A study on non-majors' motivational factors in learning English listening at Hai Phong Private University= Nghiên cứu về những yếu tố ảnh hưởng đến hứng thú học

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES ---***--- NGUYỄN THỊ THU HƯƠNG A STUDY ON NON-MAJORS’ MOTIVATIONAL FACTORS IN LEARNING ENGLISH LIS

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

-*** -

NGUYỄN THỊ THU HƯƠNG

A STUDY ON NON-MAJORS’ MOTIVATIONAL FACTORS

IN LEARNING ENGLISH LISTENING AT HAI PHONG

PRIVATE UNIVERSITY

(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHỮNG YẾU TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG ĐẾN HỨNG THÚ HỌC NGHE TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC DÂN LẬP HẢI PHÒNG)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Methodology

Hanoi – 2010

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

-*** -

NGUYỄN THỊ THU HƯƠNG

A STUDY ON NON-MAJORS’ MOTIVATIONAL FACTORS

IN LEARNING ENGLISH LISTENING AT HAI PHONG

PRIVATE UNIVERSITY

(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHỮNG YẾU TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG ĐẾN HỨNG THÚ HỌC NGHE TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC DÂN LẬP HẢI PHÒNG)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Methodology

Supervisor: Văn ThÞ Thanh Bình, M.A

Hanoi - 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LISTS OF TABLES AND CHARTS vi

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationales 1

2 Aims of the study 1

3 Research questions 2

4 Method of the study 2

5 Scope of the study 2

6 Significance of the study 2

7 Design of the study 3

PART II: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Theoretical background of motivation 4

1.1.1 Definition of motivation 4

1.1.2 Classification of motivation in second language learning 4

1.1.3 Motivational factors in second language learning 6

1.1.4 Characteristics of motivated learners 9

1.2 Theoretical background of listening 10

1.2.1 Definition of listening 10

1.2.2 The process of listening 10

1.2.3 Common approaches to listening teaching 11

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 13

2.1 Introduction 13

2.2 Situation analysis 13

2.2.1 The setting of the study 13

2.2.2 TOEIC – test – based program and listening materials 14

2.2.3 Subjects 15

2.3 Instrument 15

2.4 Data collection procedures 15

2.5 Conclusion 15

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS 16

3.1 Introduction 16

3.2 Personal information 16

3.3 Learners-related factors that affect student’s motivation in practicing listening 16

3.4 Teachers-related factors that affect student’s motivation in practicing listening ….29 3.5 Conclusion 35

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS, DISCUSSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 36

4.1 Findings and discussions 36

4.1.1 What factors have positive effects on students’ motivation in learning listening What factors have negative effects on students’ motivation in learning listening? 36

4.1.2 Do the factors have the same or different effects on the students from the urban and rural areas? 36

4.2 Recommendations for motivating students in learning listening 37

4.2.1 Improving students’ beliefs in their auditory abilities and interests in learning English 37

4.2.2 Combining a variety of listening materials, visual aids and games in classroom 38

4.2.3 Combining various strategies in teaching listening 38

4.2.4 Being nice and polite, enthusiastic, close, humorous and flexible……… 39

4.2.5 Helping students to improve their cultural knowledge 39

4.2.6 Providing a variety of homework and practice test 39

PART III: CONCLUSION 40

1 An overview of the study 40

2 Limitations and suggestions for further study 40

REFERENCES 41

APPENDICES I APPENDIX 1 I APPENDIX 2 IV APPENDIX 3 VII

LISTS OF TABLES AND CHARTS

1 List of tables

Table 1: Students’ hometown 16

Table 2: Students’ aptitude factor VII Table 3: Students’ personality factor ……….…….……… ………VII Table 4: Students’ motivation and attitude factor VII Table 5: Students’ preference factor VIII Table 6: Students’ belief factor IX Table 7: Teachers’ behavior factor 29

Table 8: Teachers’ competence factor 31

Table 9: Teaching method factor IX Table 10: Grading and assessment factor IX 2 List of charts Chart 1: Students’ auditory ability 16

Chart 2: Students’ grammatical sensitivity 17

Chart 3: Students’ ability in memorizing new words 17

Chart 4: Students’ extroversion 18

Chart 5: Students’ relaxation 19

Chart 6: Students’ self – confidence 19

Chart 7: Students’ perceived the importance of listening 20

Chart 8: Students’ effort in listening 21

Chart 9: Students’ interest in listening 21

Chart 10: Students’ language learning for communicative needs 22

Chart 11: Students’ language learning for joy and pleasure 22

Chart 12: Students’ language learning for short – term practical goals 23

Chart 13: Students’ language learning for long – term practical goals 23

Chart 14: Student’s language learning for cultural enrichment 24

Chart 15: Student’s language learning for integrative reason 25

Chart 16: Students’ perceptual learning styles 25

Chart 17: Students’ field – independence 26

Chart 18: Students’ reflectivity 27

Chart 19: Students’ ambiguity tolerance 27

Chart 20: Students’ beliefs in their new learning styles 28

Chart 21: Students’ beliefs in the ways to learn listening 28

Chart 22: Students’ attitudes towards teachers’ pre – listening stage 32

Chart 23: Students’ attitudes towards teachers’ while – listening stage 32

Chart 24: Students’ attitudes towards teachers’ post – listening stage 33

Chart 25: Students’ attitudes towards teachers’ feedback 33

Chart 26: Students’ attitudes towards test requirements 34

Chart 27: Students’ attitudes towards test content 34

PART I: INTODUCTION

1 Rationales

In the process of global integration, English is widely spoken all over the world and has become an international language used for all aspects of life: business, education, politics, etc Therefore, mastery of English is, nowadays, one of the desires of most generations Having assessed the importance of English in the market economy and responding to learners’ needs,

in 2005, the Ministry of Education and Training signed an agreement with Educational Testing Institute – based in the United States regarding the use of TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) to assess students’ English language proficiency Thus, universities and colleges in Vietnam can apply the TOEIC program to teach and evaluate students’ learning outcomes instead of the old program and tests for A, B, C certificates The TOEIC - test – based program has been used at Hai Phong Private University (HPU)

in Hai Phong, Vietnam since 2008 However, this program itself has raised some controversial issues With two - year experience in teaching English for non - majors and from what the researcher observed in TOEIC classes, it can be found that many lecturers failed in listening periods especially concerning TOEIC materials They complained about students’ indifference

to their lectures despite they had well – prepared lesson plans From that reason, “A study on

non-majors’ motivational factors in learning English listening at Hai Phong Private University” was chosen for the thesis With this study, the researcher hopes to find out

motivational factors affecting students’ learning listening at HPU This will be the basis for the researcher in particular and the HPU teachers of English in general in arousing motivation for students in listening, helping them to get involved in different listening activities, keep their efforts during learning process and then achieve successes

2 Aims of the study

The research aims at investigating motivational factors affecting non – majors in learning English listening at HPU There are two main purposes as follows:

1 To assess motivational factors that affect non – majors at TOEIC level 2 in learning listening

2 To suggest methods for teachers to stimulate students in learning listening and help these learners overcome demotives

3 Research questions

The study focuses on answering these following questions

- What factors have positive effects on students’ motivation in learning listening? What factors have negative effects on students’ motivation in learning listening?

- Do the factors have the same or different effects on the students from the urban or rural areas?

- What methods should be used to improve students’ motivation in listening activities?

4 Method of the study

The strategies for completion of the thesis include:

- Quantitive method (questionnaire) was used with participants of non – English majors

at Hai Phong Private University

- The source of data for the study was student respondents: 186 students at TOEIC level 2

- Close survey questionnaire was used to collect information and evidence for the study

- All recommendations and conclusions included in this study were based on the data analysis

5 Scopes of the study

Firstly, because of the large number of HPU non – English major students at HPU, the researcher cannot do an all – inclusive study so she chose non – majors learning TOEIC level

2 as participants

Secondly, there are some factors including learners - related factors, teachers - related factors, teaching and learning environmental factors affecting students’ motivation In the study, the researcher will only focus on two components:

Learners - related factors consist of aptitudes, personality, motivation and attitudes, preference, and beliefs

Teachers - related factors consist of behaviors, competence, methods, grading and assessment

6 Significance of the study

Motivational factors assessed in this study will help teachers have better techniques and teaching activities Therefore, non-majors can overcome devotives to achieve great successes

in second language acquisition

The study is also used as reference for teachers of English at HPU to compile more suitable

suitable books for the TOEIC – test – based program

7 Design of the study

This study consists of three main parts: the introduction, the development and the conclusion

Part I is the Introduction It lays out the reasons for choosing the topic for this thesis and points out the aims, the scope, the methods, significance and the design of the study

Part II is the Development consisting of three chapters:

Chapter 1 – Literature Review - presents the theoretical background related to

motivation, listening and motivation in learning second language listening

Chapter 2 – Research methodology - gives the situation analysis, subjects, data

collection instruments, data collection procedures

Chapter 3 – Data Analysis – shows the detailed results of the survey and a

comprehensive analysis on the data collected

Chapter 4 - Findings, discussions and recommendations – refers to major findings,

discussions and offers some recommendations for enhancing students’ motivation in listening skills

Part III is the Conclusion presenting the review of the study, suggestions for further research and limitations of the study

PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Theoretical background of motivation

1.1.1 Definition of motivation

For many years, a lot of different proposed definitions of motivation have been provided According to Jeremy Harmer (2003:51), “motivation is some kind of internal drive which pushes someone to do things in order to achieve something” While, Wlodkowski and Jaynes (1990:6) explain that in the broadest sense, motivation is "a value and a desire for learning" Motivation involves a student’s desire to participate in the learning process It is also concerned with the reasons or goals which underlie a student’s participation in learning activities (Lumsden, 1994) From the same point, Sandra Lee McKay and H Hornberger (1996:5) point out that motivation refers to the combination of desire and effort made towards goal; it relates to individual’s rationale for any activity (Gardner, 1985) Motivation is also defined by Marion Williams and Richard Burden as “a state of cognitive arousal” which provokes a decision to act The strength of motivation depends on how much value the individual places on the outcome he or she wishes to achieve

It can be seen that different linguists approach motivation in different ways However,

they share the same point of view that motivation combines four factors including effort,

desire, drive and attitudes which always interrelate in any learning activity Thus, motivation has significant effects on students during the learning process in order to achieve their goals

1.1.2 Classification of motivation in second language learning

1.1.2.1 Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

Motivation can be from inside or outside a person, which forms two kinds of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic Intrinsic motivation, in Harmer’s opinion, “comes from within the individual and a person might be motivated by the enjoyment of learning process itself or by the desire to make them feel better” Besides, Edward Deci (1975:23) defines intrinsic motivation: “intrinsically motivated activities are ones for which there is no apparent reward except the activity itself People seem to engage in the activities for their own sake”

Contrarily, extrinsic motivation is caused by number of outside factors (Harmer, 2003)

It includes circumstances, situations, rewards or punishment “Extrinsic motivation is one in

which the student engages in an activity in order to obtain a reward, or to avoid a punishment This student is not really interested in the activity for its own sake, but rather for what it will gain them” (Woolfolk, 2001) Douglas Brown (2007) explaines “extrinsic motivation is fueled

by the anticipation of a reward from outside and beyond the self”

In comparing two kinds of motivation above, the main difference found is the goals of the students With intrinsic motivation, the student studies subject material for the sake of learning Extrinsically motivated students study for the sake of outside influences

1.1.2.2 Integrative and instrumental motivation

Motivation falls into two other categories: integrative and instrumental Dornyei (2001) and Gardner and Lambert (1972) suggest that “integrative motivation refers to positive attitudes and feelings toward the target language group” While, Lambert (1974:98) define integrative motivation as “a sincere and personal interest in the people and culture represented

by the other language group.” He explains that some learners might choose to learn a particular second language because they were interested in the people and culture

Contrary to integrative motivation is the form of motivation referred to as instrumental motivation Dornyei (2001) and Gardner and Lambert (1972) define it as “the potential utilitarian gains of second language proficiency such as getting a job or higher salary” Gardner (1985:168) state: “an instrumental motivation is a powerful motivator, it will influence achievement” So, it is seen that learners will have instrumental motivation if they make efforts to learn a second language for some functional reasons

In short , there are marked differences between integrative and instrumental motivation Obviously, not a simple type of motivation can fully account for failure or success in language learning Thus, it is often better to improve both types of motivation for higher achievement

1.1.2.3 Positive and negative motivation

There are two kinds of emotional motivation: positive and negative In positive motivation, people are more likely to learn longer, learn under harder conditions just because they feel appreciated and happier Carl A Roper, Joseph J Grau, Lynn F Fischer (2006:79) wrote “a positive motivated person is led to expect a positive consequence for achieving the objective This is often called a reward or an incentive.” Negative motivation is the flip side of that coin, where the person is made to “perceive that failing to achieve the objective will bring a negative consequence – a punishment or disincentive”(A Roper, J Grau, F Fischer, 2006:79)

Apart form six basic kinds of motivation mentioned, there are still other kinds of motivation: resulative motivation (learners have from second language achievement and the result of learning), global motivation (motivation consists of a general orientation to the goal

of learning a second language), situational motivation (motivation varies according to the situation in which learning takes place), and task motivation (motivation for performing particular learning tasks) (Brown, 1981)

1.1.3 Motivational factors in second language learning

Motivational factors in second language learning are classified differently by various people Gardner & Smythe (1975) state that the original model of motivation contains four main components: group - specific attitudes, learners' motives for learning the target language, affective factors, and extrinsic and intrinsic motivation From Richard B Baldauf Jr & Trang,T.T.T (The Journal of Asia TEFL Vol 4, No.1, pp 90-91), motivational factors include internal factors and external factors From the researcher’s point of view, motivational factors consist of learners - related factors, teachers - related factors, teaching and learning environmental factors

1.1.3.1 Learners – related factors

Intelligence

Traditionally, intelligence is measured by an intelligence quotient (IQ) test It usually measures only two types of intelligence: verbal/linguistic and mathematical/logical intelligence Linguistic intelligence is showed by speaking, using words, writing, giving presentations, solving word problems

words in sentences) and memory (the ability to memorize new words)

Personality

Personality of the students constitutes a major factor contributing to success or failure in language learning For example, Ellis (1997) proves that extrovert students are advantaged in

the development of language associated with interpersonal communication From the same point of view, Lightbown and Spada (1999) give a number of personality characteristics: extroversion, inhibition, self – esteem, empathy, dominance, talkativeness, responsiveness

To sum up, personality characteristics are likely to affect second language learning including extroversion, relaxation, self-esteem (self-confidence), anxiety and empathy

Motivation and attitudes

According to Gardner (1985), “the relationship between attitudes, motivation and second language achievement is complex; they always interact and influence each others” In learning listening, they are expressed through the awareness of the importance of listening, learners’ needs (personal growth, cultural enrichment, practical goals, and intergrative reason) and learners’ effort and interest in learning and practicing listening

Learners’ preference

It refers to learning styles involving an individual’s natural habitual, preferred ways of absorbing, processing and retaining new information and skills (Reid, 1995) There are two types of learning styles related to second language learning:

- Perceptual learning styles include learning through the eyes (visual), through the ears (aural) and through touch and body movement (haptic)

- Cognitive learning styles:

Field-independence and field-dependence: field – independent learners tend to perceive elements independently of a context or field and focus on details They are more analytical Contrarily, field – dependent learners tend to perceive the whole field or situation and focus

on general meaning They are more relational

Reflectivity and impulsivity: reflective learners tend to make a slower, more calculated decision while impulsive learners tend to make a quick guess at an answer to a problem Right-brain and left-brain dominance: the right brain perceives and remembers visual, tactile, and auditory images and the left brain is associated with logical, analytical thought, with mathematical and linear processing of information

Ambiguity tolerance: the person who is tolerant of ambiguity is willing to accept innovative and creative possibilities and not be disturbed by ambiguity and uncertainty

Learners’ beliefs

Learners have strong beliefs about how their language instruction should be delivered or

expectations of how classes should be organized and taught “These beliefs are usually based

on previous learning experiences and the assumption (right or wrong) that a particular type of instruction is the best way for them to learn.” (Lightbown, 1999:59 ) Hence; teachers should help learners expand their repertoire of learning strategies and thus develop greater flexibility

in their ways of approaching language learning

Age of acquisition

“Age of acquisition is an important factor in setting limits on the development of native – like mastery of a second language” (Lightbown & Spada, 1999) The relationship between a learner’s age and his/her potential for success in second language learning is obviously seen The relationship needs to take into account: the stage of second development, the goals of learning, and the context in which the learner learns second

1.1.3.2 Teachers - related factors

Teacher’s behavior

It is the teacher’s attitudes to students and to learning and teaching In fact, it is directly related to teacher’s characters including niceness and politeness, enthusiasm, sense of humor, closeness and flexibility

Niceness and politeness: the teacher encourages students to learn and never insults them Enthusiasm: the teacher is willingly to help students whenever they want

Flexibility: the teacher must have quickly response to problems arisen, solve them Closeness: the teacher gets on well with students Therefore, students can sometimes share their difficulties in real life with their teacher

Sense of humor: the teacher involves more than simply telling jokes Rather, it seems to deal more with a teacher's ability to pleasantly communicate with students

Teacher’s competence

It refers to teacher’s proficiency, social and cultural background knowledge The proficiency shows by the level of mastering and using the second language, the ability to perform teachers’ mastery suitably to the content of each lesson Social and cultural background knowledge is known with the understanding of society and culture in both the second language community and the mother tongue community and shown in teaching

Teaching methods

Teaching methods refers to a set of techniques and activities used to get learners involved

in learning to achieve a goal In listening, teaching methods of one lesson can be different, they depend on three stages: pre – listening, while – listening and post – listening However, when deciding what teaching method to use, a teacher needs to consider students' background knowledge, environment, and learning goals The teachers aware that students learn in different ways so they must use techniques which cater to multiple learning styles to help students retain information and strengthen understanding

Grading and assessment

Grading refers to the rating assigned to an individual and it takes time for him or her to get a higher grade Whereas, assessment is something a teacher does every day when gauging where students are in the learning process It is a part of the ongoing educational process and enhances learning Grading and assessment in learning a second language concern to three terms including feedback, test requirement and test content

1.1.3.3 Teaching and learning environmental factors

Physical conditions

Physical conditions that refer to the classroom size, books, chairs, desks, tables, lights, boards, projectors, and camera affect students’ motivation much Harmer (1991) confirms that

“physical conditions had great impact on students’ learning as well as the subject matter”

A pleasant and supportive atmosphere in the classroom

Lightbown and Spada (1999) give that the supportive and non – threatening atmosphere made a contribution to learners’ motivation It encourages students to express their own opinion and thinking Macintyre (1999) and Young (1999) point that students’ anxiety was created by a tense classroom climate - one of the factors that undermine learning effectiveness and second motivation (cited in Dornyei, 2001:121)

1.1.4 Characteristics of motivated learners

According to Naiman et al (1978) (cited in Harmer, 1999:42), there is a list of

characteristics of motivated learners:

Positive task orientation: the learners tend to tackle tasks and challenges willingly and have confidence in their success

Ego – involvement: the learners see the importance in maintaining and promoting their own positive self – images to the others

Need for achievement: The learners want to overcome difficulties and achieve success

High – aspirations: This is the reason for the learners’ great ambition, high demanding for challenges, proficiency

Goal orientation: the learners are very aware of the goals of learning and direct their efforts towards achieving goals

Perseverance: The learners make effort in learning and they are not discouraged by any setbacks or apparent lack of progress

Tolerance of ambiguity: The learners are not disturbed by situation involving a temporary lack of understanding They are still confident for the later understanding

Sharing the same point, Crooks and Schmidt (1989) (cited in Ellis, 1997:42) describe a motivated student as someone who “becomes productively engaged on learning tasks, and sustains that engagement, without the need for continual encouragement or direction”

1.2 Theoretical background of listening

1.2.1 Definition of listening

There are different points of view on the definition of listening According to Field (1998:38), listening is “an invisible mental process, making it difficult to describe Listeners must discriminate between sounds, understand vocabulary and grammatical structures, interpret stress and intention, retain and interpret this within the intermediate as well as the

lager socio-cultural context of the utterance.” Mary Underwood (1989:1) gives that “listening

is the activity of paying attention to and trying to get meaning from something we hear so that the listener must recognize and interpret the other factors which are used to convey the messages” According to Susanne Flohr and Pia Paesler (2010:3- 4), listening composes important many factors and there are three stages of listening: pre – listening, while – listening and post – listening Pre – listening means that the teacher makes the students aware of a situation and activate their prior knowledge While – listening means that the teacher gives the students visual support or guiding questions beforehand Post – listening is the stage where the students become active and work with what they had heard” All in all, is a complex, active process of interpretation in which listeners matches what they hear with what they already know Listening involves a sender, a message, and a receiver (the listener) and also consists of three stages: pre – listening, while – listening and post – listening

1.2.2 The process of listening

Listening process is viewed differently It can be divided into steps or is considered as an

interpretive process Lisa J (2008:1) looks at listening with a five - step process: attending,

understanding, interpreting, responding and remembering While, other linguists give five common steps: hearing, attending, understanding, responding and remembering Hearing is a prerequisite to listening It occurs when sound waves strike the ear Attending is a psychological choice involving filtering out some messages and focusing on others Understanding refers to making sense of a message by assigning meaning to it Responding is providing feedback to the speaker Lastly, remembering is the process of recalling information from memory In five steps above, the responding step seems to be omitted because learners only listen to the listening and do exercises; they have no chance to reply messages The remembering step is very important when helping learners to finish their listening tasks Some linguists like Gary Buck (2001:2) and Brown (1994) divide listening with two

processes: bottom – up processing and top – down processing In the view of Brown,

bottom-up processing means that learners rely on “their linguistic knowledge to recognize linguistic elements – vowels, consonants, words, sentences to do the construction of the meaning” In top-down processing, learners use their prior knowledge to make predictions about the text

“The top-down model of listening involves the listener in actively constructing meaning based

on expectations, inferences, intentions, knowledge of schema and other relevant prior

knowledge and by a selective processing of the input” (Brown,1994)

1.2.3 Common methods of teaching a 2 nd language listening

There are four common methods of teaching English listening: grammar – translation, grammar method, audio – lingual method and task – based method (Le, 2006:4)

Grammar – translation method

This method views language as a descriptive set of finite rule that gives access to the language Students in the method always “listen to a description of the rule of the second language As a result, when the second language is used, the focus of any listening will be on translation of lexical terms and grammar structures”(John Flowerdew & Lindsay Miller, 2005:4) According to Canh, L.V (2003:60), grammar – translation method emphasizes on memorization of verb paradigms, grammar rules, vocabulary, and translation of literary texts”

Grammar method

The main idea of grammar – based listening exercises is to analyze the language by its components and reconstruct an incomplete text Rost (1994:35) (cited in John Flowerdew,

Lindsay Miller, 2005:6) states that “in order to understand, we must know how words and phrases are bound to each other” Thus, teacher requires students to look at the written text while they are listening to the recording This forces them to do several things: identify words

by their position in the sentence, work out the relationship between words and phrases, use forward and backward cues, and make intelligent guesses based on text cues

Audio – lingual method

The method is claimed to be “scientific” and “new” “It was theoretically underpinned

by structural linguistic, which held that learning a language involved mastering the building blocks of the language and learning the rules and the behaviorist theory of learning, which viewed language as a form of behavior like other aspects of human activities” (Canh, L.V, 2003:65) In this method, the linguistic patterns are elicited, repeated and tested until the

responses given by the student in the foreign language are automatic The more students repeat

a correct phrase or sentence, the stronger of their memory of the structure will be

Task - based method

In this method, listening lesson is based around the completion of activities or tasks so that teacher should understand listening materials and process materials into a variety of tasks

in order to develop students’ communicative competence Task means “ a piece of classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while their attention is principally focused on meaning rather than on form” (Canh, L.V,2003:102) The typical listening lesson of this method follows certain stages: pre – task, task, planning, report, analysis and practice

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY2.1 Introduction

This chapter will analyze the situation of the study, the subjects, the instruments for collecting data and data collection procedure

2.2 Situation analysis

2.2.1 The setting of the study

The study was conducted at HPU located in Hai Phong city Like most of the universities

in Vietnam, HPU has both strong and weak points for teaching and learning

The strong points exist in facilities and staffs The first is about modern facilities There are 8 buildings with 60 new projectors equipped in most of the rooms Each classroom has fans, neon lamps, desks and chairs especially one camera at the corner in order to check teaching of lecturers, learning of students and tricking in examinations The library has more than 60,000 books and thousands of digital documents Internet system is equipped with very high speed The second strong point is university staffs In 326 good and enthusiastic university staffs, there are about 200 full – time well – educated lecturers in which the rate of lecturers having MA and higher degrees is up 82,6% In addition, other good lecturers from famous universities both in Hanoi and in Hai Phong are invited to teach

On the other hand, there are a lot of weak points for teaching and learning at HPU Firstly, facilities are extensive but not enough for the need of learning Secondly, library is large but lack textbooks especially TOEIC materials Thirdly, teachers’ experience in teaching TOEIC is not more than two years while teachers have to teach the great number of periods Fourthly, the class size is large - at least 34 students for each class Therefore, teachers will face with problems in monitoring work, giving feedback, setting up communicative tasks as well as paying attention to all students during class time Fifthly, the allocation for periods among subjects is not made suitably especially for parts in the TOEIC – test- based program TOEIC listening level 2 has fifteen periods for the whole semester while fifteen units in Reward book has forty five periods Lastly, students are always gathered for different subject classes so they do not know each other well, which makes difficult for teachers to conduct activities

Although it is unavoidable that there are strong and weak points for learning and teaching

at HPU at the same time, in comparison with other universities all over Vietnam, HPU is still assumed as a university with a good educational environment

2.2.2 The TOEIC – test – based program and listening materials

* The TOEIC – test – based program

The TOEIC – test – based program has been implemented at HPU since 2008 In the

whole program, there are 8 frame marks The class division depends on the marks that

students get in TOEIC tests There are 8 types of classes in the correspondence to 8 levels as follows:

4

* Listening books for the TOEIC tests

The TOEIC books include grammar books, vocabulary books, reading books, listening books, practice listening books and supplementary Reward books used for all levels Most of

Both social and technical fields (college) 455

them are compiled by teachers of English in Foreign Languages Department Listening books are designed depending on the book “Learning to listen 1, 2 and 3” written by Lin Lougheed

in 2003 Listening books of level 2 are lessons complied from unit 9 to unit 16 in the book

“Learning to listen 1” Basic TOEIC is the book assigned as reference book for this level

2.2.3 Subjects

The study was carried out with the participation of 186 students at HPU These students are between 18- 21 , both male and female, have learnt English for at least nearly four years, three years at high school and about one year at university They get used to learning a language by focusing extensive vocabulary and grammatical structures so language function and communicative competence are their weak points

The students were randomly chosen from 1078 learners at TOEIC level 2 during the school year 2010 – 2011 belonging to seven classes Certainly, it was very difficult to select random sample of individuals since the students had already been assigned to different classes

In this case, cluster random sampling was chosen

2.3 Instrument for collecting data

After carefully examining the instruments given by Hoa, H X and Minh, N T T

(2006) and concerning her teaching experience, the investigator designed the close – ended

questionnaire in Likert Scale pattern to get the information on factors affecting English non – majors in learning listening This kind of questionnaire is easy to understand and answer It

also takes less time to complete than the other kinds of questionnaire

2.4 Data collection procedures

First, the questionnaire was delivered to students of seven different classes of the first term in the school year 2010 – 2011 to measure motivational factors Then, the data was collected and prepared for the next step of the analysis

2.5 Conclusion

This chapter has been presented the methodology employed in the research The next chapter will offer a descriptive data analysis of the collected data

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS3.1 Introduction

In this chapter, with data collected from the survey questionnaire, a comprehensive analysis will be presented with two kinds of participants from the countryside and urban areas

3.2 Personal information

The first part was designed for gathering the participants’ information of hometown The data is shown in the following table

Table 1: Students’ hometown

As can be seen from the table that, in 186 students participated in the research, there are

112 suburbanites (60 %) and 74 urbanites (40%) Obviously, the percentage of the first group

is one and a half more than the second one

3.3 Learners - related factors that affect student’s motivation in practicing listening

3.3.1 Aptitude factor (see the table 2 from the appendix 3)

Statement 1: I can identify new sounds and memorize them easily

The chart indicates the information about auditory ability of the students coming from the countryside and urban areas Overall, the rates of all five ideas by comparing two groups are quite similar The highest rates (59%, 57%) fall in “disagree” while the lowest rates (1%,

0%) exist in “strongly agree”

Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

Due to the fact that the students do not believe in their own auditory abilities, they become less confident and may lead failure in learning Therefore, teachers may face with

difficulties in choosing materials that fit the students’ proficiency

Statement 2: I can figure out grammatical rules from language samples

Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

Chart 2: Students’ grammatical sensitivity

The chart shows that a large promotion of the students (73% of the suburbanites, 86% of the urbanites) admits their sensitivities in learning English grammatical rules and only few people (11%, 8%) have difficulties in discovering structures Obviously, this is one of strong points of HPU students, which makes it easy for teachers to design listening activities while they do not need to care much about grammar

Statement 3: I can memorize new words for a long time

Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

disagree 1%

Chart 3: Students’ ability in memorizing new words

The chart indicates that nearly a half of the students participating in the survey (49% from the countryside, 50% from urban areas) can not remember new words for a long time

Meanwhile, nearly one third of respondents (25%, 31%) possess long – term memory So, it may take more time for teachers to teach, expand and revise words before listening

To sum up, although most of the students think that they have poor auditory ability, almost all of them are confident with grammatical sensitivity Concerning the ability of remembering new words, the number of students with short – term memory is much bigger than the number of students having long – term memory As a result, the aptitude mostly has negative effects on students’ motivation in learning listening As aptitude is the factor that

“predicts whether individuals become efficient learners of foreign language in a classroom setting” (Lightbown and Spada, 1999: 53), HPU students may easily fail in learning English if they do not try harder

3.3.2 Personality factor (see the table 3 from the appendix 3)

Statement 4: I like learning English through extracurricular activities

As can be seen from the chart 4, 59% of the suburbanites and 74% of the urbanites prefer learning English through extracurricular activities Only 12% of each group dislikes activities outside classroom Meanwhile, the percentages of “no idea” are up to 29% for the suburban group and 15% for the urban group It means that the majority of learners is energized by being with people and interacting with them, and can often think best if they can talk over their ideas.

Chart 4: Students’ extroversion

The chart 4 also indicates that the learners from urban areas are more extrovert than the learners from suburban areas

Statement 5: I always feel relaxed in listening activities

Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

Chart 5: Students’ relaxation

It can be drawn from the chart that 27% of the suburbanites and 25% of the urbanites are comfortable during listening activities 27% and 32% of the two groups choose neutral idea 38% of the suburbanites and 34% of the urbanites choose the “disagree” The “strongly disagree” idea is shown with the rates of 8% and 9% So, relaxation negatively affects students’ learning because lack of relaxation during listening process makes students uncomfortable and passive This is one of reasons why learners do not concentrate on learning and easily make noise in class As a result, controlling the whole class becomes more difficult for teachers

Statement 6: I never feel embarrassed when speaking in front of the class

Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

Chart 6: Students’ self – confidence

According the chart 6, most of the HPU students find unconfident in listening activities

Regarding the suburban group, 52% do not believe in their own abilities and 14% totally

disagree with this personality Only 11 students (10%) feel unembarrassed and 24% have no

idea Concerning the urban group, the highest rate (36%) also exists in the idea “disagree” The other rates are 14% (strongly disagree), 34% (neutral), 3% (strongly agree) and 7% (agree) Lack of self – confidence found in the chart 6 is unbeneficial to students’ motivation When the students have low self-esteem, they can not dream up goals Without goals, listening becomes meaningless and boring.

In conclusion, personality factor contributes negatively to HPU students’ motivation in learning English Although the students can be advantaged in the development of language relating to interpersonal communication (Ellis, 1997) because of extroversion, inhibition and low – esteem discourages them from risk – taking which is necessary for progress in language learning (Lightbown and Spada, 1999:55)

3.3.3 Motivation and attitude factor (see the table 4 from the appendix 3)

Statement 7: I find listening skill very important

Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

Chart 7: Students’ perceived the importance of listening

As shown in the above chart, nearly all of the students (91% from the countryside and 92% from the urban areas) see necessity of learning listening The students’ appreciation brings about positive effect on students’ learning when it makes them have big efforts for a long time to obtain the goals they set

Statement 8: I practice listening English everyday

As can be seen in the chart, a lot of students (more than 60% for each group of participants) do not try to achieve their goals in learning listening This means that whenever they face with challenges in listening, they seem to give it up easily It is the current situation that makes teachers find difficult to design tasks at levels being appropriate to both the students’

low proficiency levels and the standard levels of the TOEIC final - term tests

Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

disagree 2% 7%

Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

Chart 9: Students’ interest in listening

According to the chart 9, the number of the students experiencing interests is a bit bigger than the number of the students experiencing boredom Moreover, by comparing two groups’ opinions, there is the same trend of answering the statement although the rates in each idea are not totally similar: 45% from suburban areas and 40% from urban areas are fond or very fond

of listening skill, 28% of the suburbanites and 29% of the urbanites find it boring and 27% and 31% express neutral ideas This makes easy for teachers to work with class having both kinds

of students

Statement 10: Listening helps me to talk to various foreigners

According to the chart, the communicative needs of two kinds of the participants is quite similar: 37% and 38% (strongly agree), 43% and 46% (agree), 13% and 11% (neutral), 5%

and 4% (disagree), 2% and 1% (strongly disagree) However, there is great disparity between the conflicting opinions of both two groups when the rates of people having this need are many times more than the rates of the others This result shows that communication is one of main goals of the majority of HPU students That is the advantage for teachers to teach listening skill in the TOEIC - test – based program because the program intends to develop English proficiency and highly focuses on communication Thus, this need is beneficial to students’ motivation

Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

disagree 5%

Chart 11: Students’ language learning for joy and pleasure

It can be seen from the chart 11 that joy and pleasure are not the main reason for most of the students in learning listening because the rates are only 5%, 7% (strongly agree), 25%, 28% (agree) while there are 21%, 19% (disagree) and 5%, 5% (strongly disagree) Noticeably,

nearly a half (44% and 41%) circles neutral ideas Once reasons for learning are not from students themselves, it takes time to create a variety of reasons for learners

Statement 12: I learn English because you it is a compulsory subject at university

Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

Chart 12: Students’ language learning for short – term practical goals

As seen from the above chart, “meeting graduation requirements” goal is seen to be influential to learners’ motivation in learning English when the rate of the students learning English for this reason is much more than the rate of the people with other reasons: more than half people admit that they learn English only because they are forced; 37% from the countryside and 26% from urban areas believe that they learn English for many other purposes; only 30% of the 186 students have no idea This shows a bad phenomenon that the students only pay attention to their marks while the real knowledge and skills are usually neglected

Statement 13: Listening will be useful for me in getting a good job

Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly