THE ROLE OF LEARNER AUTONOMY IN THE IMPROVEMENT OF IELTS LISTENING SKILL IN FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIESFACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ---TRẦN THỊ TRUNG HIẾU THE ROLE OF LEARNER AUTONOMY IN THE IMPROVEME

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

-TRẦN THỊ TRUNG HIẾU

THE ROLE OF LEARNER AUTONOMY IN THE IMPROVEMENT OF IELTS LISTENING SKILL IN

FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY

( Vai trò của tính tự chủ của sinh viên trong việc phát triển

kĩ năng nghe IELTS tại trường Đại Học Ngoại Thương)

M.A COMBINED PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60140111

HANOI – 2015

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

-TRẦN THỊ TRUNG HIẾU

THE ROLE OF LEARNER AUTONOMY IN THE IMPROVEMENT OF IELTS LISTENING SKILL IN

FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY

( Vai trò của tính tự chủ của sinh viên trong việc phát triển

kĩ năng nghe IELTS tại trường Đại Học Ngoại Thương)

M.A COMBINED PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Dr Duong Thi Nu

HANOI – 2015

I hereby certify my authority of the research submitted entitled “The role of

learner autonomy in the improvement of IELTS listening skill in Foreign Trade University” in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of

Arts

Hanoi 2015

Tran Thi Trung Hieu

I would like to express my deep gratitude to Dr Duong Thi Nu - my researchsupervisor, for her patient guidance, enthusiastic encouragement and usefulcritiques of this research work I would like to thank my classmates Ms Trang and

Ms Hanh, for their advice and assistance in keeping my progress on schedule

I would also like to extend my thanks to my academic staff from my Faculty ofEnglish for Specific Purposes in Foreign Trade University for their help in offering

me the resources to enrich my research My grateful thanks are also extended to mydear students for their helpful enthusiasm and sincere sharing during my procedures

of data collection

Finally, I wish to thank my dear family, my beloved husband and my sincerefriends for their support and encouragement throughout my study

The effects of learner autonomy have been shown to play an important role inlanguage education However, we have not really progressed in autonomouslearning application There has been little research on the role of learner autonomy

in the improvement of listening skill in universities This study was designedinvestigate the relationship between learner autonomy and IELTS listening score inForeign Trade University (FTU) A survey research was adopted in this study and adesign of questionnaires and interviews was employed as the main instruments ofthe study The population included all first -year students from 7 CLC classes in thedifferent departments in Foreign Trade University; about 175 students The 36students enrolling CLC program from Business Management Department are thesample chosen for this study A convenient sampling design was used in this study.Data were collected through two phases of the study, utilizing both quantitativemethod (survey questionnaires) and qualitative method (semi-structured individualinterviews) Results reveal that IELTS listening autonomous learning enablesstudents to perform significantly better

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF FIGURES vi

LIST OF TABLES vii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Aims and Objectives of the study 4

3 Research questions 4

4 Methodology 4

5 Scope of the study 5

6 Significance of the study 5

7 Design of the study 6

PART B: DEVELOPMENT……….7

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW………7

1 Theoretical background 7

1.1 Definitions of Learner Autonomy 7

1.2 Learner autonomy in language learning 10

1.3 The Importance of Autonomous Learning 13

1.4 IELTS &Banks of Official IELTS 15

1.5 Listening 16

1.5.1 General listening 17

1.5.2 IELTS listening 18

2 Previous research 19

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY.………26

2.1.The context of the study 26

2.1.1 Context of institution 26

2.1.2 Context of class 26

2.1.3 Students 27

2.1.4 Teachers 27

2.1.5 Syllabus and objective 28

2.1.6 Textbook 28

2.1.7 Assessment 29

2.1.8 Teacher tasks assignment 30

2.1.9 Constraints 31

2.2 Methodology 32

2.3 Research design 33

2.3.1 Sample and sampling 33

2.3.2 Research Instruments 35

2.3.3 Data collection 39

2.3.4 Data analysis 41

CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND FINDINGS……….43

3.1 Results 43

3.1.1 Questionnaire results 43

3.1.2 Interview results 52

3.2 Findings 58

3.2.1 Answer to Question 1 58

3.2.2 Answer to question 2 59

CHAPTER 4: DISCUSSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS……… 62

4.1 Contribution of the study to existing literature 62

4.2 Recommendations 64

PART C: CONCLUSION……… 66

1 Summary of results and findings 66

2 Limitations 67

3 Suggestions for further research 68

REFERENCES………70 APPENDICES………I

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Attitudes and abilities to self-regulate their learning of category 1Figure 2: Attitudes and abilities to self-regulate their learning of category 2Figure 3: Attitudes and abilities to self-regulate their learning of category 3Figure 4: Comparison among 3 categories in terms of their agreementFigure 5: Comparison among 3 categories in terms of their “no idea”Figure 6: Comparison among 3 categories in terms of their disagreement

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Description of Autonomy

Table 2: Converting IELTS mark for first-year CLC studentsTable 3: Background information about the subjects of the studyTable 4: The results of the final test of 3 categories

Table 5: The results of entry test and final test of the whole class

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CLC: Chất Lượng Cao

FTU: Foreign Trade University

IELTS: International English Language Testing SystemL2: Second Language

ESP: English for Specific Purposes

TESOL: Teaching English to Students of Other LanguagesMOET: Ministry of Education and Training

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

Learner autonomy in language learning has attracted a large number ofresearchers all over the world with a great deal of the research originating in Europe(see Holec, 1981; Little, 1991; Dam, 1995) It has been further studied andpromoted by Asian researchers in countries such as Hong Kong (Benson, 2001;Littlewood, 2007) and Japan (Aoki & Smith, 1999; Aoki, 2001) The research onlearner autonomy recognizes the benefits and the possibility of fostering learnerautonomy in language education (Benson, 2007) In 1980, Holec mentioned themain purpose of language teaching as “to help the learner acquire the linguisticcommunicative abilities he has defined for himself” (Finch, 2001: 7) When weconsider this purpose of teaching language, it may be obvious that an autonomy is anecessity in the learning process which can be handled by the learners not by theteachers It will be more effective and long lasting if the role of teachers in thelearning process is limited to show students how to acquire the knowledge in asuitable way as the motto of strategic learning “life long lasting”

Traditionally, language curriculum has aimed to teach knowledge and skills,and has neglected to teach learners the way to learn Mostly the main elements oflearning will be the teacher and then the learners The teaching method that the

“teacher does to their learners” (Little, 1993, p.3) has been widely applied Theteachers were and are always be the only people who take charge of all theknowledge which is necessary for the learners on the assumed items The increase

in learning demands with the change of technology, social values, and standard lifebrings about the change of role of teachers A new term-“self-directed learning”- or–“autonomy”- has emerged nearly at the end of 1970’s Learner training in second

or foreign language teaching is a new way of teaching learners explicitly thetechniques of learning, and an awareness of how and when to use strategies toenable them to become self-directed (Williams and Burden 1997) Today, therefore,

there is a growing trend to explore learner autonomy in foreign language contexts(Benson, 2013) The trend, however, has been to research the application of learnerautonomy in particular educational contexts such as in mainstream languageeducation environments (Benson, 2007) This research recognizes the global trend

of an increasing approach to learner-centered education in the context of Vietnam asthe result of current needs:

- Needs from students: Littlewood’s (2000) study show that learners are notthat passive and they now do not wish to be merely “obedient listeners”(p.33) but “they would like to be active and independent” (Littlewood, 2000,

p 34) This is clearly a new direction of investigating how students learn andwant to learn in Vietnam In another study with 300 Vietnamese learners ofEnglish, Tomlinson and Dat (2004) reported that learners would be eager forchanges to the culture of their classrooms However, most teachers in thestudy were unaware of what their students felt and thought about themethodology of their courses (Tomlinson & Dat, 2004)

- Needs from teachers: Dang (2010) mentioned that “being stronglyconsidered part of the Eastern culture, teaching and learning in Vietnam ismore teacher-centered” (p 5) Nonetheless, “teachers of English in Vietnamseem to have accepted that the grammar-translation method is not effective

in English language teaching and learning” and that “they have begun torealize that communicative teaching method and student-centered approachesare what they need to implement in their teaching” (Brogan & Nguyen, 1999,

p 3) to improve students’ learning

- Needs from the government: Nowadays, it is necessary that education andtraining must not only be able to equip students with new scientific andcultural knowledge but also develop their reasoning, creative abilities andteam work skills (Moet, 2005) As a result, perceptions about teaching andlearning philosophies should be changed by Vietnamese educationalauthorities (Pham, 2008) They have put into consideration that thetraditional teaching and learning approach, with its emphasis on individual

achievement and transmission of information has become inadequate indeveloping students’ thinking and learning skills in current global society(Dang, 2010) Therefore, the importance of learner autonomy has beenacknowledged in a new educational policy number: 43/2007/QD-BGDDT(Moet, 2007, p.3) issued by the Vietnamese government In this policy,managing and teaching by credit system is strongly emphasized “One creditpoint is equivalent to 15 class hours In order to learn well, students mustspend at least 30 hours of preparation for an equivalent credit point” Thispolicy aims to develop more autonomous learning with more active andresponsible students, then to develop lifelong and autonomous learners.According to this new policy, all universities and institutions have to adapttheir syllabus and teaching and learning processes to a central accreditation-based system, which includes the development of learner autonomy It issuggested that teaching strategies should be changed to meet the expectations

of the new requirements Students’ roles are to become more active andresponsible for their studies because they have now got the chance to choosetheir own courses and teachers and so they themselves must learn how tomanage their time and learning process

To date, there have been few studies that focuses on the role of learnerautonomy in listening skills in general and in IELTS listening skills in particular Infact, teaching IELTS is a combination of English language training and IELTSexamination requirements and procedures in order that when students take thisexam, they are better able to produce their best results There is no magic remedyfor getting a high band in the exam Students themselves will be guaranteed to have

a good knowledge of English and to be more active and responsible for their studies

in order to achieve a band score which will make them eligible to follow CLCcurriculum in Foreign Trade University (FTU) In other words, autonomouslearning in IELTS listening skills has been strongly encouraged with the supportfrom the teacher As a starting point, the current research argues that in order tounderstand how learner autonomy can be effectively applied in FTU, its role in the

improvement of IELTS listening skills is necessary to be investigated in generallyVietnamese educational context and particularly Foreign Trade University

2 Aims and Objectives of the study

The main aim of this study was to investigate the role of learner autonomy inthe improvement of IELTS listening, especially to identify the role of students’attitudes and their abilities to self-regulate their learning in the improvement ofIELTS listening skill in Foreign Trade University Personally, it is challengingwhen taking charge of first-year CLC students Such CLC ones are assigned toachieve an essential band score of IELTS to meet the linguistic demands of ForeignTrade University That effectively counts only if there exists enthusiastic lecturerinvolvement and excellent student performance, especially students’ autonomouslearning As a matter of fact, the students are not well-aware of autonomy.Therefore, I would like to conduct a survey research so that the goal is achieved

To be more specific, the primary objectives were set as shown below:

- To investigate the students’ attitudes and abilities to self-regulate theirlearning towards IELTS listening skills at Foreign Trade University (FTU)

- To identify the effects of autonomous learning in IELTS class at FTU on theimprovement of first-year CLC students’ IELTS listening band score

instruments of the study The population included all first -year students in 7 CLCclasses in the different departments of Business Management, Banking and Financeand International Economics; about 175 students The 36 students enrolling CLCprogram from Business Management Department are the sample chosen for thisstudy A convenient sampling design was used in this study Moreover, tests wereused as the additional instrument to see the students’ improvement and supportmain instruments to find the answers to research questions.

5 Scope of the study

The study will not discuss the effectiveness of learner autonomy in learningall skills of official IELTS tests, but focus on listening skill only This is also asituational study in the learning and teaching IELTS setting of Foreign TradeUniversity with the population of 175 students 36 CLC students in the researcher’sown classroom will be the sample and respondents to the questionnaire, in-depthindividual interviews of the method themselves Since this study is carried out tofigure out learner autonomy in learning IELTS listening of CLC students in FTU,the results of the questionnaire will give the researcher supplementary support forthe conclusion drawings Thus, the findings of this paper may not be necessarilygeneralized to students at other universities

6 Significance of the study

The research on the role of autonomy plays a significant part, especiallymeaningful to pupils that have just graduated from high schools and entered newuniversity environment with new teaching methods If students still keep applyingtraditional teacher-centered learning method at universities, they will be overloadedwith wide knowledge that teachers cannot transmit in limited time If their learningmethods have not been gradually changed, especially to specialized IELTS practice,

it turns out difficult to get high band scores Moreover, a variety of IELTS materialsconfuses students; then, they get difficulty making good selections of sourcesrelevant to their language competence and CLC requirements Time arranged foreach lesson has just been enough for lecturers to introduce sources for students toget know well and guide them some necessary tips based on listening techniques to

practice at class Their autonomous performance involves students’ attitudes andabilities to control their own learning, their own learning strategies and self-searchfor further practice and Cambridge IELTS Tests, Online Banks of Official IELTS,and so on… are some of suggestions That is a good opportunity for students tocome into contact with real tests, self-evaluate their strengths and weaknesses inIELTS study, and consider whether their practice materials currently suit theirability and meet first-year linguistic demands

7 Design of the Study

The study is divided into three parts, which are presented as follows:

Part A (Introduction) provides an overview of the study, containing the rationale ofthe study, aims and objectives, research questions, research methodology, scope,significance and the design of the study Part B (Development) consists of 4chapters Chapter 1 presents literature review relevant to the study This chapterprovides the background knowledge of learner autonomy, learner autonomy inlanguage learning, the importance of learner autonomy, IELTS test, generallistening and IELTS listening This part also illustrates some related research(literature review) conducted by other researchers as well as their gaps in the fieldwhich inspire the writer to conduct the study Chapter two describes themethodology underlying the research, which presents the context of the study, therationale for using survey research, the details about the participants and allinstruments employed by the researcher as well as procedures to collect data.Chapter three presents the process of data analysis Chapter four is devoted to adetailed description of the significant findings from data collection, and discussionsafter analyzing gathered data from described instruments Part C (Conclusion)presents the conclusion which focus on the findings and summary of the mainpoints of the study This chapter also points out several limitations of the research aswell as some implications which presents some further recommendations for theeffective application of learner autonomy in IELTS CLC class as well assuggestions for further study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This Chapter reviews the relevant literature to the study and explanation ofsome key terms in the study This chapter begins with the definition of learnerautonomy, learner autonomy in language learning and its importance, someinformation about IELTS test, listening skill in general and IELTS listening skill inparticular and some related research-literature review of learner autonomy

1 Theoretical background

1.1 Definitions of Learner Autonomy

The term “autonomy” which is derived originally from the fields of politics

and moral philosophy, is a slippery term because it is widely confused with instruction and independent learning It is also a multifaceted concept whosemeaning has been discussed from many perspectives by theoreticians (Benson 2001,2007) The below table representing the definitions of autonomy made by differentthinkers is adopted from Finch (2001: Appendix 1-2)

self-Table 1: Description of Autonomy

1 Holec (1981) The ability to take charge of one’s own learning… This

ability is not inborn but must be acquired either by

“natural” means or (as most often happens) by formallearning, in a systematic, deliberate way

2 Young (1986) Authoring one’s own world without being subject to

the will of others

3 Dickinson

1 (1987)

Complete responsibility for one’s learning, carried outwithout the involvement of a teacher or pedagogicmaterials

2 (1992) An attitude towards learning in which the learner is

prepared to take, or does take, responsibility for hisown learning

4 Boud (1988) Students take some significant responsibility for their

own learning over and above responding to instruction

5 Hunt, Gow and

Barnes (1989)

Decision-making process involved in identifyingproblems and making relevant decisions for theirsolution through access to sufficient sources ofinformation

A capacity for detachment, critical reflection, decisionmaking and independent action

7 Allwright

(1990)

A constantly changing but at any time optimal state ofequilibrium between maximal self-development andhuman interdependence

8 Wenden, A (1991) In effect, successful or expert or intelligent learners

have learned how to learn They have acquired thelearning strategies, the knowledge about learning, andthe attitudes to enable them to use these skills andknowledge confidently, flexibly, appropriately andindependently of a teacher Therefore they areautonomous

9 Kant (1991) Foundation of human dignity

10 Legutke and Thomas

(1991) and

Littlewood (1996)

An ability that has to be acquired (learning how tolearn) and is separate from the learning that may takeplace when autonomy has been acquired

11 Benson, P

1.(1996)

The concept of autonomy is indeed beginning to enterthe mainstream of language learning methodology

2 (1996) Autonomization is necessarily a transformation of the

learner as a social individual… autonomy not onlytransforms individuals, it also transforms the socialsituations and structures in which they are participants

12 Cotteral, S (2000) Autonomy is an incontrovertible goal for learners

everywhere, since it is obvious that no students,anywhere, will have their teachers to accompany themthroughout life

13 Fenner, A (2000) An attitude or even a philosophy than a methodology

14 Shrader, S.R (2003) Self-directed learning or a shift of responsibility for

learning from teacher to student

From these definitions, it is clear that researchers try to explain autonomy infive main categories: 1 an inborn capacity which is supposed by institutionaleducation; 2 a set of skills which can be learned and applied in self-directedlearning; 3 situations in which learners study entirely on their own; 4 the emphasis

of learners’ responsibility for their own learning; 5 the right of learners todetermine the direction of their own learning (Benson and Voller, 1997:1)

While the first time when the term ‘learner autonomy’ was used in secondlanguage education is not known, it first appeared officially in the Council ofEurope Modern Languages Project in 1979 by Holec This resulted in thepublication of Holec’s 1981 seminal report (Holec, 1981), in which he definedlearner autonomy as “the ability to take charge of one’s own learning” (p 3).Benson (2007a: 22) remarks that ‘Holec’s (1981) definition of learner autonomy hasproved remarkably robust’ and Little (2007: 15) has recently described it as a

‘foundational definition’

Following this, learner autonomy with various other definitions have beenconsidered For instance, Wenden (1999) recognized the importance ofmetacognitive awareness when she claimed that true learner autonomy mentionedhow students reflect on their learning and how they are able to realize when theyhave effective learning opportunities In another example, Littlewood (1996) took

the notion of autonomy as “learners’ ability and willingness to make choicesindependently” (p 427) He argued that “this capacity depends on two maincomponents: ability and willingness” (p 428) These two abilities areinterdependent and are divided into subcomponents of knowledge about thealternative choices and skills available for carrying out appropriate choices.Willingness depends on the motivation and confidence a person has in order to takeresponsibility for necessary choices In order to become autonomous successfully, aperson needs to have the four subcomponents of knowledge, skills, motivation, andconfidence Littlewood also suggested that these components be focused in thedevelopment of learner autonomy

In short, definitions of learner autonomy have been varied (Littlewood(1999: 71)) However, the basis of autonomy has always been the ability to takeresponsibility for (or take control/charge of) one’s own learning (Cotterall ((1995:195); Dickinson (1995: 165); Little (1999); Littlewood (1999: 71); Benson (2006:21); Little (2007: 14)) This definition of learner autonomy is also used for the

current research: Autonomy refers to abilities and attitudes (or whatever we think

the “a capacity to control your own learning”) The point is, then, that “learning by

yourself is not the same thing as having the capacity to learn by yourself Also,autonomous learners may be better than others at learning by themselves, but they

do not necessarily have to learn by themselves” (Nguyen (2014:16))

1.2 Learner autonomy in language learning

In fact, in the traditional education setting, the main and most importantelement is the teacher, then the learners The teachers are responsible for all of thelearners and their learning process They were and are always be the only people todecide necessary information for the learners from delivering, explaining,motivating, setting standards for this piece of knowledge to assessing them Formore details, they have to supply the knowledge, transmit the knowledge, set thestandards of the knowledge or learning and also motivate the learners to absorb theknowledge and finally assess the improvement of the learners meanwhile assessthemselves as the information provider at the end of each semester In terms of

responsibilities of the learners, it is clear that their main role is to achieve thestandards set by the teachers at the beginning of each semester To reach this goal,they may absorb the information, display understanding and skill, apply the theoryinto practice Obviously, the traditional education system has put a great pressure onthe shoulders of the teachers

Also in Vietnam, traditionally, teaching and learning English is limited togiving students lessons and far from teaching them how to learn; that is, the maintask of the teacher is to transmit the knowledge to his/her students (Trinh, 2005)rather than encouraging students to become autonomous in their learning Kramschand Sullivan (1996) studied that teachers are traditionally considered as masters ofknowledge in the classroom Researchers (Mumphreys & Wyatt, 2014; Nguyen,Toulouw & Pilot, 2006) indicated that Vietnamese learners have been influenced bythe Confucian perspective in that there are “traditional beliefs of relational hierarchy

in classrooms, where the roles of teachers and learners are rooted deeply in people’sthinking” (Ho & Crookall, 1995, p 237) Students are in these classes not aware ofconstruct the information that they receive from the teachers They tend to bedependent and believe that all the knowledge from teachers seem to be all right Inthe classroom, the students are passive and not directly confront teachers Thiswould be disrespectful and cause the teacher to lose face As a consequence, schoolsare formed in a structure where the authority is not shared; individuality andcreativity are less encouraged (Harman & Nguyen, 2009) In short, developinglearner autonomy in the traditional system tends to be insupportable during thelearning and teaching process

The changing world urgently demands for the change in teachers’ roles andnew term-“self-directed learning”- or –“autonomy”- has emerged as a result of thatfact In language teaching, Holec is one of the thinkers who mostly prefers to usethe word autonomy instead of the other words such as self-directed learning usedfor autonomy In Holec (1980) it is indicated that “adult education becomes aninstrument for arousing an increasing sense of awareness and liberation in man, and

in some cases, an instrument for changing the environment itself” From the idea of

(Finch, 2001:2) Related to this movement, a number of learner-centered approachestook place in 1980’s and in 1990’s which mainly included autonomy as the basis oftheir curriculum These are briefly learner-training (Ellis and Sinclair 1989;Dickinson 1992), the learner-centered curriculum (Nunan 1988c), learning-strategytraining (Oxford 1990b; Wenden 1991a), the project-based syllabus (Legutke andThomas 1991), and learner-based teaching (Campbell & Kryszewska, 1992) Allthese approaches are named by many of the researchers as the early work on learnerautonomy which was developed in 1980’s by Strevens, Holec Allwright, Dickinson,Wenden and Rubin, Little, Devitt and Singleton, etc (Finch, 2001: 2)

Among a number of terms related to ‘self-directed learning’, the mostpopular one nowadays is “autonomy” It has been mostly agreed that autonomy andautonomous learning are not directly the synonyms of ‘self-directed’, 'self-instruction', 'self-access', 'self-study', 'self-education', 'out-of-class learning' or'distance learning' These terms can be distinguished in various way and basicallydescribe various degrees of learning by yourself, while autonomy mentions abilitiesand attitudes (or whatever we think “a capacity to control your own learning”) Asmentioned before, this means that “learning by yourself is not the same thing ashaving the capacity to learn by yourself Also, autonomous learners may be betterthan others at learning by themselves, but they do not necessarily have to learn bythemselves” (Nguyen (2014:16)) Autonomy has been widely applied in languageteaching with the pedagogical concerns on ‘learner-centered’ aims and methods thatmainly focuses on the independent learner and how they think, learn and behave.According to Benson and Voller, “Such an approach is often characterized bytensions between responsibility and freedom from constraint; between theindividual and the social; and between the view of language learning as a means to

an end (autonomy for language learning) and as an end in itself (language learningfor autonomy)” (1997: 5) There was always a duality in the definition of autonomy

Overall, a strong link has been found between learner autonomy and regulation According to Perry, Nordby, and VandeKamp (2003: 317), the term self-regulated is used to describe metacognitive, intrinsically motivated, and strategiclearners Zimmerman (2002: 64) defines self-regulation as “self-generated thoughts,

self-feelings, and behaviors that are oriented to attaining goals” According to Wenden(1995:183) “in the cognitive literature on learning and instruction, autonomous

learning is referred to as self-regulation” The ability to take responsibility for

learning often refers to learners’ ownership of many learning processes traditionally owned by teachers such as setting goals; choosing learning methods, materials and tasks; monitoring and evaluating progress (Ho and Crookall (1995:

235); Cotterall (1995: 195); Littlewood (1999: 71); Benson (2006: 21) Thesestrategies have been used in the literature to describe both autonomous and self-regulated learners (e.g Wenden (1995: 235); Lee (1998: 282); Graham, Harris andTroia (1998) These characteristics of autonomous and self-regulated learners arealso investigated in the framework of the current research

1.3 The Importance of Autonomous Learning

In recent years, ideas for the promoting autonomy in language educationremain controversial However, most researchers are trying to change theperceptions of autonomous learning of teachers and students, indicate the benefits

on individual enhancement in learning process and effective classroom applications

of learner strategies in their studies They have been interested in finding the ways

to support their learners to be autonomous In 1985, Wenden claimed that “learnerstrategies are the key to learner autonomy, and that one of the most important goals

of language training should be the facilitating of that autonomy” (Brown 1994:124) Also, Dickinson (1987) provides five main reasons for supporting self-instruction (Finch, 2001: 5) such as practical reasons, individual differences amonglearners, educational aims, motivation, and learning how to learn foreign languages.Moreover, Cotteral, Benson and Voller, Brooks and Grundy, Little, Kelly and manyother names also advocated for autonomy or namely self-instructed learning andcommonly agreed on the issues that are mentioned below:

1 a resulting increase in enthusiasm for learning (Littelejohn, 1985);

2 taking an active, independent attitude to learning and independentlyundertaking a learning task is beneficial to learning; personal involvement indecision making leads to more effective learning (Dickinson, 1995);

3 when the learner sets the agenda, learning is more focused and purposeful,and thus more effective both immediately and in the longer term (cf Little1991; Holec 1981; Dickinson 1987);

4 when responsibility for the learning process lies with the learner, thebarriers to learning and living that are found in traditional teacher-lededucational structures need to arise (Little 1991; Holec 1981; Dickinson1987);

5 without such barriers, learners should have little difficulty in transferringtheir capacity for autonomous behavior to all other areas of their lives, andthis should make them more useful members of society and “more effectiveparticipants in the democratic process.” (Little, 1991);

6 “…much of the significant language learning which individuals, forvariety of reasons, undertake at different stages in their lives, occurs outsideclassroom walls unassisted- some would state unencumbered- by a classroomteacher” (Finch, 2001: 6)

In short, the benefits of developing learner autonomy in language educationcan be summarized into three major areas (Little, 1991) Firstly, as the student isinvolved in the decision-making process, “learning should be more focused andpurposeful, and thus more effective both immediately and in the longer term”(Little, 1991, p 8) Secondly, as it is the “learner’s responsibility for their learningprocess, the constraints between learning and living that are often found intraditional teacher-centered educational structures should be minimized”(Littlewood, 1997, p.72) Finally, it is believed that when a student is autonomousfor his/her own learning, it is more likely that (s)he will be responsible in otherareas in his/her life, and as consequence, (s)he will be a useful and more effectivemember of the society (Little, 1991) In fact, Littlewood (1997), Dam (2008),Benson (2008) and Hamilton (2013) have shown the advantages of fostering learnerautonomy in language education in their research The fact results in the trend ofapplication of learner autonomy in particular educational contexts such as in

mainstream language education environments (Benson, 2007) The current researchalso follows this trend.

1.4 IELTS &Banks of Official IELTS

The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is the world’smost popular high-stakes English language proficiency test for higher education andglobal migration, with more than 2 million tests taken in the last year IELTSassesses all of four English skills — reading, writing, listening and speaking — and

is designed to reflect real life use of English — at study, at work, and at play TheIELTS test is developed by some of the world’s leading experts in languageassessment It has an excellent international reputation, and is accepted by over8,000 organizations worldwide, including schools, universities, employers, immigrationauthorities and professional bodies

IELTS is the most widely accepted English language test that uses a one speaking test to assess English communication skills This means thatcandidates are assessed by having a real-life conversation with a real person This isthe most effective and natural way of testing English conversation skills There aretwo versions of the test – IELTS Academic or IELTS General Training – depending

one-on-on the organizatione-on-on candidates are applying to and their plans for the future Bothversions of the test are made up of four parts – Listening, Reading, Writing andSpeaking IELTS results are graded on the unique IELTS 9-band scale

Banks of Official IELTS

1 Cambridge Test Series 1-9

2 Latest Publishers for IELTS

- A&C Black

- Cambridge University Press

- Educational Software Products

- Express Publishing

- Macmillan

- Marshall Cavendish Education

- OUP

Initially, most of the listening strategy studies have been investigating patternsand strategies used by successful versus less successful learners Gradually the line

of research shifted to focus on effective strategies-based and process orientedapproaches to teaching listening skill in order to guide the students “learn to listen”

so that they can better “listen to learn” (Vandergrift, 2004) Therefore, listeninginstructors have the responsibility of teaching students to take advantage ofstrategies rather than merely providing students with oral passages and testig them(Mendelsohn, 1995)

Three types of learning strategies have been applied in listening instruction:cognitive strategies, metacognitive strategies and socioaffective strategies (Chamot,1993; Oxford et al.1989; Vandergrift, 1997) Cognitive strategies consist ofinferencing, resourcing and note taking which are unconscious interactions with thematerial to be learned Metacognitive strategies refer conscious management andregulation over learning process namely planning, concerntrating and monitoring.Socioaffective involve interacting with peers or management of affection tofacilitate learning, such as asking question, collaborating with classmates andcontrolling stress (O’Malley et al.,1989; Oxford et al., 1989; Vandergrift, 1997)

1.5.1 General listening

The researcher would like to consider listening from two differentperspectives: Listening as comprehension and listening as acquisition

Listening as comprehension

Listening as comprehension is the traditional way of thinking about thenature of listening Based on the assumption that the main function of listening inL2 learning is to facilitate understanding of spoken discourse, this view of listeningworks The researcher will examine this view of listening in details beforeconsidering a complementary view of listening – listening as acquisition The latterview of listening employs how listening can provide input which triggers the furtherdevelopment of L2 proficiency.

Listening comprehension is theoretically viewed as an active process inwhich individuals focus on selected aspects of aural input, construct meaning from

passages, and relate what they hear to existing knowledge Comprehension means

listening is not simply a process of just hearing what is said; it is like a child’sability to understand meaning of words that he hears and relate to them in someways A good practice of listening comprehension enables listeners to understand,remember, discuss and even retell in their own words Learning to listencomprehensively is not only a prerequisite to reading comprehension, but alsoprovides a rich resource for listeners to draw upon what they want to convey theirown thoughts and feelings as a native speaker

Listening as acquisition

We have just discussed about the role of listening in a language programbased on the assumption that it can basically help develop learners’ abilities tounderstand what they listen to As I mentioned above, listening as acquisitionemploys how listening can provide input to development of L2 proficiency.Therefore, this approach has been based on the following assumptions: Listeningserves the goal of extracting meaning from messages In order to achieve thislearners have to be well educated how to use both bottom up and top downprocesses to understand the messages Temporary carriers of meaning can be found

in the language of utterances such as the precise words, syntax, expressions used byspeakers If the meaning has been clarified, the form of messages requires no furtherattendance unless misunderstandings occur Moreover, teaching listening strategiescan make learners more effective listeners

1.5.2 IELTS listening

In IELTS, the listening comprehension is designed to assess candidates’ability to understand spoken English and is the same for all candidates There is apre-recorded tape which lasts for about thirty minutes There are a total of aboutforty questions There are four sections in the test Each section may contain two

or three linked passages of two to three minutes each, or one longer passage ofabout five minutes The passages get more difficult as candidates progress throughthe tape

The earlier sections use situations in which candidates may find themselves

on first arriving in an English-speaking country, when they need 'survival English'.These include finding their way around, following directions, giving and takingdown information, making arrangements etc Section 1 is always in the form of adialogue between two or more speakers, while section 2 is a talk or someinformation given by one person at a time In the later sections the topics usuallyconcern education and training Here candidates may have to do the kind of thingthey will need to do in an academic environment - listen to pre-recordedinformation, listen to lectures, pick out relevant key information from a dialogueand so on Again, section 3 is a dialogue or discussion, while section 4 is a singlevoice giving a talk or lecture So they will hear monologues and dialogues Theywill hear male voices and female voices They will also hear a variety of accents.They will hear the passages once only, as in most situations in real life Candidatesare given a booklet This contains all the instructions and questions with space towrite their answers

As in the reading test, there is a wide range of question types Much of thismay be in the form of graphics, such as tables This applies also to multiple-choicequestions, where candidates may have to choose between a number of pictures ormark a point on a plan Spelling is important, especially where it is clear from thetape that accuracy is required, such as filling in important details on an applicationform Errors in spelling and grammar are only accepted on very uncommon words Answers require notes, letters or numbers rather than complete sentences

Candidates will be given time to check their answers between sections, and at theend of the test, as well as time to read the questions before each section Instructions are recorded on the tape They are clear and candidates are sometimesgiven examples of what they have to do At the end of the test they are given tenminutes to transfer their answers to an answer sheet

2 Previous research

In 1980s, learner autonomy has been heated debate in language educationunder the influence of learner-centered teaching methods The main supporters inresearch into learner autonomy in the field of language learning remain Holec(1981, 1985, 2007), Dam (1995, 2000, 2003), Little (1991, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000,

2001, 2002, 2007), and more recently Benson (1996, 1997, 2001, 2007a, 2007b,2007c) While Dam’s work has mainly involved working with children, many of herideas and general principles are applicable to adult learners and she has workedclosely with others in the field across sectors Holec (1979) raises a “foundationaldefinition” of learner autonomy: “the ability to take charge of one’s learning” which

is a skill ‘to be acquired by “natural” means or in a systematic, deliberate way.’ Hebelieves in the absolute freedom of learners to direct all decisions concerning theirlearning – the what, when, how, in what order and by what means – and to workwith ‘a reality which he himself constructs and dominates’ (Holec, 1981: 21) Thesociety changing with its human-centered retails changes in institutional educationwith new methods No longer have the learners been dependent than they becomethe builders and controllers of their own learning in both learning styles andknowledge Therefore, learner autonomy also changes from “direct teaching” to

“self-instructed learning” However, “self-instructed learning” is not innate ability;

it must be systematically and intentionally gained through formal teaching Besides,Little (2007) refers three fundamental rules for success in language teaching: learnerinvolvement, learner reflection and target language use Little also puts forwardsome suggestions to the above rules

Learner autonomy has caught much attention of researchers all over the worldfor more than three decades More specifically, researchers have extensively

investigated learner autonomy in second language learning, especially in developedcountries Hereby, the researcher conducts the research in the context of Vietnam;therefore, similar studies in Asian and Vietnamese contexts will be considered tofind the gap in the literature Concerning the empirical findings of previous studies

in Asian contexts, Dafei (2007) concerns the relationship between learner autonomyand English proficiency of non-English majors in a Chinese college Statisticalresults reveal that English proficiency is significantly positive and linearly related tolearner autonomy That means the more autonomous a learner becomes, the morelikely he/she can achieve high language proficiency Moreover, learner autonomytends to help students to effectively monitor and self-evaluate their learning processrather than the only large quantity of teachers’ efforts Besides that, learnermotivation is also highlighted as a major factor promoting the efficiency ofautonomous learning Also in Chinese contexts, the study “The Relationshipbetween EFL learner’s Beliefs and Learning strategy Use” done by Yang isinvestigating the impact of awareness of the self-learning and motivation onlanguage learning success In his study, Yang (1999) tried to answer the question of

“how are foreign/ second language learners’ beliefs about language learning related

to their strategy use?” One of the studies which also mentions about self-learning orself-access is the study of Littlewood “Self-access: why do we want it and what can

it do?” (In Benson and Voller, 1997:91) He claims that self-access is a means ofencouraging autonomy in learning and communication but it has also somelimitations Although self-access is strong both in the domain of receptive andproductive skills the process of developing self-access or autonomy in learningprocess needs teacher involvement until the students are seen to be ready for beingindependent

In another development, Bacikanli (2010) finds that it is crucial for Turkishstudents to be involved in formulating the objectives of foreign language learning tomake the learning process more meaningful Respondents show their clearperception of leaner autonomy and strong preference for a more autonomouslearning environment They feel more confident and effective if they have freedom

of choices of materials they employ in the classroom The research adds that

developing language learners’ ability of self-assessment and self-reflection of theirown competence will eventually encourage them to take greater responsibility fortheir own learning Additionally, Bancikanli (2010) points out that the prevalence offormal teacher-centered educational system in Turkey may hinder the readiness oflearners in actual autonomous learning despite of an available well-constructednotion of teachers and learners.

Recently, Tanyeli and Kuter (2013) examine the practice of learnerautonomy in foreign language learning and instruction The study focuses on thepractice of learner autonomy in language studying as a whole and specifically inEnglish writing skill Using questionnaire and semi-structured interview protocols

on a group of freshmen, their findings displayed that English learners have apositive attitude towards autonomous learning and be actively responsible for their

own learning progress to become “a socially responsible learner” The study also

finds out that language learners need to be carefully instructed by teachers throughproviding appropriate tools and opportunities to practice but it does not mean totaldependence on teachers Surveyed students point out inappropriate instructionalenvironment and designed curriculum as major problems inhibiting their autonomy

in language learning On the other hand, surveyed teachers think that time constraintand learner passive participation in learning could not produce effective learningautonomy

The studies reviewed here have focused upon learner autonomy within aparticular context of Asia The proposed study focuses on the role of learnerautonomy in Vietnam In particular it concentrates on how student’s attitudes andtheir ability of learning by their will have an effect on students’ improvement Thecurrent study will be situated in Vietnam, so it is important now to discuss theresearch on learner autonomy in this context

However, in the context of Vietnam, where traditional teaching methods arecommonly employed (Dang, 2010; Pham, 2008; Phan, 2006), research into learnerautonomy has been limited Although, learner autonomy is not an entirely new term

in Vietnamese educational settings, further research needs to be conducted to

develop deeper understandings of learner autonomy and how it might be appliedwithin Vietnamese classrooms.

In details, researchers (Ho & Crookall, 1995; Littlewood, 1999) indicate thatEastern learners, including Vietnamese learners, share the same traditional beliefs ofrelational hierarchy in the classrooms, where the roles of teachers and learners arerooted deeply in people’s thinking In these classes, students tend to be very passiveand dependent upon their teachers for learning The general debate has given rise tothe vast volume of available related materials in Vietnam Although learnerautonomy in Vietnamese contexts has been interpreted differently, in each case, the

definitions include learners’ self-regulated skills such as planning, monitoring, and

assessing or self-evaluating their own learning (Trinh, 2005; Dang, 2010; Nguyen, 2010; Le, 2013) Those researchers agree that it is possible to train Vietnamese

learners to be autonomous but the process also faces some challenges

For instance, Trinh (2005) conducts pre-test and post-test experiments onEFL first-year students at Can Tho University to investigate the effect of curriculumadaptation and innovation The results show that task-based language learningproves its efficiency in developing learner autonomy and communicativecompetence Moreover, four parameters of the curriculum (choices, interactions,task features and learner development) are set out to encourage students to integrateinto independent learning Trinh (2005) disagrees with the view that (Vietnamese)learners themselves are not autonomous by nature The problem indeed lies on theeducational system which should be designed to create learners’ opportunities to usethe target language authentically and allow choices of what to do and how to dolearning tasks

While Trinh (2005) uses a task-based approach, Nguyen (2010) explores therelationship between learner autonomy and students’ language proficiency through

a learner-based approach She supports the definition of autonomous learning as the

learners’ capability to self-initiate and self-regulate their learning Nguyen’s study

indicated there exists a positive relationship between learner autonomy andstudents’ language proficiency Nguyen stated that “like other Asian learners…

Vietnamese learners are autonomous The Vietnamese culture, did not inhibit but,facilitated learner autonomy” (Nguyen, 2010, p 295) However, “while the self-initiation of learners is not easily changed or improved through teaching, it ispossible to enhance it through teaching learners meta-cognitive skills of planning,monitoring and evaluating” (Nguyen, 2009, p 295) Once again, Nguyen

emphasizes that teaching meta-cognitive skills of planning, monitoring and

evaluating could help learners to design their own learning strategies.

Contributing to that literature, Dang (2010) examines the role of learnerautonomy in higher education in Vietnam from a socio-cultural view Agreeing with

Ho & Crookall (1995), Dang states a fact that absorbing and memorizing is thepopular philosophy of education practices in Vietnam Teacher-centered learning,big size class, rigorous test-oriented system, unequal opportunity to access internetcould be considered as socio-cultural aspects which restrict the practice of learnerautonomy in Vietnam (supported by M.H Nguyen, 2008; A.N Nguyen, 2011; C.T.Nguyen , 2011; N.T Nguyen, 2012; Phan, 2012) He found that three dimensions ofteaching and learning process (resources, learner identities and practices) play animportant role in promoting learner autonomy The study also suggests that it isbetter and easier for the teachers to actively involve their students in autonomouslearning practice rather than negotiate with authority Therefore, autonomy-promoting teaching practices need to provide learners wider opportunities fornegotiations and choices to help them find their own learning path Supporting thatargument, N.T Nguyen (2012) found a good result of the active involvement of theteachers by conducting an experiment in a Vietnamese EFL class In her study,experimental learners have become more active and motivated when they are givenchances to involve in class decision making by the teacher

The most recent research is recorded for T.N Nguyen (2014) In her thesis,Nguyen claims that learner autonomy in Vietnamese educational system isconsidered a Western-origin construct This study emphasizes the alignmentbetween teachers’ beliefs and their actual teaching practices Teachers’ lack ofunderstanding about learner autonomy and their subsequent teaching do not fosterautonomous learning This results from their confusion of the construct and

reluctance to transform course designing tasks to learners Even those, who haveexperienced Western educational environment, are still not confident to implementpromoting-autonomous learning activities in their class

Although learner autonomy in Vietnamese contexts has been interpreted

differently, in each case, the definitions mostly include learners’ self-regulated

skills such as planning or initiating, monitoring, and assessing or evaluating their learning (Dang, 2010; Le, 2013; Nguyen, 2010; Trinh, 2005) The mentioned

researchers shared the same ideas that autonomy in language learning can beapplied within a Vietnamese context and that Vietnamese learners could be trained

to be autonomous; however, their research has approached the notion of fosteringlearner autonomy in the Vietnamese educational contexts differently In short,despite the steady increase in the number of papers devoted to the theory andpractice of autonomy in language learning over the last two decades, we have notreally progressed very far in our attempts to reach a common definition and agreedpractical application In fact, some research even showed that there was no clearexistence of relationship between autonomous learning and student’s success inlanguage learning

For instance, As Cotteral stated in her article, Developing a Course Strategyfor Learner Autonomy, learners who are autonomous might take responsibility fortheir own learning by setting their own goals, planning practice opportunities, orassessing their progress (1995: 219) However, the research result indicates thatthere was no significant relation between autonomy and success Since, the previouslearning behaviors of the subjects were not appropriate for autonomous learning; itwas difficult for them to have the responsibility of assessing their ownimprovements in regular intervals In order to help them to acquire the behavior ofbeing autonomous learners, much time is needed to provide the wanted behavior

Another study held by Harris (1997), is discussing the issue of assessment of the learners He claims that self-assessment is a key learning strategyfor autonomous language learning, enabling the students to monitor their progressand relate learning to individual needs But as he continues stating in his article(1997: 1), students are often passive in their approach to learning, and may become

self-demotivated if they cannot see any clear progress But improvement in language ismatter of time and also this time can change from one learner to another related tothe ability and capacity.

In spite of that fact, everlasting learning demand has been the result ofcontinuously developed society and urgently requires educational innovation.Bringing into play learner autonomy at universities is one step in learning ladder ofall students’ life On the other hand, although lots of prior studies conduct research

on promoting autonomous learning in Vietnam, a debate still exists between thosewho follow traditional teaching methods and those who support adapting newteaching style Moreover, M.H, Nguyen (2008) found that learners considerlistening skill as the most difficult skill in English learning which require muchefforts and appropriate autonomous learning strategies However, almost allprevious studies investigate the effect of learner autonomy on English proficiency

as a whole or specifically for writing skill Those points raises a need of changingcurrent perceptions of learner autonomy and finding an appropriate approach toenhance learner listening performance by fostering learner autonomy in Vietnam.There has been few research on the role of learner autonomy in the improvement oflistening skill in universities, especially IELTS listening Therefore, the researcher

in this study desires to investigate the relationship between learner autonomy andIELTS listening score in Foreign Trade University (FTU)

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

As mentioned above, this study was designed to investigate the relationshipbetween learner autonomy and their IELTS listening band score In order to achievethe aim of the study, a survey research was set and implemented in first-year CLCstudents in Foreign Trade University This chapter presents the detailed information

about context of the study, the rationale of using survey research, the population andthe chosen sample, the procedures as well as the instruments for data collection.

2.1 The context of the study

2.1.1 Context of institution

The study was conducted in Foreign Trade University (FTU) As considered

as one of the leading Universities in Vietnam, Foreign Trade University is known for training students to become businessmen in the future It is an urban-setting institution which attracts learners from a variety of backgrounds, rangingfrom small villages to big cities

well-2.1.2 Context of class

Depending on students’ results of University entrance exam and majors,students are normally grouped into different classes of about 25 to 40 students Infact, they are at different English backgrounds While some are from urban areasand have learnt English for more than 10 years ( ranging from pre-intermediate toIntermediate level), others are from countryside and just have 3 years learningEnglish ( elementary level) At university, students have to learn general English forthe first two years, which focus on 4 English skills (Reading, Listening, Speakingand Writing), and English for Specific Purposes in the third and fourth years Based

on this, both teachers and students are aware of the importance of general English inthe first and second years because they will provide them with a good background

in order that they will develop more in the rest two years Since the open-doorpolicy in 1986, Vietnam is on its way to integrate into the world economy Inresponse to this tendency, Vietnamese people have been putting great efforts inacquiring English, one of the most widely-used languages in the world, for theyknow that future leaders are required to fully reflect a globalized mind A newlanguage may open up a new horizon to Vietnam, and people’s lives may take upnew opportunities Foreign Trade University (FTU), which is renowned for trainingfuture businesspeople, is regarded as one of the leading universities in Vietnam

Being aware of the importance of communication skills, the university hasintroduced IELTS module to the first-year high-quality students.

2.1.3 Students

Students in Foreign Trade University are placed in classes based on theirmajors in accordance with their grades of university’s entrance exam and age-groups A class normally consists of about 25 to 40 students Sadly, there is a widerange of ability in terms of English skills Some of the students who major inEnglish have been studying this subject continually for 7 years in their secondaryschools and high schools prior to enrolling into university This group of student isassumed to be at the pre-intermediate or intermediate level Whereas, some othershave just learned English for 3 years in their high schools, or some others evenlearned different languages like Japanese, Korean or Chinese before they enroll inuniversity These students are regarded as beginners when they study English In

FTU, CLC is the term that refers to recognizing for achieving high grades or

outstanding academic achievement on a coursework or an exam CLC first-yearstudents in Foreign Trade University (FTU) aim at those who get high marks in theentrance examination to FTU and get over 620 of the TOEIC Entry Test Achievingsuch scores means these students in FTU can acquire basic necessary skills in

English competence and ability to independently study (See Appendix 1) In this study, CLC can be understood by the meanings of honored, gifted, high-quality,

fast-track These words can be used in different contexts for different purposes but

share the same meanings

2.1.4 Teachers

In the Faculty of English for Specific Purposes, half of the teachers, aboutthirty of them, are in charge of teaching the first year and second year students tohelp them form a basis of general English skills, which serves their majors in thetwo following years The others take the responsibility of teaching English forSpecific Purposes (ESP) for the senior students and high-quality ones Most ofthem are well-educated and qualified for the job as a teacher of English Yet, thereare still a few teachers who are not trained in the aspect of Teaching English to

Students of Other Languages (TESOL), which leads to some limitations in theirteaching competence.

2.1.5 Syllabus and objective

As a part of the syllabus designed by the Faculty of English for SpecificPurposes, CLC learners in FTU have to study IELTS module in their first year.Students study this subject in two semesters with ten weeks for each In each of thetwo terms, there is a three-period lesson (each period lasts for 45 minutes) a week

on this subject After ten weeks, students will take a final test like other subjects.The objective of the course is to equip students with basic skills of IELTS course sothat they can easily meet the linguistics demands of first-year CLC students in FTU

2.1.6 Textbook

The textbook which is assigned for the course is Improve your IELTS

listening and speaking skills- Barry Cusack with reference book: IELTS grammar and vocabulary - Sam McCarter published by MacMillan This is a complete

preparation course for the Listening and Speaking Modules of the InternationalEnglish Language Testing System (IELTS) Through targeted practice, it developsskills and language to help students achieve higher IELTS score in speaking andlistening modules The reason why this book is chosen as the core book for the

course is that students can use Improve your IELTS listening and speaking skills as

a book for studying on their own or in a class If students are studying on their own,

Improve your IELTS listening and speaking skills is designed to guide them

step-by-step through the activities The book is completely self-contained: a clear andaccessible key is provided, so they can easily check their answers as they workthrough the book There are two CDs which contain all the recorded materialnecessary for the Listening skills and Speaking skills sections of each unit There isalso an audio script which contains all the exam listening material on the CDs Ifthey are studying as part of a class, their teacher will direct them on how to use eachactivity Some activities, especially in the Topic talk and Speaking skills sections,

provide the opportunity for speaking and discussion practice Improve your IELTS

listening and speaking skills can help students improve their scores by developing

skills, developing language and test technique The skills sections of each unit form

a detailed syllabus of essential IELTS Listening There is coverage of Signpost

phrases and Prediction skills The Topic talk part of each unit develops vocabulary,

phrases, and sentence forms for use in the Listening and Speaking Modules Also,the Listening skills sections introduce learners to the skills they need to tackle thevarious types of question that can be asked Knowing the best way to tackle eachtype of question will enable them to get the best mark they can

2.1.7 Assessment

The Faculty allocates only two semesters with ten weeks per semester forIELTS course while there are so many techniques that students must acquire Thisassessment framework is designed for the first year CLC students in the ForeignTrade University (FTU) in Hanoi, Vietnam majoring in Business Management.They enrolled at the FTU after successfully passing the National EntranceExamination which comprised three subjects: mathematics, physics and chemistry.Most of them completed three-year English course at their high school while somehad 6 years studying English at secondary and high school Few of them learnedother foreign languages such as Russian or French or none at all The overall aim ofthe three-English course at high school is that after three years of learning English,the students should have general knowledge of basic grammar and an activevocabulary of about 1,000 words that they can use to talk about some familiar topics

in the target language At high school, students are assessed through one semester examination which is mainly focused on grammar under the format of awritten test

end-of-At the FTU, the four-year English course is divided into two halves, the firsthalf is for teaching general English, the second half for business English (Englishfor specific purposes) The academic year of first-year CLC students is divided intotwo semesters, each lasting 10 weeks finishing with an end-of-semesterexamination The first semester focuses on three main aims:

- To develop students’ ability of controlling basic grammatical aspects of English

- To enable students to receptively and productively use that knowledge ofgrammar.

- To provide students with language models that will be directly relevant to be thestudents’ real needs

For the first semester, CLC students will be assessed by full 60-minute term test and final test in terms of Reading and Listening skills Writing andSpeaking skills are continuously assessed during the semester, and their band scoreswill be added to the attendance marks In FTU, IETLS will be converted toVietnamese traditional marking system over 10 by a table of converting mark for

entry-first-year CLC students below (Table 2)

Table 2: Converting IELTS mark for first-year CLC students

IELTS band score Converting mark

2.1.8 Teacher tasks assignment

There are two English teachers dealing with giving lectures to first-year CLCstudents during ten-week length of the module One of them deals with two lessons

of Listening and Speaking and the other is in charge of teaching Reading andWriting skill It should be noted that the module focuses on training Listening andReading skills while the remaining skills are taught for ministerial purposes Thetwo lecturers will cooperate in designing the lessons and the way to organize theclass so as to promote an open and supportive learning environment Also, theywork with each other to make necessary adjustments in teaching method andupdating materials to help students conduct their learning activities