLP students used strategies significantly more frequently before taking a test than those in

the MLP and LLP level

-―Guessing‖ based on any sources available is the most popular strategy, followed by trying to hear every word

-Students of varying LPs employ similar strategies, but the differences lie in preferential order and frequency of use

III.2.The Listening Test Results and researcher’s observations

III.2.1.The Listening Test Results

RQ2: How does the use of test-taking strategies correlate with learners’ listening performances?

Students‘ listening test results are presented in Table 3 The average scores on the listening comprehension test for the whole sample, for the HLP and LLP and the result from the questionnaire(table 2) are showed above (Before taking a test, the HLP students used strategies significantly more frequently than the MLP and LLP students , so did MLP to LLP