AN INVESTIGATION INTO LISTENING STRATEGY INSTRUCTIONS AND APPLICATIONS IN A PRIVATE EFL SCHOOL IN VIETNAM NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ VIỆC HƯỚNG DẪN VÀ ÁP DỤNG CHIẾN LƯỢC NGHE TẠI MỘT TRUNG TÂM ANH NGỮ Ở VIỆT NAM

v ABSTRACT Derived from the nature of listening strategies, unconscious activities of learners but conscious of teachers, in combination with the researcher‟s challenges in teaching lis

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

-

VÕ THỊ NGỌC HÂN

AN INVESTIGATION INTO LISTENING STRATEGY INSTRUCTIONS AND APPLICATIONS IN A PRIVATE EFL SCHOOL IN VIETNAM

NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ VIỆC HƯỚNG DẪN VÀ ÁP DỤNG CHIẾN LƯỢC NGHE TẠI MỘT

TRUNG TÂM ANH NGỮ Ở VIỆT NAM

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Hanoi, 2014

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

-

VÕ THỊ NGỌC HÂN

AN INVESTIGATION INTO LISTENING STRATEGY INSTRUCTIONS AND APPLICATIONS IN A PRIVATE EFL SCHOOL IN VIETNAM

NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ VIỆC HƯỚNG DẪN VÀ ÁP DỤNG CHIẾN LƯỢC NGHE TẠI MỘT

TRUNG TÂM ANH NGỮ Ở VIỆT NAM

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Dr Nguyễn Trường Sa

Hanoi, 2014

i

SUPERVISOR’S REMARKS

ii

JUDGEMENT OF THE EVALUATION BOARD

iii

ACKNOWLEDMENTS

First of all, I would like to send my gratefulness to the board of University of

allowance for me to carry out the research

The thesis is especially dedicated to Mr Nguyen Truong Sa; my experienced instructor, whose passionate enthusiasm and precise guidance have come along my journey to fulfill this assignment on schedule

It will be indispensable for me to take into account the contribution I have received from Europe-Vietnam Language School All of the school‟s staff has provided me with the best assistance in terms of comprehensive knowledge and relevant materials Finally, I send my best to the six teachers and twelve learners who help me to justify the data Without their contribution, my thesis would not be completed

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DECLARATION OF AUTHORITY

I, Vo Thi Ngoc Han, declare that this graduation thesis is original and has not been submitted for assessment elsewhere

I declare that this thesis is my own work and does not involve plagiarism or collusion

I give my consent to electric version to be examined by relevant plagiarism software programs

I have made a copy or electronic copy of my assignment, which I can produce if the original is lost for any reason

Date:……/……/……

Vo Thi Ngoc Han

v

ABSTRACT

Derived from the nature of listening strategies, unconscious activities of learners but conscious of teachers, in combination with the researcher‟s challenges in teaching listening, the research is implemented to investigate listening strategy instructions and applications Research question that decides content of the research is how listening strategies are instructed and applied in EFL class It was carried out in Europe-Vietnam Language School where learners are motivated by their apparent learning purposes Six participants contain three EFL teachers and three EFL students from the teachers‟ classes Two instruments used were observation and stimulated recall As a result, despite teachers‟ different preferences of using strategies, learners only get familiar with cognitive and social-affective strategies Their weaknesses found were their inability in controlling listening processes, problems in pronunciation, and difficulties in building up learning spirit due to their passive learning style

With the investigation into the reality of using listening strategies, the research is in the hope to help teachers and learners remedy their current strategy use with the help

of their private school

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TRANSCRIPTIONS OF CONVENTIONS x

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 1 Research background and problem 1

2 Research aims/ objectives 2

3 Research questions 2

4 Context of the study 3

5 Importance/ value of the study 4

6 Definitions of some key terms 4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 6

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 6 1.1 Listening comprehension 6

1.1.1 The nature of listening 6

1.1.2 Significance of listening 7

1.1.3 Difficulties in listening comprehension 7

1.1.3.1 Problems with spoken language 8

1.1.3.2 Problems in dealing with sounds 9

1.1.3.3 Problems with background knowledge 9

1.1.3.4 Problems with mood 10

1.2 Listening strategies 10

1.2.1 Nature of strategies 10

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1.2.2 Categories of listening strategies 11

1.2.2.1 Metacognitive listening strategies 11

1.2.2.2 Cognitive listening strategies 12

1.2.2.3 Social affective strategies 13

1.3 Teachers‟ roles in listening 13

1.3.1 Why listening strategies are taught in the context of classroom 13

1.3.2 What a teacher does in a listening class 14

1.4 A review of previous researches on teaching/applying listening strategy 15

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY OF THE RESEARCH 17 2.1 Instruments 17

2.1.1 Observation 17

2.1.2 Think aloud/ Stimulated recall 18

2.2 Participants 18

2.2.1 The teachers 19

2.2.1.1 Teacher 1 19

2.2.1.2 Teacher 2 19

2.2.1.3 Teacher 3 20

2.2.2 The learners 20

2.2.2.1 Learner 1 20

2.2.2.2 Learner 2 21

2.2.2.3 Learner 3 21

2.3 Data collection procedure 21

2.4 How to use the data to answer the research questions 22

CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 23 3.1 Teachers‟ strategy instructions when teaching listening 23

3.1.1 Teacher 1‟s (T1‟s) 23

3.1.2 Teacher 2‟s (T2‟s) 24

3.1.3 Teacher 3‟s (T3‟s) 25

3.1.4 Summary of the three teachers‟ listening strategy instructions 27

3.2 Learners‟ strategy applications when learning listening 27

3.2.1 Learner 1‟s (L1‟s, in T1‟s upper-intermediate class) 27

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3.2.2 Learner 2‟s (L2‟s, in T2‟s primary class) 28

3.2.3 Learner 3‟s (L3‟s, inT3‟s intermediate class) 29

3.2.4 Summarize of learners 30

3.3 Teachers‟ and learners‟ problems 30

PART C: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 32 1 Introduction of this chapter 32

2 Implication of the study to practice 32

3 Limitation and suggestion for future research 33

4 Final consideration 34

APPENDIX 1 I APPENDIX 2 II APPENDIX 3 VIII SUMMARY OF THE RESEARCH XXV

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Top 10 listening problems 8 Table 2: Data collection procedure 22

x

TRANSCRIPTIONS OF CONVENTIONS R: Researcher

[ ]: [text translated from Vietnamese into English]

T (L)…/ Sti/ …/ …: Teacher (Learner)/ Stimulated recall/ date/ month

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PART A INTRODUCTION

1 Research background and problem

In Vietnam, since Doi Moi policy, English is chosen to be the foreign language taught and used in Vietnam (Alter & Moreau, 1995) Goh and Nguyen (2004) pointed out that

“the learning of English in the schools gained in popularity” and “English quickly

became the first foreign language” (p 30) Do (2006) concluded that in the decade of

1996-2006, English had been developed with an incredible speed in Vietnam In the context of globalization, teaching and learning English in Vietnam is a pivotal matter

Ho Chi Minh City is the largest city of Vietnam with the most crowded population Requirements of English knowledge for economic development of the city are inevitable Therefore, Ho Chi Minh City has the biggest number of teachers and learners all over the country (Do, 2006) Vu (2007) pointed out that HCMC has become home to the strongest movement towards learning English with the largest

number of student learning and taking English examinations in Vietnam

Previous studies on listening strategies mainly used the context of state schools where

students are at the same age and have the same learning goal (Thompson and Rubin,

1996; Yu-mei & Lei, 2012; Siegel, 2013; Goh, 2000) However, Do (2006)

emphasized that “hundreds of English centers have been established everywhere – Ho

Chi Minh City alone has around 300 language centers” (p.8) The centers are

attracting learners of different backgrounds aiming to secure a bright future of work by enriching English In this research, private school is an environment to investigate It is

a different context where learning goal is, in most of cases, not for testing but to improve English competence Learners in private schools come from different

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backgrounds, possess various foundations of English, hold a variety of learning purposes, and perform diverse attitudes as well as learning styles More important, it is teachers‟ job to satisfy each learner‟s needs and goals

In teaching and learning English for communicative purpose, listening is emphasized

It is considered the most vital in oral interaction, as Richards and Renadya (2002)

emphasized, “without understanding input at the right level, any learning simply

cannot begin, listening is thus fundamental to speaking” (p.239) To be good at the

skill, the concept of “listening strategies”- way to facilitate listening learning – is discussed A question raised is that whether listening strategies are “conscious” or unconscious” (Ridgway, 2000) Teachers‟ role is to instruct learners how to use the

listening strategies consciously, because as Oxford (1990) pointed out, “if strategies

are unconsciously and automatically used, then explicit strategy training makes little

or no sense, so it involves some degrees of conscious awareness on the part of the learner.” (p2) However, to learners, when learning process happens continuously,

they do not have time to choose which strategies to employ Therefore, strategies become autonomous and unconscious If strategies are unconscious for students, have they been using them effectively? After a long period of time working at some different private schools, the researcher finds that a large number of learners in the private classes still fail to gain success in listening Therefore, the researcher wonders what problems are obstructing the teaching and learning process In other words, it is necessary to investigate whether listening strategies is instructed and applied appropriately

2 Research aims/ objectives

This research is carried out to meet its practical purpose From the failure of EFL learners in listening, the researcher wonders what problems are obstructing the

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teaching and learning process In other words, it is necessary to investigate whether listening strategies is instructed and applied appropriately At first, teachers‟ strategy instructions in the context of classroom are manifested Secondly, under the directions, learners‟ strategy applications are analyzed Finally, challenges that affect listening teaching and learning results are also revealed for later surmount

3 Research questions

The general question addressed in this study is: How are listening strategies instructed and applied in EFL class?

This question can be answered by addressing these specific questions:

1 How do teachers instruct listening strategies when teaching?

2 How do learners apply listening strategies into their practice in their class?

3 What are the challenges in teaching and applying listening strategies?

4 Context of the study

Context chosen in the research is a private English school, Vietnam- Europe International School The school is located in district 12 of Ho Chi Minh City with one head office at 114 Nguyen Anh Thu street, Trung My Tay ward, district 12 and one branch at 5C, To Ky street, Tan Chanh Hiep ward, district 12 Established in 2010, with the increase of English demand, the private school has continuously developed The private English school possesses a system of teachers including English experts from Melbourne University of Australia, Foreign teachers and Vietnamese teachers Until April of 2014, the school has possessed forty five teachers and more than one thousand four hundred learners Aiming at the main objects as students in The University of Labor and Social Affair (ULSA), the English school has been

4

developing three main curriculums; communication, TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication), and IELTS (International English Language Testing System) Especially, communication program is boosted to meet the need of the majority of English learners

Communication course was chosen for the purpose of this research based on three main criteria At first, the program requires listening as a major skill If learners do not use suitable strategies, such as predicting, inferring, recognizing cognates and so on, they will fail to meet listening goals Next, tasks are composed basing on different contexts, it is significant for students to equip their background knowledge about the contexts and corresponding strategies Last but not least, without listening, any oral communication cannot be implemented

With the hope of releasing the most objective and reliable results, the researcher chose this program to investigate the thesis issue The context meets the need of the thesis, a private English school teaching communicative listening with the program requires applications and instructions in strategies

5 Importance/ value of the study

This research will be carried out to meet its practical purpose It will hopefully take attention of EFL teachers and learners who concerns about improving listening strategies The research is expected to assist teachers in bewaring of how their learners are dealing with the instructed strategies Then it finds out effective ways to instruct strategies to learners On the aspect of learners, the results will help them pay more attention to listening strategies and make use of the strategies more effectively Finally, the study‟s result is intended to help administrators of private English schools

in Vietnam enhance their quality of listening education so that they can serve their learners better

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6 Definitions of some key terms

Listening comprehension

“Listening comprehension is an active process of constructing meaning, and that this

is done by applying knowledge to the incoming.” (Buck, 2000, 30)

Strategies

Language learning strategies are “approaches or techniques that learners use to

enhance their progress in developing L2 skills” (Oxford, 1990, 22) They are

considered “conscious” for teachers to instruct and “unconscious” or “autonomous” for learner to use frequently because there is no time for learners to employ them in

actual situation

Cognitive strategies: the strategies relate directly with processes of listening, in other

words, steps of acquiring listening knowledge for reasoning, analyzing, summarizing, and practicing a listening task (Anderson, 1991)

Metacognitive strategies for evaluating one‟s progress, planning for language tasks,

consciously searching for practice opportunities, paying attention, and monitoring errors It is the biggest term that controls other strategies (Efteckhary & Gharib, 2013)

Social affective strategies: the techniques listeners used to interact, collaborate with

others, such as teachers, speakers, or peers to clarify understanding or to lessen their stress during listening (Vandergrift, 2003)

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1 LITEARATURE REVIEW

1.1 Listening comprehension

1.1.1 The nature of listening

In common sense, listening comprehension is passive and simple (Thompson & Rubin, 1996; Jung, 2003; Vandergrift, 2004; Rahimi, 2012) On one hand, listening seems passive as it is uncreative and unimaginative when listeners receive speakers‟ information Speakers, not listeners, control over speed, structure and meaning of a talk (Ridgway, 2000) On another hand, it is thought to as simple because it does not require any production, with good knowledge, learners can be a good listeners (Rahimi, 2012) However, researchers defeated the sense by their arguments

At first, researchers, such as Buck (2000), Underwood (1989), and Vandergrift (1999), defeated the term “passive”; they proved that listening had to be „active‟ Underwood (1989) used the adjective “passive” to indicate “hearing” instead of “listening” Vandergrift‟s study (1999) affirmed that listeners could not be passive because during listening, they did not merely receive speakers‟ sound but also had to make clear the differences among elements of utterances, such as sounds, vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and prior knowledge as well as what inputted into their mind Buck

(2000) proved, “listening comprehension is an active process of constructing meaning,

and that this is done by applying knowledge to the incoming” (p.30)

Listening, in addition, is a complicated process requiring people‟s serious concentration and profound knowledge According to Brody (2004), focusing is never

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enough for a good listener The complicated nature of listening is also revealed by language components, such as phonology, syntax, semantics, as well as knowledge of

context, which must be done simultaneously (Pearson, 1983 cited in Butt et al., 2010)

From the definitions of listening, a conclusion of the skill is drawn It is not simple to deal with and the level of success in the skill requires numerous factors of an active learning process Nevertheless, why must learners attempt to be good at the complicated and active process? The reasons will be discussed in the following part

1.1.2 Significance of listening

In Rahimi‟s research (2012), listening in this modern era is regarded a significant goal

in numerous teaching curricular of a language Richards (1999, 200) concluded in his

research, “second language acquisition researches have given a major boost to

listening.” According to Brown (2001), listening is an important skill through which

language learners input linguistic information, or material, in order to produce language In daily communication, speaking is necessary, but listening is inevitable to maintain a conversation Misunderstanding or lack of understanding will lead to failure

in every dialogue An oral interaction can never be implemented without listening

Moreover, Vandergrift (1999) noted that “listening comprehension plays a key role in

facilitating language learning” (p.168) Good listening competence provides learners

with knowledge, confidence, and motivation of language learning (Rost, 2002a) In brief, the significance of listening is revealed by its frequent use in daily life, leading role in communication, and the role as a source of mental benefits including knowledge, confidence, and motivation Thanks to its importance, the need to achieve

it is vital However, the decisive oral skill is evaluated complicated The next part will discuss troubles in its applications that listeners have to overcome

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1.1.3 Difficulties in listening comprehension

As the importance of listening skill discussed, the demand to master it is necessary However, due to its complicated nature, its success seems to be a challenge According

to Siegel (2013), listening has been considered the most awkward of the four macro skills The difficulties of listening derive from the following sources

Number Sources of listening problems %

usually listen to

40

Table 1: Top ten listening problems (Renandya & Farrell; 2010, 54)

From the above problems, I sort them into four main groups; group of numbers 1, 2, and 5 belongs to problems with spoken language, group of number 3 and 10 is

9

problems in dealing with sounds, numbers 4, 7, and 8 relate to problems of knowledge Finally, numbers 6 and 9 refer to problems of listeners‟ mood The four problems are explained below prior to discussion on their solutions presented in section 2.2

1.1.3.1 Problems with spoken language

The three aspects counted here are speaking rate, missing subsequent input, and distraction At first, speaking rate, or speed, is a challenge for EFL learners because it

is impossible to use strategies in written texts, such as “breaking down a word into its

components, looking a word up in the dictionary, or guessing the meaning of a word from its context” (Ridgway, 2000, 181) There is almost no chance to check previous

information right before any input Secondly, there are various tasks to do simultaneously during listening, including word meaning identification, context, attitude of speaker, meaning inside the heart of words, and so on (Eysenck and Keane, 1995) Hence, missing adequate input seems hardly avoidable Finally, Siegel (2013) claimed that learners often got distraction in listening When listeners miss previous information due to speaking rate, unknown words, or other subjective reasons, they

easily turn to neglect following ideas (Rahimi, 2012) In short, the three difficulties

derived from spoken language are barriers for learner to approach listening success

1.1.3.2 Problems in dealing with sounds

Problems learners encounter in the sections are recognizing known words and unfamiliar sounds Firstly, Goh (2002) identified that learners failed to listen to what they had learned due to their inadequate knowledge in pronunciation Even an EFL listener who is rich at vocabulary, the variety of speech may confuse him/ her because

“sometimes the words are fully articulated, but most of the time, they undergo radical phonological changes It is quite natural for speakers to modify, drop, and add sound

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when speaking” (Renandya & Farrell, 2010, 53) Especially, while listening to tapes or

CDs, EFL learners in this case do not have chance to interact and to receive support from non-verbal gestures (Renandya & Farrell, 2010) Secondly, the problem becomes more serious when they adapt into different kinds of accent There are a variety of spoken English, such as British English, American English, Australian English, and other kinds all around the word Without a long time experiencing various listening, it seems to be a big trouble for learners Briefly, difficulty with sounds due to lack of listening affects listening totally negatively

1.1.3.3 Problems with background knowledge

Knowledge mentioned here includes vocabulary, sentence complexity, and background knowledge First of all, before achieving any further understanding, EFL learners initially need to comprehend the surface of a language According to Ridgway (2000; cited from Swan, 1985), vocabulary was a matter to deal with The lost of meaning leads to the failure in listening (Griffiths & Parr, 2001) In fact, although listener can identify sounds clearly, if they fail to understand what they hear, listening

is just a hearing process Secondly, even listeners could recognize every single word, building sentences is a challenge, especially with complex sentences (Underwood, 1989) They have to deal with the distinction between content words and transitional words to identify ideas Last but not least, challenges come from the lack of sufficient background knowledge (Field, 1999) Due to the shortage, listeners meet difficulties in orienting their listening process Besides, with some information absent, they cannot use their background knowledge to guess or to understand ambiguous ideas To sum

up, with the lack of crucial knowledge, listeners definitely fail to achieve listening purpose

1.1.3.4 Problems with mood

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Good mood and confidence ease students‟ learning process (Brody, 2004) As EFL learners, when preparing to listen, they usually feel nervous about how they can meet learning goal and catch ideas of listening tasks (Jung, 2003) The feeling pushes them into the state of stress and that affects their listening result negatively (Brown, 2006) Moreover, when they fail to listen to an idea, they tend to be frustrated and forget to

pay attention to other ones (Pearson, 1983) In brief, mood partially contributes spirit

for their listening process

1.2 Listening strategies

1.2.1 Nature of strategies

The word “strategy” appears as an essential part of learning Discussing about the

origin of the word, Oxford (1990) cited that it “comes from the ancient Greek word

“strategia”, which means steps or actions taken for the purpose of winning a war”

(p.21) The control and goal-directedness remain in the modern version of the word

Oxford (1990) defines language learning strategies as “approaches or techniques that

learners use to enhance their progress in developing L2 skills” (p22) From the

definition, Li (2010) concluded that foreign language learning strategies refer to behaviors or thinking in learning process to make it effective

1.2.2 Categories of listening strategies

To deal with problems mentioned in 2.1.3., listening strategies is discussed The term

“listening strategies” includes ways to strengthen language learners‟ motivation (Vandergrift, 2005) and techniques during learning (Rahimi & Katal, 2012) They are evaluated through outcome of each listening section (Zhang & Liu, 2008)

Throughout listening comprehension, “three-phase model proposes that

comprehension happen to learners include perception, parsing, and utilization”

(Anderson, 1995 cited in Goh, 2000, 56) The first phase is perception, which is

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defined as the encoding of oral message The second step is parsing where meaning of words are understood basing on meanings of segments The last but most important step is utilization These segments are then recombined to express a meaningful representation of the original sequence (Goh, 2000) In term of merging categorizations of listening strategies together according to its importance, there are three main types of listening strategies adapted from Dornyei (2005)

1 Metacognigive listening strategies involve clarifying objective, preparing mind, requesting progress, guessing unfamiliar accents, checking what part students confuse, double checking answers, being and correcting them, reflecting on problems, evaluating understanding, and taking notes

2 Cognitive listening strategies deal with learning vocabulary before listening, identifying content words, inferring missing words by prior knowledge, listening to main ideas, predicting on text, guessing meaning basing on context, and visualizing lesson by charts or diagrams

3 Social-affective listening strategies include behaviors and control of emotional conditions and experiences that shape learners‟ learning improvement

1.2.2.1 Metacognitive listening strategies

Metacognitive strategies are used to prepare, monitor, and evaluate learning (O‟Malley and Chamot, 1990) At first, preparation and planning can improve students‟ listening Prior to listening, students must think about their goals and steps set to accomplishing them (Zhao, 2013) Secondly, during listening, metacognitive strategies would control cognitive strategies as well as increase learners‟ self- confidence and motivation because they adjust what listeners have to do Goh (2008) also confirms that, active monitoring, regulate and organize important events to achieve a goal Finally, learners use the strategies to evaluate the listening result by comparing their real achievement

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with the initial goal then draw experience for later use To sum up, metacognitive listening strategies are vital tools to facilitate listening process (Zhao, 2013; Liu & Goh, 2006; Rahimi & Katal, 2012; Vandergrift, 2004) Therefore, developing students‟ metacognitive listening strategies is the responsibility of both teaching and learning process

1.2.2.2 Cognitive strategies in listening comprehension

The strategies relate directly to processes of listening, in other words, steps of acquiring listening knowledge for reasoning, analyzing, summarizing, and practicing a listening task Understanding processes of listening, language learners know firmly about their duties in their learning process In English language‟s receptive skills (listening and reading), knowledge of the notions, bottom-up, top-down is seriously indispensable The nature of differences between the two terms is revealed by their impact on listening activities Cognitive strategies assist learners combine two cognitive processes, top-down and bottom-up, in one listening process On one hand, top-down strategies, such as listening to main ideas, predicting or make hypotheses, guessing meaning, are used to construct the speaker‟s original meaning by using background knowledge to understand meaning of tasks (Nunan, 1999, Brown, 2006; Ohata, 2006, and Norris, 2002) On the other hand, bottom-up strategies, including identifying content words or noticing on transitional signal, are used to decode the sounds that one hears from the smallest meaningful units (or phonemes) to complete texts (Nunan, 1999; Hedge, 2000; Brown, 2006; Field, 1999; Eysenck, 2001) In some tasks requiring general information, top-down is in the upper hand over bottom-up In other cases, such as filling in blanks or finding out specific information, bottom-up is paid more attention In general, learners use the processes simultaneously well will be

successful listeners

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1.2.2.3 Social affective strategies

The strategies include factors affects learners‟ behavior and learning quality, such as emotions and attitudes (Oxford, 1990) Habte-Gabr (2006) stated that different from the two strategies mentioned above, socio-affective strategies which were non

academic in nature involve stimulating learning It is essential for listeners to know

how to reduce the anxiety, feel confident in doing listening tasks, and promote personal motivation in improving listening competence (Vandergrift, 1997) According to O‟Malley & Chamot (19990), among the strategies, social-affective strategies in listening comprehension influenced the learning situation immediately To sum up, good mood and motivation provide learners with energy for working out an activity Therefore, a good listener must understand thoroughly their learning level and

be calm from the beginning till the end of a listening task

1.3.Teachers’ roles in listening

1.3.1 Why listening strategies are taught in the context of classroom

As mentioned in the first part of the chapter, the nature of listening is complicated and learning listening in a language which is not a native one is a challenge In the situation, language learner must be instructed and observed from the beginning (Zhang

& Liu, 2008) Classroom learning is an ideal environment which can eliminate

unexpected interruption “Setting clear, challenging and realistic goals can help

students see their own progress and hopefully, by becoming consciously aware of their progress, the students’ motivation for learning would be increased” (Zhao, 2013,

242) Moreover, learners cannot measure if their listening is improved if they do not look at scores on tests of listening proficiency (Buck, 2001) Via the tests, they can evaluate their competence and look for their teachers‟ assistance to improve their

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backwardness For the reasons, listening must be taught in classroom to enhance learners‟ knowledge and strategies for future use The development of listening skill seems to be fast if learners only focus on it in an environment which eliminates learning distractions

1.3.2 What a teacher does in a listening class

There is a list of the three kinds of strategies - cognitive, metacognitive, and social affective – adapted from Cheng (2000) are mentioned in appendix 1 Teacher is the instructor who eases learning procedures and makes them effective by using suitable strategies A good teacher is an instructor to hold theories of strategies, choose suitable strategies and their order in a listening task, integrate them into a task, and divide suitable time using strategies for them (Renadya & Farrell, 2010, 55) Besides, teacher – different from a machine, can be flexible depending on learning situations It is said that all teachers need to do is to identify the kinds of listening strategies that good listeners use and teach these to less proficient students so that they can become good listeners (Rost, 2002a) In fact, in classroom, without teachers, any listening process cannot happen However, although teacher plays a pivotal role to the effectiveness of listening processes, Griffiths (2007) demonstrated that there was the gap between teachers‟ instructions and students‟ application The Strategy Inventory for Language Learning or SILL examined that students‟ and teachers‟ perceptions were not

consistent (Oxford, 1990) Nunan (1988) also talks of “clear mismatches between

learners’ and teachers’ views’ (p93) and Willing (1989) mentioned “disparate perspectives” regarding learning strategies (p.1) The potential for such mismatches to

negatively affect what goes on in the classroom suggests a need to find out more about how teachers‟ perceptions intersect with students‟ perceptions in order that such findings might be used to inform classroom practice (Griffiths, 2007, 92) Therefore, finding differences between teachers‟ instruction and learners‟ applications is the

The researchers applied the Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ) to investigate participants‟ awareness and application of listening strategies

In the questionnaire, 21 items were divided into problem-solving, planning evaluation, mental translation, person knowledge, and directed attention Besides, the researchers provided a TOEFL ibt test to check learners‟ ability before and after training After sixteen weeks the experimental group participated in metacognitive instruction of listening to promote their metacognitive awareness of listening strategies was compared with the control group received listening instruction without any focus on strategies The result revealed that, while controlling for students‟ beginning metacognitive awareness and English listening and speaking proficiency, the instruction heightened the experimental group‟s metacognitve awareness at the end of the experiment

Research 2:

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Wond and Nunan (2011) investigated the learning styles and strategies of effective language learners to find out key differences of more and less effective learners, such

as in the overall learning style, the individual learning strategy preferences, the amount

of time spent, the area of academic specialization in perception of the importance of English, self-rating of language ability, and enjoyment of learning English The differences affect directly the result of listening process The two groups of participant were defined by their scores in examination The strong competence-group has an A in the examination The weak group has E or F grade There is a survey with two parts In the first part, information of learners are filled sufficiently, including their faculty, years of study, use of English grade, number of hour for practice English a week, percentage of learning in English, rating of importance of English, self-rating of language proficiency on a five point scale, extent to which the student enjoy English The second part consisted of a 30 item-questionnaire from Willing‟s (1994) survey The questions aimed at finding out the effects of learning strategies on learning process It also included software to analyze and categorize data.The level of using strategies corresponds to ability of learners Each element has its own impact onto learning process

Research 3:

Selamat and Sidhu (2011) researched student perceptions of metacognitive strategy use in lecture listening comprehension They explored ESL students‟ perceptions towards a metacgonitive strategy instruction program to improve their lecture listening comprehension abilities The study involved 34 first-year students from the Faculty of Education in a public university in Malaysia Instrumentation for the study involved the use of a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews Data revealed that the students perceived the MetSI training as helpful in proving their lecture listening skills and in enabling them to be more effective in extracting information from lectures Findings from the study affirmed that there were numerous problems in listening

18 strategies It also suggested the need for students to play a more active role in overcoming their listening difficulties

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CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY OF THE RESEARCH

2.1 Instruments

The main purpose of this research is to explore deeply the insights into strategy instructions and applications After considering different instruments, the researcher chose two instruments for the research, observation and “think aloud/ stimulated recall” procedure Advantages of the two tools are stated below

2.1.1 Observation

Observation is the first instrument applied in this research Purpose of this process is to record the process of instructing and applying strategies It is considered the indispensable way to witness teachers‟ and learners‟ activities in class To process the step, the researcher observed lessons and used an mp3 device to record the lessons of the participants of the research The lessons were observed basing on the list of the three listening strategies – metacognitive, cognitive, and social affective – mentioned

in appendix 1, adapted from Cheng (2002) The researcher was a non-participant in order to objectively observe facts happening in the classes

2.1.2 Think aloud/ Stimulated recall

The instrument is adapted by Hosenfeld (1976) Stimulated recall requires participants

to remember and recall their happened activity during an event with a video or audio replay as assistances (Norman, 1983) The advantage of it is to collect data which show deeply the results and explanations of teachers‟ and learners‟ strategies via what exactly happened in classes with participants‟ reasons and perspectives lying inside the performance Therefore, it is much deeper and more unbiased than questionnaires or

2.2 Participants

The research used two instruments, observation and stimulated recall to investigate deeply how listening strategies are instructed and applied With the nature of the instrument chosen, the number of participants is limited so that the research can go deeply into each case‟s performance, perspective and strategy selection Due to the limitation in the amount of words of this research, six members were chosen to take part in this study, including three teachers and three students of the teachers

It is beneficial for the researchers to draw conclusion of how learners of different levels use strategies differently

2.2.1.1 Teacher 1

The first teacher (T1) chosen is the 52 year-old-head teacher of communicative staff of Vietnam-Europe Language School He possesses 12-year-experience in teaching He has been teaching in the school for two years The teacher who has received affection from learners only specializes in communicative program As the leader of the program, under the competition of rivals, other private schools in the school‟s location,

he strongly craves for how to develop the school‟s program Therefore, he always concerns about communicative learners‟ limitation He hopes that the research can contribute immediately to his teaching as well as his students‟ learning

2.2.1.2 Teacher 2

The second teacher (T2) is a 30 year-old-female one She has five years devoted for teaching after studying teaching methodology in National University of Singapore She has been working for Europe-Vietnam Language School for one year and eight months According to students, she is a dedicated teacher After main classes, she also takes charge of extra classes specializing in speaking and listening She is always

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concerning that learners here are not successful in applying English in lessons with foreign teachers and their inadequate competence in learning listening Therefore, she cooperated with the researcher to find out suitable solution for her students and herself

2.2.2 The learners

There are three learners selected for the research They all meet the following requirements At first, each of them is a student of each teacher mentioned above Therefore, listening strategies in those lessons are transmitted directly to them by the teachers Secondly, they are not necessary to be the best students, but they learn actively and enthusiastically The researcher need to makes sure that they receive teachers‟ instructions At last, they have clear purposes of learning English and desire

to make effort for their learning process From the three standards, the three chosen participant are described below

2.2.2.1 Learner 1

The first learner (L1) is a middle-age woman Her job is a businesswoman in cosmetic purchasing She is going to immigrate in the USA, Colorado State with her family in the next two years She has known English from secondary school However, due to

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the lack of communication, she fails to communicate with her relatives in the USA Therefore, she chose the school to develop her oral skills She has been studying in the school for six months However, she still lacks confident in her ability Attending to the research, she strongly desired to improve her learning style to achieve her goal

2.2.2.2 Learner 2

The second learner (L2) is a junior of University of Labor and Social Affairs She is going to graduate from the university in October, 2015 She hopes to have a job as an accountant in a foreign cooperation Hence, she is attempting to study English She has been studying English for one year two months in the language school Due to her unsatisfactory in listening skill, she embarked onto the study with the hope of

improving the skill

2.2.2.3 Learner 3

The third learner (L3) is a fourteen-year-old-teenager She is studying in a secondary school Beginning at six year olds, she had six years learning English in program for children After that, she moved to the school to study the communicative program Up

to now, she has studied there for two years Her purpose is to be successful in English

at her state school, communicate with foreigners, and IELTS to study abroad before moving to high school She enthusiastically took part in the research because she has interest in listening

2.3 Data collection procedure

Data was collected in two steps In the first step, observation is deployed The results

of observations are used to investigate listening strategy instructions and applications

in class The data were recorded and stored by the researcher‟s mp3 device Then, the

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researcher transcribed the data and analyzes them basing on the list of strategies mentioned in appendix 1 of Cheng (2000) The data are analyzed right after each observed lesson

In the second step, stimulated recalls are put into use Collected results from the recalls are done to make clear strategies in class Data which can clarify their uses of strategies are taken from each teacher and student During this step, the sub research questions (mentioned in chapter 1) are manifested Duration of the process is three different days for observations and three days, right after the days for observation, for stimulated recalls

Table of the process

(Time)

Teachers’

stimulated recalls (time)

Students’ stimulated recalls (time)

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CHAPTER 3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

3.1 Teachers’ strategy instructions when teaching listening

3.1.1 Teacher 1’s (T1’s)

T1 is undertaking an upper-intermediate class His main listening strategies for the observed lesson were metacognitive ones In terms of the importance of the strategies, his viewpoint coincides with Cross‟ (2009); metacognitive strategies, such as planning, monitoring, and self evaluating listening lessons, are the most pivotal for a teacher to instruct his students Actually, the researcher witnessed a number of metacognitive strategies in T1‟s class

At first, he instructed metacognitive listening strategies during his lesson as he expressed:

[If I use my knowledge to instruct learners to do their activities, they will depend on me while my goal is that they can study independently The final purpose of teaching is to help them know how to learn Therefore, I use metacognitive strategies] (T1/Sti/21/7)

When starting the lesson, he let learners clarify objectives to propose suitable strategies because he wanted learners to thoroughly understand their responsibilities For instance, to identify main ideas, he suggested that students should not go into every detail Meanwhile, in some kinds of exercises, such as finding data, numbers, percentages, fractions, spellings, students are recommneded to focus on details In addition, he demanded them to prepare vocabulary and background knowledge at home In stimulated recall, T1 expressed that he always requires students to make lesson preparation one week beforehand regardless of their primary or advanced level

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To listening tasks, he guided learners how to monitor their listening process When the learners are distracted, their whole listening process can be seriously affected, so he reminded them to keep calm and come back to their duty In the final step to finish the lesson, he let his students check their listening again by summarizing the lesson In his opinion, without this action, learners will easily forget the instant information He said

in his recall that he always double check knowledge in class and required students to

do it at home

However, it does not mean that he ignored cognitive and social affective strategies Actually, in cognitive strategies, vocabulary and background knowledge are important material to access a topic (Brody, 2004) His action was only checking vocabulary and provoking learners‟ background knowledge so that they are ready to listen He said,

[Prepared knowledge is always important but it should be done initially at home Classroom time length is limited to provide totally new knowledge, so students have to

do it at home.] (T1/Sti/ 21/7)

In term of social affective strategies, which affect learners‟ psychology (Gerami & Baighlou, 2011), interaction seemed to be successful in his class because students were enthusiastic in expressing their thinking by extending the topic In his view point,

[The final purpose of listening is communication Therefore, interaction – an active way

to express learners‟ thinking – should be encouraged] (T1/ Sti/23/7)

Briefly, the teacher‟s perspective is that teachers, as consultants, use both power and encouragement to instruct learners to self-study Therefore, metacognitive listening strategies are considered a key to his strategy instructions A question raised was that whether all of teachers have to same strategy use like T1 To discover the actual fact, T2‟s teaching was analyzed

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3.1.2 Teacher 2’s (T2’s)

Different from T1, T2 only used cognitive listening strategies in her class at primary level In “think aloud” procedure, T2 claimed that despite the importance of metacognitive and socialaffective listening strategies, cognitive strategies were the most essential to control the two kinds above Her perspective is found in the main result of Wong and Nunan‟s research (2011) that the level of using strategies corresponded to learners‟ ability via cognitive strategies

At first, her standpoint is found in the work of Anderson (1995) that, without the deployment of appropriate cognitive strategies, the potential of these metacognitive strategies was curtailed T2 said,

[I try to provide learners with cognitive strategies, such as identifying main ideas, guessing, predicting, inferring, checking.] (T2/Sti/2/8)

In pre-listening, she provided learners background knowledge and knowledge about sound, vocabulary, and structure because she believes that the clearer knowledge equipped, the better the result gained While listening, she did not interfere because she said any interruption could affect listening process After listening, she let students check their results by piecing parts of sentences In general, she instructed learners study, not how to study

About other strategies, she did pay attention, but the frequency was little She said, because learners in a private center came from different background and held different learning levels; it was hard to control each of their learning processes Especially in low level classes, when cognitive strategies were difficult to acquire, other strategies seemed to be impossible In metacognitive listening strategies, she confined that she often reminded them to do homework and prepare lessons at home, but they hardly did

it In social-effective listening strategies, during pre-listening and post-listening, she