Developing compensation strategies in listening for 10th form students at Nguyen Van Cu Upper-Secondary School, Gia Lam, Hanoi = Phát triển chiến lược bù trong

LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Classification of language learning strategies Table 2: Classification of compensation strategies Table 3: Descriptive statistics for frequency of compensation st

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FALCUTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

LÊ THỊ HỒNG HẠNH

DEVELOPING COMPENSATION STRATEGIES IN LISTENING

UPPER-SECONDARY SCHOOL, GIALAM, HANOI

(Phát triển chiến lược bù trong kỹ năng nghe cho học sinh lớp 10 trường

THPT Nguyễn Văn Cừ, Gia Lâm, Hà Nội)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Major: English Methodology Code: 60 14 10

HANOI, 2010

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FALCUTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

LÊ THỊ HỒNG HẠNH

DEVELOPING COMPENSATION STRATEGIES IN LISTENING FOR

10TH FORM STUDENTS AT NGUYEN VAN CU

UPPER-SECONDARY SCHOOL, GIALAM, HANOI

(Phát triển chiến lược bù trong kỹ năng nghe cho học sinh lớp 10 trường

THPT Nguyễn Văn Cừ, Gia Lâm, Hà Nội)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Major: English Methodology Code: 60 14 10

Supervisor: VŨ MAI TRANG, M.A

HANOI, 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration ……… i

Acknowledgements……… ii

Abstract……… iii

Table of contents……….iv

List of abbreviations……… vii

List of tables……….viii

List of figures……… ix

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Methods of the study 2

5 Design of the study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Listening comprehension 4

1.1.1 Definitions of listening comprehension 4

1.1.2 Listening comprehension process 5

1.1.3 Possible problems in listening comprehension 6

1.2 Language learning strategies 8

1.2.1 Definitions of language learning strategies 8

1.2.2 Classification of language learning strategies 8

1.2.3 The importance of language learning strategies for students……… 10

1.3 Compensation strategies in listening 11

1.3.1 Definition of compensation strategies 11

1.3.2 The importance of compensation strategies in listening 13

1.3.3 Guidelines on applying compensation strategies in listening 13

CHAPTER 2: DATA COLLECTION, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 15

2.1 Data collection 15

2.1.1 Setting of the study 15

2.1.2 Subjects of the study 15

2.1.3 Methods and instruments 16

2.2 Findings and discussions 18

2.2.1 Teachers’ perception and evaluation of compensation strategies in listening 18

2.2.2 Students’ perception and evaluation of compensation strategies in listening 20

2.2.3 The current situation of applying compensation strategies in listening 21

2.2.4 Students’ difficulties and preferences in applying compensation strategies in listening 25

2.2.4.1 Students’ difficulties in applying compensation strategies in listening 25

2.2.4.2 Students’ preferences in applying compensation strategies in listening 27

CHAPTER 3: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR DEVELOPING COMPENSATION STRATEGIES 30

3.1 Raising awareness of compensation strategy training 30

3.2 Integrating strategy training into the lessons 31

3.3 Teaching basic grammatical rules and phonological rules 32

3.4 Teaching discourse marker clues 33

3.5 Exploiting background knowledge 35

3.6 Recalling key words and structures 36

3.7 Making full use of visual aids 36

3.8 Providing pairwork and groupwork 37

3.9 Giving encouragement 37

3.10 Providing a variety of listening tasks 37

PART C: CONCLUSION 39

1 Conclusion 39

2 Limitations and suggestions for further research 40

References……… …… 41

Appendixes……… ……… I

Appendix 1: Interviews for teachers……… ………… I Appendix 2: Survey questionnaires for students III Appendix 3: A sample of an interview transcript XI Appendix 4: A sample of a class observation XIII Appendix 5: A suggested lesson plan of integrating strategy instruction XVI

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

LLS: Language Learning Strategies

NVC School: Nguyen Van Cu Upper-secondary School

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Classification of language learning strategies

Table 2: Classification of compensation strategies

Table 3: Descriptive statistics for frequency of compensation strategy use Table 4: Students’ difficulties in applying compensation strategies in listening Table 5: Students’ preferences in applying compensation strategies in listening

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Frequency of use for strategy “using titles and visual clues”

Figure 2: Frequency of use for strategy “using background knowledge clues” Figure 3: Frequency of use for strategy “using contextual clues”

Figure 4: Frequency of use for strategy “writing sound transcript”

Figure 5: Frequency of use for strategy “using background noise clues” Figure 6: Frequency of use for strategy “using grammatical clues”

Figure 7: Frequency of use for strategy “using discourse marker clues” Figure 8: Frequency of use for strategy “using phonological clues”

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

English language teaching in the recent years has moved from traditional approaches, involving the explicit teaching of grammar and translation, to various versions of communicative methodology Consequently, a greater emphasis has been placed on learners and what strategies they adopt to be successful Well-known researchers such as Cohen (1988), O‟Malley and Chamot (1990), and Oxford (1990) have pointed out that learning strategies are among the main factors that help determine how well students learn a second or foreign language Therefore, it is the role of the teacher to help students discover and apply appropriate learning strategies in their learning

The necessary to equip students with listening strategies to help them develop their listening skill at upper-secondary schools in Vietnam can be seen clearly The new series of English textbooks for students have been used in schools in Viet Nam for some years and it seems that listening skill is the most difficult one for our students to master Listening is also the skill that causes a lot of difficulties for teachers to prepare and carry out the lesson because the old textbooks do not have a separate part for teaching and learning listening skill The students who are using the new kind of textbooks often find it hard to catch up with the listening text and as a result they fail to comprehend what is spoken Besides, they come to listening activities with little knowledge of how to listen effectively and successfully The situation at Nguyen Van Cu Upper-secondary School is the same, if not to say it is more serious We have many weak students who lack vocabulary, grammatical knowledge and have poor pronunciation Listening lessons are really hard for them

There is a variety of strategies that can be employed in listening skill such as memory strategies; cognitive strategies; compensation strategies; metacognitive strategies; affective strategies; and social strategies (Oxford, 1990) However, compensation strategies which involve in the ability of guessing intelligently from linguistic clues and other clues are of great help to weak students These strategies help students to overcome their limitations to guess what is heard

The facts above explain the reasons why the researcher conducts the study

“Developing compensation strategies in listening for 10th form students at Nguyen Van Cu

upper-secondary school, Gialam, Hanoi” It is hoped that this study can be of some help to

teachers and students in listening lessons

2 Aims of the study

First of all, the study aims at investigating the perception of compensation strategies in listening by teachers and 10th form students at Nguyen Van Cu Upper-secondary School; the target students‟ frequency of use of these strategies; and their difficulties and preferences in applying these strategies Secondly, the author intends to propose pedagogical implications and suggestions for developing the target students‟ compensations strategies in listening

To achieve these aims, four research questions have been presented as follows:

1 How do teachers and 10th form students at NVC School perceive compensation strategies in listening and their importance?

2 How often do 10th form students at NVC School apply compensation strategies in listening? Which specific strategies do they use?

3 What are the difficulties and preferences of 10th form students at NVC School in applying compensation strategies in listening?

4 What recommendations should be made for teachers to help 10th form students at NVC School develop compensation strategies in listening?

3 Scope of the study

Firstly, this study only focuses on compensation strategies used in listening (guessing intelligently) although the new kind of textbook covers all of four skills, namely reading, speaking, listening and writing as well as there are a lot of English language learning strategies that can be employed

Secondly, due to the small scale of the study the subjects are restricted only to 10thform teachers and students at Nguyen Van Cu upper-secondary school, who are using the new kind of textbook

4 Methods of the study

The author has applied the following methods in this study:

Data collection results from interviews (for teachers), survey questionnaires (for students) and class observations

Data analysis is done through coding, classifying, and reporting the information

5 Design of the study

The study is divided into three parts

Part A Introduction shows the research problem and the rationale for the research

Subsequently, it presents the aims, the scope, the methods and the design of the study

Part B Development consists of three chapters

Chapter 1 provides a summary of theoretical background which covers a review in key

concepts relating to the research topic as well as the literature in the field

Chapter 2 deals with the setting of the study and the data collection process The results

obtained are also analysed and interpreted in this part, so that major findings are revealed and discussed

Chapter 3 is concerned with recommendations for developing 10th form students‟ compensation strategies in listening at the target school These recommendations are drawn from the literature review and from the findings in Chapter 2

Part C Conclusion reviews the main findings of the study and provides suggestions

for further studies

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Listening comprehension

1.1.1 Definitions of listening comprehension

Language is the tool of communication, while listening is the most important part of language communication and it is the basic path to understand others Listening is more than merely hearing words and comprehension is often considered to be the first-order goal of listening, and the highest priority of the listener During the last few decades, scholars have been trying to find out the nature of listening comprehension and as a result different definitions of listening comprehension have been proposed

Underwood (1989: 1) puts a simple and easy-to-understand definition According to

her, listening “is the activity of paying attention to and trying to get meaning from something

we hear.” Underwoord emphasizes the consciousness of listeners by using the phrase “paying attention” Besides, listening here is not stressed the word level but the meaning of the whole

utterance She clarifies that “ to listen successfully to spoken language, we need to be able to

work out what speakers mean when they use particular words in particular ways on particular occasions, and not simply understand the words themselves ”

In Rubin‟s point of view, “listening is conceived of as an active process in which

listeners select and interpret information which comes from auditory and visual clues in order

to define what is going on and what the speakers are trying to express.” (Rubin, 1995: 7 as

cited in Helgesen & Brown, 2007: 3) The author emphasizes the activeness of listeners in the

listening process and also identifies two distinctive features of listening comprehension which are selecting and interpreting Selecting means listeners use only part of the incoming information whereas interpreting means listeners make sense of the input from their background knowledge as well as the new information

More specifically, Richards and Schmidth (2002: 313) as cited in Helgesen & Brown

(2007: 3) views listening comprehension as “the process of understanding speech in a first or

second language The study of listening comprehension in second language focuses on the role

of individual linguistic units (e.g., phonemes, words, grammatical structures) as well as the role of the listeners’ expectations, the situation and context, background knowledge and topic.” In this definition, the writers mention the role of non-linguistic units such as the

context, the background knowledge These things are often neglected in traditional points of

views which regard the listeners as tape recorders I agree most with this definition because it covers all of the necessary factors relating to listening comprehension

Besides the controversies over the definition of listening comprehension, there also exist the concerns about the process of listening comprehension

1.1.2 Listening comprehension process

Listening is different from hearing in the aspect of listeners‟ paying attention Paying attention results in the fact that listeners actively process what they hear

According to Underwood (1989: 4) the aural process has three stages Firstly, the

„echoic memory’ takes the sounds for a very short time and classifies them into „meaningful

units’ according to the background knowledge of the listener Secondly, the information is

processed by the short term memory In a matter of seconds, the meaning is taken out through word-checking and word-comparing (with long term memory information) Finally, the meaning extracted is stored in the long-term memory for the use in the future It can be seen that here Underwood relates the aural process in terms of time and memory The background knowledge of listeners is also mentioned in the listening process

The two fundamental modes of information processing that are widely accepted by researchers such as Rumelhart (1977), Nunan (2001), Flowerder and Miller (2005) are the bottom-up and top-down processing In bottom-up processing, listeners use their linguistic knowledge to form final message Linguistic knowledge includes sounds, words, grammatical

relationships, lexical meanings In other words, “bottom-up processing is trying to make sense

of what we hear by focusing on the different parts: the vocabulary, the grammar or functional phrases, sounds, etc.” (Helgesen & Brown, 2007: 6) On the contrary, Nauman (2002: 25)

illustrates that top-down processes “focus on the overall meaning of a passage and the

application of schemata Schemata are mental frameworks based on past experiences which can be applied to and help us interpret the current situation.” In top-down processing,

listeners use their prior knowledge to generate hypothesis Prior-knowledge includes topic of the listening material, context of the listening material, culture of the listening material, text type of the listening material It is important for both teachers and students to recognize the existence of these two types of processing listening input as they both contribute to the development of listening skill

However, bottom-up processing and top-down processing as well has its weak points Bottom-up processing fails to see that understanding a text does not only depend on one‟s linguistic knowledge It is also an interactive process between the listener‟s previous

knowledge and the text Top-down processing cannot evoke listeners‟ schemata if the incoming information they hear is unfamiliar to them Besides, although listeners can trigger a schema, they might not have the suitable schema expected by the speaker Therefore, one of listening teacher‟s jobs is to help students learn to balance the two kinds of processing

Because neither bottom-up process nor top-down process alone is sufficient for

comprehension, “these two processing intersect to develop an interactive processing.” (Wu,

2008: 23) In the interactive process listeners use both prior knowledge and linguistic knowledge in understanding messages The degree to which listeners use the one process or the other will depend on their knowledge of the language, familiarity with the topic or the purpose for listening

Understanding how listeners process listening comprehension will provide students and teachers with a lot of ideas to listen more effectively It is also necessary to consider the possible problems students often encounter in learning to listen to English

1.1.3 Possible problems in listening comprehension

Listening is usually a hard skill to master in one‟s own language as well as in second language acquisition There exist some problems from the point of views of the listeners when learning to listen

Ur (1996: 111) refers to six major problems in listening comprehension which are difficulties in perceiving sounds, following natural speed and native accent, catching up with the load of information as well as the needs to understand everything, to get things repeated, and to have a rest Trouble with sounds seems to be the biggest problem as most students have difficulty catching the actual sounds of the foreign language The misconception that listening means having to understand every word is a very common problem and is often unconsciously fostered by teachers and/ or listening materials The effort to understand everything results in ineffective comprehension as well as feelings of fatigue and failure The speed of the speakers also causes many difficulties to students because they cannot hear the sounds clearly when dealing with fast and natural native-sounding speech

Underwood (1989: 16) shares some of the main points with Ur about problems in

listening comprehension She states seven problems which include “lack of control over the

speed at which speakers speak”, “not being able to get things repeated”, “the listener’s limited vocabulary”, “failure to recognise signals”, “problems of interpretation”, “inability to concentrate”, and “established learning habits ” Lack of vocabulary is really an obstacle for

people listening to a foreign language since they can sometimes hear the words clearly, but the

problem may occur in understanding the meanings of the words they do not know An unknown word can be like a suddenly dropped barrier causing them to stop and think about the meaning of the word and thus making them miss the next part of the speech Besides,

“established learning habits” mean students are traditionally taught to understand everything

in the English lessons by listening carefully to teachers who probably speak slowly and clearly As a result, students become worried and discouraged if they fail to understand every word while listening

Yagang (1993: 1) provides a little bit different point of view when saying that “The

evidence that shows why listening is difficult comes mainly from four sources: the message to

be listened to, the speaker, the listener, and the physical setting.” The message is considered

in terms of the content (topic, organization …) and linguistic features (liaisons, elision …) The speaker factor includes redundancy, speaker‟s voice, accent and speech style The listener factor involves in linguistic knowledge, background knowledge, exposure to different kinds of listening materials, psychological and physical factors The physical setting consists of background noises, visual and aural environmental clues, etc

The problems students may encounter in listening comprehension are many and various As a result, they need to have some solutions to overcome these difficulties and develop their listening competence Language learning strategies (LLS) can be applied as effective tools here

1.2 Language learning strategies

1.2.1 Definitions of language learning strategies

Research on LLS has been a growth area since 1970s, when the emphasis on teachers and teaching shifted to the learners and learning Different researchers have presented their definitions of this term differently

Learning strategies in the view of O‟Malley and Chamot are “the special thoughts or

behaviors that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn or retain new information.”

(O‟Malley and Chamot, 1990: 1) LLS in this definition are emphasised as cognitive skills, which relate to being in a state of conscious intellectual activity

Cohen defines LLS as the “processes which are consciously selected by learners and

which may result in action taken to enhance the learning or use of a second or foreign language, through the storage, retention, recall, and application of information about that language” (Cohen, 1998: 4) Cohen emphasises that students consciously select these

processes but in fact there may be strategies students take unconsciously

According to Oxford, LLS are “specific actions, behaviours, steps, or techniques that

students (often intentionally) use to improve their progress in developing L2 skills These strategies can facilitate the internalization, storage, retrieval, or use of the new language Strategies are tools for the self-directed involvement necessary for developing communicative ability” (Oxford, 1992/1993:18 as cited in Nguyen (2007: 6)) This definition is clear,

moderate and reflects the nature of LLS LLS here are learner generated (taken by students); they enhance language learning and help develop language competence, they may be visible (behaviours, steps, techniques, etc.) or unseen (thoughts, mental processes) The definition of Oxford, an expert in LLS research, will be applied in this study due to its comprehensiveness This definition also serves as guideline for the classification of LLS in the following part

1.2.2 Classification of language learning strategies

Oxford (1990: 16 - 22) classifies second LLS into two major classes: Direct Strategies (strategies which directly involve the subject matter) and Indirect Strategies (strategies which

do not directly involve the subject matter itself, but are essential to language learning) Direct Strategies are classified into memory strategies; cognitive strategies; and compensation strategies Indirect strategies include metacognitive strategies; affective strategies; and social strategies

1 Creating mental linkages

2 Applying images and sounds

3 Analyzing and reasoning

4 Creating structures for input and

2 Cooperating with others

3 Empathizing with others

Table 1: Classification of language learning strategies (adapted from Oxford, 1990)

Memory strategies help learners link one second language item or concept with another but do not necessarily involve deep understanding Various memory strategies enable learners

to learn and retrieve information in an orderly string (e.g., acronyms), while other techniques create learning and retrieval via sounds (e.g., rhyming), images (e.g., a mental picture of the word itself or the meaning of the word), a combination of sounds and images (e.g., the keyword method), body movement (e.g., total physical response), mechanical means (e.g., flashcards), or location (e.g., on a page or blackboard)

Cognitive strategies enable the learner to manipulate the language material in direct ways, e.g., through reasoning, analysis, note-taking, summarizing, synthesizing, outlining, reorganizing information to develop stronger schemas (knowledge structures), practicing in naturalistic settings, and practicing structures and sounds formally

Compensation strategies (e.g., guessing from the context in listening and reading; using synonyms and “talking around” the missing word to aid speaking and writing; and strictly for speaking, using gestures or pause words) help the learner make up for missing knowledge

Metacognitive strategies (e.g., identifying one‟s own learning style preferences andneeds, planning for a second language task, gathering and organizing materials, arranging

a study space and a schedule, monitoring mistakes, and evaluating task success, and evaluating the success of any type of learning strategy) are employed for managing the learning process

Affective strategies, such as identifying one‟s mood and anxiety level, talking about feelings, rewarding oneself for good performance, and using deep breathing, have been shown

to be significantly related to second language proficiency

Social strategies (e.g., asking questions to get verification, asking for clarification of a confusing point, asking for help in doing a language task, talking with a native-speaking conversation partner, and exploring cultural and social norms) help the learner work with others and understand the target culture as well as the language

Oxford‟s classification is appropriate since it covers fully LLS, from direct strategies

to indirect ones It is a combination of the strategy classification systems by different experts such as Rubin (1987), Chamot and O‟Malley (1990) It is more comprehensive and detailed, and more accessible for readers because the strategies are organized hierarchically However, there is some overlap among sub-strategies in Oxford‟s classification

1.2.3 The importance of language learning strategies for students

LLS can enable students to become more independent, autonomous, lifelong learners (Allwright, 1990; Little, 1991 as cited in Oxford (2003: 9)) Students are freer to act, and to make their own decision and able to learn continuously and permanently thanks to appropriate LLS Besides, a study by O'Malley and Chamot (1990) also suggests that effective second language/ foreign language learners are aware of the LLS they use and why they use them

LLS “make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective,

and more transferable to new situations” (Oxford, 1990: 8) Oxford (1990: 1) argues that

strategies are important for two reasons In the first place, strategies “are tools for active, self

– directed involvement, which is essential for developing communicative competence”

Secondly, learners who have developed appropriate learning strategies have greater self – confidence and learn more effectively According to Oxford (1990: 9), LLS:

- contribute to the main goal, communicative competence

- allow learners to become more self – directed

- expand the role of teachers

- support learning both directly and indirectly

However, the effectiveness of LLS “may depend largely on the characteristics of the

given learner, the given language structure(s), the given context, or the interaction of these”

(Cohen, 1998:12) For beginning and intermediate language learners, compensation strategies may be among the most important ones (Oxford, 1990: 90)

1.3 Compensation strategies in listening

1.3.1 Definition of compensation strategies

For purposes of this study and for ease of discussion, the term “compensation strategies”, one type of LLS, as Oxford (1990) proposes, will be used in this paper

Compensation strategies are classified as one of the direct strategies in Oxford‟s classification Learners use compensation strategies for comprehension of the target language when they have insufficient knowledge of the target language In other words, compensation strategies are needed to fill any gaps in the knowledge of the language When learners do not

know new words and expressions, they guess the meaning Learners bring their own life experience to interpret data by guessing

Compensation strategies are also divided into two strategy sub-groups: Guessing intelligently and Overcoming limitations Oxford proposes to use the acronym GO to

remember these two strategy sub-groups when stating that “language learners can GO far

with compensation strategies” (Oxford, 1990: 90) Each of these strategy sub-groups consists

of some specific strategies as shown in the following table:

Strategy

Group

Strategy Sub-groups

Specific Strategies Applied to

a Using linguistic clues Listening, Reading

b Using other clues Listening, Reading

e Using mime or gestures Speaking

f Avoiding communication Speaking, Writing

g Selecting the topic Speaking, Writing

h Adjusting/ Approximating the message

Speaking, Writing

j Using a circumlocution or synonym Speaking, Writing

Table 2: Classification of compensation strategies (adapted from Oxford, 1990)

As can be seen from Table 2, compensation strategies in listening are accompanied with guessing intelligently:

- Using linguistic clues: Listeners can use such clues as prefixes, suffixes, word order, stress, intonation, etc to guess the meaning of unfamiliar language items they hear In order to do so, they need to have sufficient knowledge of the target language

- Using other clues: Listeners can rely on clues from other sources such as visual clues, situational context, background knowledge, text structure, etc to make guesses about what is

heard

Compensation strategies in listening is the combination of both bottom-up and down processing as listeners have to employ all available information from linguistic knowledge to background knowledge to understand the message

top-1.3.2 The importance of compensation strategies in listening

Willing (1989: 130) confirms that “the importance of willing and accurate guessing

has long been recognized by language teachers everywhere” Compensation strategies in

listening (guessing intelligently) can be of great help to students in general and beginning and intermediate students in particular because they allow students to comprehend the new language despite their gaps in knowledge All effective listening involves guesswork because listeners (even native speakers) often miss some words when listening and speakers can never

be completely explicit or clear about their meaning It is always better to find ways to construct meaning rather than give up; to try to build meaning based on what you understand than to worry about what you do not understand Compensation strategies in listening provide ways for listeners not to guess blindly but to make intelligent guesses basing on clues „inside‟ and „outside‟ language If used successfully, compensation strategies can help students overcome knowledge limitations when they do not hear something clearly or they cannot catch all the words

Compensation strategies have been among the listening strategies with highest frequent use A study on listening comprehension strategies of Taiwan students by Teng (1998) indicated that among the six strategy categories, compensation strategies were most often employed by subjects Vu (2004) studied listening strategies of the students at an university in Vietnam and concluded that compensation strategies were most highly employed Monolingual Korean students are reported to use compensation strategies most in a study by Leavell & Hong-nam (2007)

Compensation strategies, along with other listening strategies, serve as effective tools

for listeners in the listening comprehension process “Learners who are aware of a range of

strategies, and who are able to match their strategies to their listening purposes, will be better listeners and better learners” (Nunan as cited in Helgesen & Brown, 2007: 147) It is of vital

importance that our students be taught to listen effectively and critically

1.3.3 Guidelines on applying compensation strategies in listening

These guidelines are constructed according to a lot of ideas from Oxford‟s Strategy Inventory of Language Learning (Oxford, 1990), other researchers, language teachers and my own experience They are also applied in my survey to investigate students‟ current application of compensation strategies in listening

- Using grammatical clues (part of speech, prefixes, suffixes …) to guess the unfamiliar language items in the listening passage

- Using background knowledge to guess the meaning of the listening

- Using the words and phrases surrounding the unknown word to make quick guesses about its general meaning

- Using the titles, subtitles, pictures, diagrams accompanying the listening task to understand the topic/ content of the listening

- Using phonological clues (intonation, stress …) to guess the meaning of the listening

- Using clues from discourse markers (markers of addition/ cause and effect/ sequences/

…) to guess the meaning of the listening

- Using clues from body language of speakers to guess the meaning of the listening

- Using clues from background noises to guess the meaning of the listening

- Writing down the transcript for the word that listeners do not remember the spelling in doing gap-filling exercises

Conclusion

This chapter has provided an overview of definitions of key terms such as listening comprehension, LLS, and compensation strategies It also deals with the listening comprehension process, classification of LLS, the importance of LLS in general and compensation strategies in listening in particular Finally, guidelines on applying compensation strategies in listening have been proposed

It can be seen that there have been quite a lot of studies related to compensation strategies in listening However, these studies spend only a small part on compensation strategies because they focus on a variety of listening strategies Besides, there is little information about ways to help students develop compensation strategies This is the gap that the current thesis study tries to bridge By using Oxford‟s and some other researchers‟ ideas about compensation strategies in listening, this study hopes to add further evidence to the small but growing body of research on this topic

CHAPTER 2: DATA COLLECTION, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

2.1 Data collection

2.1.1 Setting of the study

Nguyen Van Cu Upper-Secondary School (NVC School) is located in Gia Lam district, the suburb of Hanoi It has had a history of 33-year development since its foundation in 1977

In the school year 2009 - 2010, our school has 32 classes with more than 1,500 students, so there are about 47 students in a class One thing worth to note here is that the entry level of students entering NVC School is not very high They mostly come from rural areas where English teaching and learning has not been paid much attention Besides, NVC School shares common features with classrooms elsewhere in Vietnam: large size, students sitting in rows of four each and irremovable furniture

English is taught here as a compulsory curriculum subject like other upper-secondary schools Students have three periods of English a week and each period lasts 45 minutes The new textbook of English 10, English 11, and English 12 aims at enabling the students to communicate in the target language with four language skills There are 16 units in a textbook, and each unit is divided into 5 parts: Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing, and Language Focus

2.1.2 Subjects of the study

There are two reasons why this study aims at 10th form teachers and students at NVC School Firstly, the 10th form students are the newcomers to the new kind of textbooks for upper-secondary schools in which listening is stressed equally to other three skills Secondly, the students are at pre-intermediate level for which compensation strategies are of great help

as these strategies help them overcome knowledge limitations

There are five out of eight teachers of English at NVC School participating in this study These five teachers include one male and four females Their ages range from 26 to 33 with at least four years of teaching English One of them has finished an M.A course at Vietnam National University, Hanoi The reason for this choice of participants is that they are all in charge of 10th form classes at NVC School

The samples of students here are restricted to four 10th form classes (among eleven 10thform classes at NVC School) These four classes, which were chosen randomly, account for

180 students They are aged from 15 to 16 and all of them have had at least four years of learning English at lower-secondary schools They are not the same at English speaking

competence Some of them are really good and active while a lot of them are quite passive and unmotivated in learning English

2.1.3 Methods and instruments

The process of collecting data was carried out in the following steps:

Firstly, semi-structured interviews were conducted with five teachers to obtain their attitudes towards compensation strategies in listening

Secondly, the author observed two classes of listening to get some more detailed information

Thirdly, the questionnaires were distributed to 180 students to investigate their attitudes towards compensation strategies in listening, the frequency of use of these strategies and their difficulties and preferences

Interviews

The interviews in this study serve as a useful tool to invest the teachers‟ perception and evaluation of compensation strategies in listening They also aim at seeking information about some points related to developing students‟ compensation strategies in listening

Each interview consists of two parts: the first one for personal information and the second one for the content information The number of prepared questions for the content

information is eight The interviews are semi-structured, which means there is “a prompt

which requests certain information but the exact shape of the response is not predetermined”

(Cohen, 1989: 28) In the interviews, the author can sometimes add some explanation as well

as ask for some more detailed information

The one-on-one interviews were conducted in Vietnamese and in informal ways so that the teachers were able to express their ideas freely It was lucky that all of the teachers were very enthusiastic in participating in the interviews The method of recording information was note-taking Then the interviews were translated into English for analysis

part in any classroom activity The observer took notes focusing on techniques that the teachers help students to develop compensation strategies in listening

Questionnaires

The major means of data collection is the questionnaires for students Each questionnaire is constructed from two parts: part A for personal information and part B for content information Part B is divided into three small sections, namely B1, B2, and B3 B1 consists of five yes/no questions in order to find out students‟ perception and evaluation of compensation strategies in listening B2 includes eight questions to investigate students‟ degree of frequency in using specific strategies of compensation strategies in listening These questions are adapted from Oxford‟s Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (1990) and some other ideas Students answered each item statement using a 5-point Likert-scale that ranged from 1 (Never) through 5 (Always) B3 is made up from two multiple choice questions and its purpose is addressing students‟ difficulties and preferences in applying compensation strategies Students can choose more than one option in this part

The questionnaire questions were worded carefully and translated into Vietnamese to make it easy for the students The questionnaires were also piloted with the help of three students before delivering to the large number The specific strategies are carefully illustrated with examples, so students can clearly understand them and increase the accuracy of their responses The students were encouraged to share their ideas frankly and accurately, i.e representing what they actually do rather than what they should be doing Besides, the questionnaire papers were collected anonymously in order that students can freely express their ideas

2.2 Findings and discussions

The data from questionnaire were keyed into the computer and analyzed by using EXCEL Descriptive statistics, including frequencies, means, standard deviations and percentages, were implemented in order to investigate the use of language learning strategies Besides, information from interviews and class observation was also synthesized and interpreted

2.2.1 Teachers’ perception and evaluation of compensation strategies in listening

In general, three out of five teachers in the interviews were aware of the concept

“listening strategies” As adapted from Oxford‟s definition of language leaning strategies,

listening strategies can be defined as “specific behaviors or thought processes” that students

use to enhance their learning listening comprehension Listening strategies are techniques or

activities that contribute directly to the comprehension and recall of listening input Three

teachers shared the same concept For example, Teacher 3 stated that “listening strategies are

techniques and skills that listeners use to listen more effectively.” However, two teachers still

had vague ideas of “listening strategies” when they considered listening strategies as listening for general or specific information

In term of the concept “compensation strategies in listening”, four out of the five teachers admitted that they had never heard of this one However, when the interviewer replaced this concept with “guessing intelligently in listening” they all stated the familiarity

Teacher 1 emphasized that “guessing skill in listening helps students get the answers and

comprehend the listening although they do not catch all the words” Although all the teachers

reported to be familiar with “guessing intelligently in listening”, results from the interviews indicated they did not have a full understanding of this strategy They all thought of guessing strategy as guessing the answers from the topic and the key words of the listening For

example, Teacher 2 explained that “students can base on instructions and key words of tasks

in listening to guess the meaning” Only one teacher (Teacher 5) added the background

knowledge factor as a guessing clue It is shown that the teachers were not fully aware of the detailed system of specific techniques in guessing intelligently in listening (as mentioned in the guidelines in Chapter 1 Literature Review)

Some information from class observations has validated the above finding In two classes of Unit 15 – Listening and Unit 16 – Listening, the teachers often asked students some information relating to the topic of the listening and helped students identify the key words of the questions or the statements provided before students listened

To answer the question “What do you think about the importance of compensation

strategies in facilitating your students’ listening comprehension?” all five teachers emphasized the importance of compensation strategies in listening lessons Teacher 2

confirmed that “guessing intelligently is very important to students’ listening comprehension

It can make up for 50 percent of the success of listening” Teacher 4 explained that “guessing skill helps students orient the listening information” Teacher 5 added a very interesting idea

that students‟ implementation of guessing skill “helps lessons not to be overloaded”

As a result of the approval of the significance of compensation strategies, teaching compensation strategies in listening have been done by all of the five teachers interviewed

They reported that they usually help students develop these strategies by “introducing the

topic and providing necessary vocabulary” (Teacher 1), “asking students to scan the tasks and

identify key words” (Teacher 2), “asking students to predict the answers before listening” or

“to predict the content of the listening” (Teacher 3 & 4), and “helping students to see the

differences among options in the answers” (Teacher 5) Two class observations also showed

the teachers‟ efforts of helping students to guess intelligently However, these techniques are not enough to develop a full system of specific compensation strategies in listening for students because they only concentrate on some clues such as the topic and the key words

In conclusion, the five teachers at NVC School held some understanding of compensation strategies in listening but they failed to reach a full knowledge of the specific strategies The reason for this limited knowledge lies in the fact that compensation strategies

in listening have not been properly investigated and introduced to English teachers and learners Besides, all five teachers in this study acknowledged the importance of compensation strategies in listening to students By this, they all meant the necessity of teaching compensation strategies in listening to students However, they need to be equipped with more useful techniques to help students develop guessing strategies effectively

2.2.2 Students’ perception and evaluation of compensation strategies in listening

Most of the students in the survey (84%) admitted that they had never heard of the term “listening strategies” This term seemed to be quite new to them because even not all of the teachers were aware of this concept (as mentioned in the previous part) and some teachers taught listening strategies without naming them Moreover, students can employ listening strategies consciously and unconsciously, which means that students can exploit the strategies with or without being aware of them

The concept of “compensation strategies in listening”, therefore, was explained with the term “guessing intelligently in listening” to make it easier for students as well as to collect the reliable data More than half of the students, namely 56%, reported that they were familiar with “guessing intelligently in listening” Guessing skill seems to be very natural to people, even in mother tongue However, the ability to guess intelligently requires a lot of practice The students who reported their familiarity may know some ways to guess but they still need a lot of practice to be intelligent guessers In the two classes of listening observed, the correct guesses students made accounted for only about 50%

It is noted that a very large number of students appreciate compensation strategies in listening 88% of the informants thought that compensation strategies are important in facilitating their listening comprehension This revelation matched Oxford‟s evaluation of compensation strategies in listening when she stated that they were among the most important

strategies for beginning and intermediate students (Oxford, 1990: 90) As a result, 85% of the students agreed on the necessity of teaching compensation strategies in listening classes It is possible to meet the students‟ need since a lot of researchers have agreed that learning strategies can be taught through strategy training

These above figures showed that the students have recognized the importance of these strategies and are willing to learn them However, only 42% of the students claimed that they had ever been taught compensation strategies in listening It contradicted with teachers‟ responses that they usually taught these strategies in class This contradiction can be explained that teachers often taught these strategies implicitly so students were not aware of this teaching

In short, the 10th form students at NVC School to some extent had some general ideas about compensation strategies in listening Moreover, they stressed the importance of these strategies and the necessity to integrate their teaching into listening lessons Their positive attitude may be a great encouragement to the teachers at NVC School

2.2.3 The current situation of applying compensation strategies in listening

The first thing that should be mentioned here is only 5% of the samples said that they had good listening competence whereas the percentage of fair and poor competence listeners

is 28% and 67%, respectively This fact coincided with teachers‟ statements that they were not satisfied with their students‟ listening competence and listening skill was the most difficult for the students This fact also related to the current situation of applying specific strategies in guessing in listening

Descriptive statistics was employed to investigate the specific compensation strategies

in listening that 10th form students at NVC School reported using For the Likert-scaled

strategy-use items on the questionnaire, the following key helped to interpret the means: 3.5 to

5.0, high use; 2.5 to 3.4, medium use; and 1.0 to 2.4, low use (Oxford, 1990)

Deviation

Degree Rank

Using grammatical clues 2.64 1.02 medium 6

Using background knowledge clues 3.16 1.06 medium 2

Using titles and visual clues 3.52 1.16 high 1

Using discourse marker clues 2.30 1.11 low 7

Using background noise clues 2.78 1.16 medium 5

Writing the sound transcript 2.80 1.18 medium 4

Table 3: Descriptive statistics for frequency of compensation strategy use (N = 180)

(Scores were rounded to 2 decimal places 1=most frequently used; 8=least frequently used) Table 3 illustrates the mean of frequency of overall compensation strategy use was 2.78, which was at a medium degree (with a range from 1 to 5) The mean for the most commonly used strategy, using titles and visual clues, (M=3.52) was just a little above the starting point of the high use range (M=3.5) Therefore, the subjects of the study revealed that they mostly were medium and low compensation strategy users in learning listening Accordingly, their listening competence would be affected by this limitation because the lack

of learning methods prevented them from being efficient listeners

According to the results of Table 3, the most frequently used strategy was using titles and visual clues (M=3.52) and followed by using background knowledge (M =3.16), using contextual clues (M =2.97), writing sound transcript (M=2.80), using background noise clues (M =2.78), using grammatical clues (M=2.64), using discourse marker clues (M =2.30) The least frequently used strategy was using phonological clues (M=2.10) There was a quite big difference between the frequency of the two strategies “using titles and visual clues” and

“using phonological clues” (M=3.52 and M=2.10, respectively)

Figure 1 and Figure 2 show the frequency of use for the two most commonly used strategies: using titles and visual clues, and using background knowledge clues The former strategy was of high use whereas the latter one was of medium use As can be seen from the two figures, the percentage of students marked the use of these two strategies from “always”

to “sometimes” accounted for 82% and 78%, respectively Students preferred to use these two

Figure 1: Frequency of

use for strategy “using

titles and visual clues”

Figure 2: Frequency of use for strategy “using background knowledge clues”

strategies as it seemed easy and natural to apply these strategies and the teachers also focused

on exploiting these clues since the new textbook English 10 provides a lot of visual aids and lead-in questions

The frequency of use for the two next commonly used strategies, namely using contextual clues and writing sound transcript, is shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4 These two strategies were of medium use 68% of the students reported their application of using contextual clues from “always” to “sometimes” and this number for the strategy “writing sound transcript” was 63% Students were quite familiar with guessing word meaning from contexts as this skill is much emphasized in Reading part in the new textbook English 10 Besides, when students heard a word they did not remember its spelling, the best way was writing it according to the sound

Figure 5 and Figure 6 illustrate the frequency of use for “using background noise clues” and “using grammatical clues”, the two strategies of medium use Students did not use these strategies as frequently as the above four strategies Only 31% of the students said that they always or often use background noise clues to guess the meaning of the listening The

Figure 5: Frequency of use

for strategy “using

background noise clues”

Figure 6: Frequency of use for strategy “using grammatical clues”

reason for this moderate use is that listening lessons in the new textbook English 10 do not exploit much background noise and the teachers also did not pay much attention to these clues Besides, 44% of the students indicated that they seldom or never employ grammatical clues to guess unfamiliar language items in the listening This technique requires much practice as well

as sub-skills

The least frequently used strategies, using discourse marker clues and using phonological clues, were clearly shown in Figure 7 and Figure 8 Students‟ report showed a low use of these strategies A large number of students (61%) admitted that they never or seldom use clues from discourse markers such as markers of addition/ cause and effect/ sequences, etc to guess the meaning of the listening This limitation can be explained by the lack of guidance from teachers as well as the students‟ inability to identify these clues Moreover, it is noteworthy that the strategy “using phonological clues” was always or often employed by only 9% of the students as opposed to 68% of the students who said “never” or

“seldom” Students least frequently used phonological clues due to the difficulties in interpreting stress and intonation of the speakers and the limitation in the students‟ own pronunciation

To conclude, the data indicated that the students in general did not apply compensation strategies very frequently Besides, the students reported using titles and visual clues more frequently than all the other specific types of strategy whereas using phonological clues was the least frequently used strategy

2.2.4 Students’ difficulties and preferences in applying compensation strategies in listening

2.2.4.1 Students’ difficulties in applying compensation strategies in listening

Difficulties and Problems The percentage of students

Students‟ difficulties in understanding and using

The listening texts‟ lack of visual and contextual clues 29%

No teaching of guessing skill from teachers 32%

Students‟ unfamiliarity with guessing skill 56%

Students‟ lack of interest and confidence 51%

Table 4: Students’ difficulties in applying compensation strategies in listening

As can be seen from Table 4, what challenged students most were the difficulties in understanding and using phonological rules (82%) This revelation matched the previous part‟s finding that the least commonly used strategy was using phonological clues It also supported Ur‟s point of view that trouble with sounds seems to be the biggest problem for listeners (as mentioned in Chapter 1 Literature Review) The difficulties in understanding and using phonological rules prevented students from guessing the correct words and the intended meaning of speakers

The second biggest problem for students in this study was the difficulties in understanding and using grammatical rules 67% of the students reported that they encountered these problems when trying to make guesses They found it difficult to guess the meanings of the listening based on such clues as part of speech, prefixes, suffixes, etc These difficulties resulted from students‟ limitation of vocabulary and grammar

The two next problems for students are unfamiliarity with guessing skill (56%) and lack of interest and confidence (51%) Students may catch some clues but they failed to make intelligent and logical guesses or they were not motivated to do so Students were used to the need of understanding every word in the listening text, so if they missed some they felt embarrassed and could not make any guesses

49% of the students reported that they had difficulty in guessing due to their lack of background knowledge despite the fact that “using background knowledge clues” is their second preferred strategy People‟s background knowledge in general consists of a wide variety of knowledge and seems to have no limit As a result, students still need to enrich their background knowledge so that they can make correct guesses

It is interesting to note that only 32% of the students confirmed that the difficulties in guessing originated from no teaching of guessing skill from teachers It may contradict the previous finding that 85% of students agreed on the necessity of teaching compensation strategies in listening Students may be a little passive to present the ideas related to their teachers or they may be aware that strategy developing comes from both students and teachers

Not many students (29%) thought that listening texts lack visual and contextual clues This finding coincided students‟ frequent use of strategies “using titles and visual clues” and

“using contextual clues” As mentioned before, most of listening parts in the new textbook

English 10 are illustrated with pictures and students were also quite familiar with contextual clues

From interviews, all of the five teachers noted that there existed difficulties in helping students develop compensation strategies in listening The first and greatest difficulty, according to the teachers, is the limitation in students‟ vocabulary, pronunciation and

background knowledge Teacher 4 explained that “students’ lack of vocabulary and

background knowledge takes me a lot of time to explain” It can be seen from the class

observations that lack of vocabulary and background knowledge prevented students from answering the questions such as “Who made the Statue of Liberty?” (Unit 15 - Listening) or

“What is Hoi An famous for?” (Unit 16 - Listening) Besides, Teacher 2 added one more

difficulty that is “students’ limited ability to infer” She clarified that sometimes students had a

very clear clue but they still failed to make correct guesses This limitation was also seen through the class observation For example, in Unit 15 – Listening, students were taught some new words such as copper, iron but they gave no answers for the question “What are the

materials of the Statue of Liberty?” Finally, Teacher 5 complained that “students do not spend

much time practising listening at home, so it is difficult for students to develop listening strategies in general and guessing strategies in particular”

In short, students‟ biggest difficulty in applying guessing strategies is understanding and using phonological clues The next difficulties are understanding and using grammatical rules; unfamiliarity with guessing skill; lack of interest and confidence; no teaching of guessing skill from teachers; lack of background knowledge; and the listening texts‟ lack of visual and contextual clues (in order of descending)

2.2.4.2 Students’ preferences in applying compensation strategies in listening

students

The teaching of some basic grammatical rules 75%

The teaching of some basic phonological

The recall of important words and structures 92%

The provision of more visual aids 39%

The provision of a wide of listening tasks 63%

The encouragement from teachers 81%

The occasion of working in pairs/ groups 94%

Table 5: Students’ preferences in applying compensation strategies in listening

It can bee seen from Table 5 that working in pairs or groups and recalling important words/ structures were the most preferable to students Almost all of the students (94%) preferred to work in pairs or groups Working in pairs or groups helps students compensate their limitation in knowledge and become more confident Next, 92% of the students expressed a desire for teachers‟ explanation of new words and structures before listening This explanation provides students with knowledge of the target language needed for the listening,

so students have more clues to make intelligent guesses

A lot of students wanted to be taught basic phonological clues and be given encouragement from teachers (87% and 81%, respectively) The phonological clues are very important to them as they can base on word stress or intonation of a sentence to guess the intended meaning of the listening In addition, the students in this study, who mainly come from rural areas, are quite shy, so they do need to be encouraged so that they are willing to make guesses

A large number of students also wished to be provided with some basic grammatical rules (75% of the students) and be exploited background knowledge before listening (68% of the students) The grammatical rules help students guess the meaning of unfamiliar words from parts of speech, prefixes, suffixes, etc The background knowledge exploited helps students predict the information they are going to listen or to guess correctly the words they are listening to

Finally, 68% of the students voted for the provision of a wide of listening tasks and only 39% of the students preferred the provision of more visual aids The variety of listening tasks will help students develop their guessing skills as they can apply these skills in different circumstances Students also may be more motivated to not to do the same task again and again Besides, the provision of more visual aids should be put into consideration when it is really useful to the students

In summary, the preferences of students in applying compensation strategies in listening are in the following order: pair or group work; word and structure provision; phonological rule teaching; teacher encouragement; grammatical rule teaching; background knowledge exploitation; listening task variety and visual aid provision