Nghiên cứu ảnh hưởng của sự lo lắng đến việc nghe hiểu của học sinh lớp 12 trường trung học phổ thông Gia Viễn A.

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** LƯƠNG THỊ THÚY HẰNG A SURVEY RESEARCH ON THE

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

*****************

LƯƠNG THỊ THÚY HẰNG

A SURVEY RESEARCH ON THE INFLUENCES LEFT BY ANXIETY ON LISTENING COMPREHENSION OF GRADE 12 th STUDENTS AT GIA VIEN A

HIGH SCHOOL

Nghiên cứu ảnh hưởng của sự lo lắng đến việc nghe hiểu của học sinh lớp 12

trường Trung học Phổ thông Gia Viễn A

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60140111

Hà Nội- 2016

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

*****************

LƯƠNG THỊ THÚY HẰNG

A SURVEY RESEARCH ON THE INFLUENCES LEFT BY ANXIETY ON LISTENING COMPREHENSION OF GRADE 12 th STUDENTS AT GIA VIEN A

HIGH SCHOOL

Nghiên cứu ảnh hưởng của sự lo lắng đến việc nghe hiểu của học sinh lớp 12

trường Trung học Phổ thông Gia Viễn A

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Phan Văn Quế

Hà Nội- 2016

TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED ABSTRACT ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED TABLE OF CONTENTS I LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED PART I INTRODUCTION III

1 RATIONALE FOR THE RESEARCH III

2 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH V

3 THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS V

4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY V

5 METHOD OF THE STUDY VI

6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY VI

7 DESIGN OF THE STUDY VII

PART II DEVELOPMENT VIII

CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW VIII

1 Definition of listening comprehension VIII

2 Significance of listening VIII

3 Process of listening comprehension IX

4 Anxiety IX

5 Foreign Language Anxiety X

6 Anxiety in listening comprehension Error! Bookmark not defined

CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY ERROR ! B OOKMARK NOT DEFINED

1 Restatement of research questions Error! Bookmark not defined

2 The fitness of the research approach Error! Bookmark not defined

3 Context of the study Error! Bookmark not defined 3.1 Setting of the study Error! Bookmark not defined 3.2 Listening skills in the textbook Error! Bookmark not defined

3.3 Participants Error! Bookmark not defined

4 Research instruments Error! Bookmark not defined

5 Data collection and analysis procedure Error! Bookmark not defined

6 Summary Error! Bookmark not defined

C HAPTER 3 DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS E RROR ! B OOKMARK NOT

DEFINED

3.1 Students’ attitudes towards listening lessons and listening skill.Error! Bookmark not defined 3.2 The students’ anxiety when learning listening Error! Bookmark not defined

3.3 Reduction of the listening anxiety Error! Bookmark not defined

3.4 Concluding remarks Error! Bookmark not defined

PART III: CONCLUSIONS ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED

1 S UMMARY OF THE STUDY .E RROR ! B OOKMARK NOT DEFINED

2 P EDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS .E RROR ! B OOKMARK NOT DEFINED

2.1 Select material of general interest level Error! Bookmark not defined

2.2 Use teachers’ prior knowledge of the material to guide the listeners.Error! Bookmark not defined 2.5 Use more teaching aids to support for listening lessons.Error! Bookmark not defined

2.6 Be sympathetic and sensitive to student anxiety about LC and FL

learning Error! Bookmark not defined

3 L IMITATIONS OF THE STUDY AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

E RROR ! B OOKMARK NOT DEFINED

REFERENCES XI

APPENDICES ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED

PART I INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale for the research

English is the most popular language in the world It plays an important role

in our social- economic life of human beings Indeed, it is no longer an issue They argued that English has become a world knowledge by the virtues of the political and economic progress made by English speaking nations in the past 200 years It is now the main of language books, newspapers, airports, international business and academic conferences, science technology, medicine, diplomacy, sports, international competitions, music and advertising Nowadays we live in the age of globalization so we need English language because it is the language of this age The number of foreign language learners is increasing, and foreign language educators and researchers have been putting efforts into teaching English more effectively Along with the desire to find more effective ways of teaching English, concern over dealing with learners’ negative feelings and attitudes while learning English has also increased This concern over learners’ negative feelings and attitudes is based on a few language learning theories proposed by a number of language researchers( i.e., Krashen, 1988; Onwuegbuzie, Bailey, & Daley, 1999; Young, 1991) A number of factors influence foreign language learning, and anxiety when learning a foreign language has been identified as one critical factor interfering with foreign language learning and achievements( Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope, 1991) Among the many skills required to use a language( i.e., speaking, listening, reading, and writing), listening comprehension is at the heart of language learning Language learners are expected to understand what the interlocutor is saying in order to continue the conversation When learners have difficulty with listening comprehension, it is likely that their listening anxiety will increase, which

in turn will negatively affect their performance

Being exposed to a natural context and an authentic environment is claimed

to be desirable for foreign language learning Hadley( 2001) asserted that learning

and practicing language in meaningful contexts is more appealing; however, this way of practicing a foreign language is not always affordable or feasible Some foreign language learners may experience higher language anxiety when talking with native speakers face-to-face, and some may not have an opportunity for exposure to an authentic environment Many students may have experienced some degree of helplessness and anxiety when doing the listening comprehension In traditional listening classes, students are given listening materials but not taught

“how” to listen Most of them do not have appropriate listening strategies Ever since language teaching and learning have shifted from the teacher-centered model

to the learner-centered model A number of studies have been undertaken from the students’ perspective Foreign language anxiety is one of the best predictors in accounting for individual differences in language learning success in second language acquisition( SLA), and that it is proved to be one of the most essential and influential affective factors

At my upper secondary school, learning listening is a really challenging job; especially, in grade 12 because of students’ low levels of proficiency in term of vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, skills and so forth And they are the reasons that cause the anxiety when listening of students The anxiety makes students find it difficult and tough to listen to and they are not confident enough to do listening tasks successfully

The study is based on the assumption that unless teachers understand students’ anxiety, their teaching of listening comprehension will never be efficient and effective

Although it is important to understand students’ anxiety so as to provide them with needed support, not a single study on the upper secondary school students’ perceptions of the anxiety they have faced with in comprehending the listening tasks in the textbook Being a teacher of English, I myself think that it is essential to do a research on students’ listening anxiety so I decided on choosing

the topic “A survey research on the influences left by anxiety on listening

comprehension of grade 12 th students at Gia Vien A High school.”

2 Aims and objectives of the research

The main purpose of the study is to investigate the anxiety of 12th grade students towards learning listening skill It also proposes some suggestions to minimize the influences on students when learning listening skill

With the above aims, the objectives of this study were as follows:

• Examining the effect of anxiety on students in listening lessons

• Investigating the degree of these influences on students’ listening comprehension

• Proposing some suggestions to minimize the negative effect on students when learning listening skill

3 The research questions

With the given aims and objectives, the study implies two research questions:

- Does the anxiety have any influences on listening comprehension of grade

12th students at Gia Vien A high school?

- What are the effects and sources of foreign language listening anxiety as well

as suggested ways to reduce listening anxiety?

4 Scope of the study

The survey research was conducted at Gia Vien A High school, Ninh Binh

province Because of limited time, it only focused on investigating the influences of anxiety on listening comprehension of grade 12th students, the sources and the

degree of the impact

The participants were 69 students from four classes 12B1, 12B3, 12B6 and 12B9( answer the questions in questionnaire), 10 students( answer the questions in interview) from classes 12B2, 12B4, 12B7, who are non- English major students

5 Method of the study

The study was carried out by some steps as follows:

First, the survey questionnaire for students was employed to find out the sources

and effect of anxiety when learning listening skill

Second, class observation was designed to study students’ performance in listening

lessons

After that, semi- structured interview was conducted in order to:

1 Survey students’ perception on the magnitude of learning English and listening skill in students’ learning English

2 Study the factors that cause their anxiety

3 Find out the influences left by anxiety in their listening comprehension and their way of going on the lessons

Then, the data were collected, sorted and analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively

to obtain realistic results

To end with, pedagogical implications for minimizing students’ anxiety in learning

listening skill will be proposed based on the results found from all data collection instruments

6 Significance of the study

The study has been conducted with the expectation that the findings will help

students of English at Gia Vien A High school acknowledge the significance of the impact of anxiety when learning listening comprehension, which forces them to reduce the anxious emotion before listening, spend more time and effort preparing

the listening lessons

Still, the researcher harbors the hope that the teachers will understand their

students’ anxiety, study the reasons for such anxiety, from which they will know how to foster positive attitudes or motivation and eliminate the anxious emotion of

their students so as to help them obtain progress and fruitful achievements in learning English and English listening comprehension

7 Design of the study

The study consists of three main parts:

Part I: Introduction presents the rationale of the study, the aims, the research

questions, the significance, the scope, the method and the design of the study

Part II: Development includes three chapters:

Chapter 1: Literature Review, which reviews the theories on listening and English

learning anxiety in listening comprehension

Chapter 2: Methodology, describes the participants, the setting of the study

involving the school, textbook Moreover, this chapter shows how the researcher applied the data collection instruments and her procedure of conducting the study

Chapter 3: Data analysis and findings, in which the researcher uses both

qualitatively and quantitatively method to study and analyze the Figure and collected information

Part III: Conclusions, which summarizes all findings explored and brings out

useful suggestions for the students to reduce their anxiety in learning listening skill

An overall picture of what has been done in this study and suggestions for further studies are also included in this part

PART II DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1 LITERATURE REVIEW

1 Definition of listening comprehension

Listening comprehension is a process, a very complex process, and if we want to measure it, we must first understand how that process works An understanding of what we are trying to measure is the starting point for test construction The thing we are trying to measure is called a construct, and our test will be useful abd valid only if it measures the right construct( Gary Buck, 2001) And listening comprehension encompasses the multiple processes involved in understanding and making sense of spoken language These include recognizing speech sounds, understanding the meaning of individual words, and/or understanding the syntax of sentences in which they are presented Listening comprehension can also involve the prosody with which utterances are spoken( which can, e.g., change intended meaning from a statement to a question), and making relevant inferences based on context, real-world knowledge, and speaker-specific attributes (e.g., to what information the speaker has access and about what he/she is likely to be talking) For longer stretches of language or discourse, listening comprehension also involves significant memory demands to keep track of causal relationships expressed within the discourse( Fred R.volkmar, 2013)

Moreover, listening comprehension refers to the understanding of the implications and explicit meanings of words and sentences of spoken language.” (

CDE Guidelines for Identifying Students with Specific Learning Disabilities, 2008)

2 Significance of listening

Listening is the first language mode that human beings acquire It provides the firm basis for all aspects of language and instinctive reflex development, and it plays a very important role in the processes of communication A journal by Tiffany

P Hogan, Suzanne M Adlof & Crystle N Alonzo( 2014), listening comprehension