LUẬN văn THẠC sỹ TIẾNG ANH

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HANOIUNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIESFACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES    ---A STUDY ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF application of information

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HANOIUNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

  

-A STUDY ON THE EFFECTIVENESS

OF application of information technology in the teaching

and learning of grade 10 English listening skill

( Nghiên cứu tính hiệu quả ứng dụng công nghệ thông tin trong

việc dạy häc kỹ năng nghe tiếng Anh 10 )

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60.14.10

HANOI

I hereby certify that the thesis entitled

A STUDY ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF APPLICATION OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF GRADE 10 ENGLISH

LISTENING SKILL

is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Education at College of ForeignLanguages, Hanoi National University I confirm that this thesis has not been submitted forany other degrees

Student’s signature

In completion of this thesis, I would particularly like to express deepest gratitude to mysupervisor, Dr Do Tuan Minh who has been a wonderful help to me with his profoundknowledge, experienced guidance, valuable suggestions and advice throughout my work

I am thankful to all the staff at the post-graduate department for giving me assistance, theteachers who conducted the Master's course for providing me with valuable knowledge

A further acknowledgement goes to my dear friends from the master's course and colleaguesfor their useful ideas, materials and encouragement

I am grateful to the teachers and students of Hermann Gmeiner School Vinh, who spent theirvaluable time to answer the questionnaire

The final credit must go to my family, who supported me with love and gentle pushing

Without all this support, I could not have finished this thesis

The role of listening has undergone sustantial changes in recent years From being aneglected skill now it seems to be a core course in many language programs because goodlistening skill is not only valuable for its own sake but also for other aspects of language usesuch as speaking and reading Therefore, so far, there have been many studies about how toteach and learn listening skill effectively with the help of information technology Also, thisstudy is aimed at introducing and applying IT tools in teaching and learning listening skill inorder to investigate their effectiveness

In this survey research, the author used two survey questionnaires for 5 teachers and

softwares Hotpotatoes and Question Tools Editors in the teaching process during the shoolyear 2009-2010 The questionnaire for teachers was in English and the questionnaire forstudents was in Vietnamese, both of them consists of four parts to investigate the participants’background of using computers, the effectiveness of applying two authoring softwares inteaching and listening skill, the advantages and disadvantages of using the softwares, finally,the solutions to raise that effectiveness The findings of the questionnaires lead to theconclusion that the two softwares encouraged both teachers and students in teaching andlearning listening skill Teachers can save time in class for other activities and make theirlistening lessons more attractive and students seem to be more eager in listening classes Thethird part is the conclusion in which the author concluded some main points of the research,gave out some limitations and suggestions for further study

Chapter 2: The application of the authoring programme in teaching

2.2.3 Post-listening 21

4.1.2.1 Students’ assessment on the effectiveness of using the authoring

4.1.2.2 Teachers’ assessment on the effectiveness of the authoring softwares

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

LIST OF TABLES Pages

softwares in learning listening skill

28

softwares in teaching listening skill

33

stages

35

teaching listening skill

37

teaching listening skill:

38

teaching listening skill:

38

teaching listening skill:

LIST OF FIGURES

softwares in sub-skills of listening ( from sub-skill 1 to sub-skill 5)

29

wares in sub-skills of listening ( from sub-skill 1 to sub-skill 5)

Question Tools Editor – unit 16

Question Tools Editor- Unit 2

22

Part I: Introduction

1 Rationale

Information technology (IT) has brought about many revolutional changes in thedevelopment of the global society Education is considered the foundation for thedevelopment, however, IT is used as powerful tools in every subject, especially, in teachingand learning foreign languages

It is obvious that English has been taught in Vietnam as an important foreign languagefor a long time but due to grammar-translation method of teaching, Vietnamese students seem

to be better at grammar than communicative competence Therefore, according to a largeproject to investigate the English teaching reform in northern parts of Vietnam, only 5% ofstudents are able to communicate in English after graduation (Hoang et all, 2005) This factgives rises to the need for nationwide innovation in the teaching methodology, as a result,

communicative approach

However, to use the new textbooks effectively, teachers and students need approachvarious types of IT tools such as some popular softwares in teaching like: Power point, Wordprocessor,Window media The powerful tools, which can help teachers to expand the fourwalls of the tradditional classroom and rebuild the class with many useful controlled and freeactivities for communicative competence, are increasing in both quality and quantity

Many articles have discussed the effectiveness of IT tools in SLT in the world InVietnam, the application of IT tools in ESL was set forth by Nguyen Lan Trung and Ngo VanNghiem (1997) who suggested the use of CD-ROM The recent focus on technology inlanguage study has been on the use of MPS ( Multimedia Presentation softwares), emails,Internet, Class websites ( Nguyen Thi Lan Huong (2004), Nguyen Thu Hoai (2005), PhamThi Ngoc Phuong (2006), Nguyen Thi Anh Nguyet (2008), Nong Thi Khanh Van (2008),Duong Thi Hong An (2009)) Despite many useful researches on IT tools in teaching andlearning English, there is limited number of studies on the authoring softwares which helpteachers to design activities in their classroom

As a teacher of English in a small high school in Vinh, Nghe An, the author would like

to carry out this research called “A study on the effectiveness of application of informationtechnology in the teaching and learning of grade 10 English listening skill at HermannGmeiner school - Vinh” to help herself and her colleges in foreign language teaching

IT tools, which are mentioned in this study, are two softwares: HotPotatoes andQuestion Tools Editor The author is introduced the way of using and applying these softwares

in the course of applying IT in foreign language teaching

2 Aims of the study

This study aims to measure the effectiveness of utilization of the authoring softwaresHotpotatoes and Question Tools Editor in teaching listening skill in Tieng Anh 10 at HermannGmeiner school in Vinh

Firstly, to investigate the influence of utilizing those softwares in teaching and learninglistening skill in Hermann Gmeiner school Vinh

Secondly, to investigate the teachers and learners’ opinions about advantages anddisadvantages of those softwares in teaching and learning listening skill

Thirdly, to find out the difficulties that teachers and students meet during the courseand the solutions to advance the effectiveness of the authoring softwares in teaching listeningskill Tieng Anh 10 at Hermann Gmeiner School Vinh

3 Research questions

In order to achieve the aims of the study, the following research questions were raised:

1 To what extent does the employment of the authoring softwares have influence on the effectiveness of teaching and learning listening skill in Tieng anh 10?

2 What are the advantages and disadvantages of the utilization of the two authoring softwares HotPotatoes and Question Tools Editor in their teaching and learning listening skill?

3 What should be done to raise the effectiveness of the authoring softwares Hotpotatoes and Question Tools Editors in teaching and learning listening skill at Hermann Gmeiner School?

4 Scope of the study

The present study operates within the following scope:

1 A study on the application of IT tool in ELT is a broad topic, therefore, in this research, theauthor decides to choose one of specific IT tools, that is applying authoring softwares inteaching listening skill in Tieng Anh 10 From this study, we can apply the softwares inteaching all skills in Tieng Anh 11, Tieng Anh 12

2 By the time constraint, making a research with a large number of participants was out of theauthor’s reach, the participants for the study was 50 students from 160 students in class 10and 5 teachers of English at Hermann Gmeiner Vinh

5 Method of the study

The subjects for this study are two authoring softwares: HotPotatoes and Question ToolsEditor The writer together with 5 teachers, who created activities using the softwares to teachlistening skill and then, collected the data for the study from survey questionnaires Themethods used in this study are: comments, remarked, comparisons, suggestions andconclusions are based on factual research, observation, experience and discussion

6 Significance of the study

The first significance of the study is for the author herself and for the other ESL teachers atHermann Gmeiner school since the data collected from the study can be analyzed andinterpreted in terms of using softwares to promote the effectiveness of teaching and learninglistening skill at Hermann Gmeiner school Vinh

The results of the study are also expected to all teachers who have interest in applying newtechnology in their classroom for higher teaching quality They can apply it in their teachingwith their own purposes

The last but not least, this study can lay grounds for further researches on using newtechnology in teaching language and renovating the methods of teaching language

7 Design of the study

The study consists of three main parts:

The first is “ Introduction” that introduces the rationale, the aims, the research questions, thescope, the methods and the significance of the study

The second is “ Development” consists of four chapters:

Chapter one provides the literature review including the overview of educational technology,CALL & listening skill and the introduction of the two authoring softwares Hotpotatoes andQuestion Tools Editor

Chapter two presents the context of teaching and learning listening in Hermann GmeinerSchool and discusses the application of the softwares in three stages of teaching listening skill

Part II: Development

Chapter 1: Literature review

1.1 How is technology intergrated into education?

1.1.1 What is educational technology?

There are many definitions of educational technology Some educators use the term torefer to any media that the teacher can use for classroom instruction, such as visual, audio, ordigital media Other educators use it to refer to the use of a computer or other mechanical orelectronic device for teaching and learning (Muffoletto,1994) The most general one, used bythe Association for Education Communications and Technology (AECT): “ EducationalTechnology is the theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management, andevaluation of processes and resources for learning” In this definition, we can include a widearray of technology including computers, softwares, slides, photographs, e-mails, CD-ROMs

or DVD-ROMs, the Internet, videotapes, and instructional television

1.1.2 How is computer intergrated into education?

Technology pervades all of our lives People arround us are using cell phones, surfingthe Net, and storing data in PDAs Even 15 years ago, it was rare for people to havecomputers in their homes, however, today, if you do not have a computer, you are at somewhat

of a disadvantage Computers have emerged as fascinating technological tools in theeducational arena

The computer has become an indispensable tool for science simulations Computerscan motivate students to learn and help build math skills Students can use the Internet as alibrary source, investigating everything from a lot of materials Computers can link students atschools arround the world Students can use computers to write research reports, conductexperiments and creat electronic portfolios for job applications

Using the computer, a teacher can provide students with different kind of learning.Teachers can visit websites to access lessons plans and activities to enhance learning in anysubject area Teachers can use Powerpoint to create presentations to help explain differenttopics They can have students visit specific Websites and answer questions They can use drilland practice software programs to help students who are having problems in a particularacademic area Teachers can consult technical chat rooms for help or information aboutpertinent topics They can use the computers to create certificates for students and classnewsletters

Administrators can use the computers to create presentations for their planningmeetings They can then display these presentations on a school’s Websites for teacherviewing and comments Administrators can create their own Websites, to provide information

to students, teachers and parents They can send teachers email messages about meeting andschool programs Administrators can store important information in electronic databases such

as students absenteeism data, current school supply inventories, substitute teacher name andcontact information, and access electronic school resources such as CD-ROMs, books, andvideotapes They can create newsletters for teachers, parents and staff

1.2 Computer-Assissted language learning (CALL)

1.2.1 Definition of CALL:

CALL is the acronym for Computer Assisted Language Learning

and it is related to the use of computers for language teaching andlearning

CALL may be defined as "the search for and study of applications of

the computer in language teaching and learning" CALL is a term that came into favour in the early 1980s, replacing the older term CALI (Computer

Assisted Language Instruction)

The term CALI fell out of favour because it became associated withprogrammed learning, i.e a teacher-centred rather than a learner-centredapproach that drew heavily on behaviourism Throughout the 1980s CALLwidened its scope, embracing the communicative approach and a range ofnew technologies CALL now includes highly interactive and communicativesupport for listening, speaking, reading and writing, including extensiveuse of multimedia CD-ROMs and the Internet

1.2.2 The development of CALL

Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is not a new development in languageteaching, as it has been used since the 1960s and 70s However, it still lacks research methods

and a clear theoretical foundation (Chapelle, 1997).We can divide the development of CALL

into three distinct phases (Warschauer, 1996): behaviourist, communicative and integrative.

Behaviourist CALL was implemented in the 1960’s and 70’s, when the Audio-lingual

method was mostly used, and provided students with drills and practice It is the first phase ofCALL, which was based on the then-dominant behaviorist theories of learning Programs ofthis phase entailed repetitive language drills and can be referred to as "drill and practice" (or,more pejoratively, as "drill and kill")

1980) In other words the computer serves as a vehicle for delivering instructional materials tothe student The rationale behind drill and practice was not totally spurious, which explains inpart the fact that CALL drills are still used today

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, behavioristic CALL wasundermined by two important factors First, behavioristic approaches tolanguage learning had been rejected at both the theoretical and thepedagogical level Secondly, the introduction of the microcomputer allowed

a whole new range of possibilities The stage was set for a new phase ofCALL

Based on the communicative approach, communicative CALL focuses more on using

forms rather than on the forms themselves The communicative CALL programmes provideskill practice in a non-drill format, through language games, reading and text reconstruction

This approach still uses the computer as a tutor, although it gives students choices, control

and interaction Another CALL model used for communicative activities involves the

computer as stimulus, as in programmes that stimulate writing or discussions, and which may

not be specifically designed for language learners Finally, communicative CALL also uses the

computer as a tool, in programmes that do not provide language material, but enable the

learner to understand and use the language, such as word processors, desk–top publishing,spelling and grammar checks programmes, as used for instance in process writing.

The current approach is integrative CALL, which is based on multimedia computers

and the Internet These technological developments have brought text, graphics, sound,animation and video to be accessed on a single inexpensive computer These resources are alllinked and called ‘hypermedia’, enabling learners to navigate through CD-ROMS and theInternet at their own pace and path, using a variety of media

Multimedia technology as it currently exists thus only partially contributes tointegrative CALL Using multimedia may involve an integration of skills (e.g listening withreading), but it too seldom involves a more important type of integration - integratingmeaningful and authentic communication into all aspects of the language learning curriculum.Fortunately, though, another technological breakthrough is helping make that possible -electronic communication and the Internet

In summary, the history of CALL suggests that the computer can serve a variety ofuses for language teaching It can be a tutor which offers language drills or skill practice; astimulus for discussion and interaction; or a tool for writing and research With the advent ofthe Internet, it can also be a medium of global communication and a source of limitlessauthentic materials But as pointed out by Garrett (1991), "the use of the computer does notconstitute a method" Rather, it is a "medium in which a variety of methods, approaches, andpedagogical philosophies may be implemented" (p 75) The effectiveness of CALL cannotreside in the medium itself but only in how it is put to use

1.3 CALL & language teaching and learning

CALL has much to offer English language teachers and will have more to offer in thefuture

One of the advantages of CALL is that, in Philip’s words (1986), it offers a powerfulself-access facility That is, it helps to generate autonomous learners who will experiencefreedom of choice The tools that learners find in computers allow them to assume mastery oftheir own learning experience Students can call up the programs held by computers wheneverthey want; besides, computers are sensitive to the learner’s level of proficiency Thisadvantage, though, can also be seen as a disadvantage, since many teachers may consider thatcomputers are undertaking functions that should be performed by trained teachers In fact,computers should be used by teachers as a complementary tool in the teaching process.

Another advantage of CALL is that it gives a new role to teaching materials Out of thecontext of CALL, teaching materials are passive In CALL, materials adapt themselves to therequirements of the individual student; that is, they become interactive CALL, like other newtechnologies, brings about changes in the teaching methodologies of English However, thereare cases, though, in which computers are just used to give old materials a new aspect This isthe case of teachers who put students in front of the computer just to make fill-in-the-gapexercises

The advantages and disadvantages mentioned up to the present moment make us aware

of an important fact in relation to CALL In fact, the technology that computers offer should

be integrated with pedagogic programs that guarantee a real evolution of the teachingmethodologies and procedures

One final aspect that we should analyse in relation to the implementation of computers

in English language teaching is the studying environment that is going to be created by means

of the computer The CALL classroom should not be conceived as a room in which everylearner is studying in isolation in front of the computer Teachers must think of activities thatenable group work interaction and computers to be compatible Otherwise, men as socialbeings will be replaced by men as alienated computer slaves

1.4 Computer as an IT tool in language teaching and learning.

The main uses of computers in language teaching and learning can be generated as follow(Hammer,2001):

- Reference tool: through CD, DVD-ROMS or Internet, teachers and students can search forall sources of information related to their language teaching and learning Especially, Internet

is considered the most convenient reference tool

- CMC ( Computer mediated communication): This is the process of using computers tofacilitate authentic communication between two or more people such as email, electronicbulletin board, real internet chat or instant message

- websites: Almost websites have great potential for students of English in getting in touchwith the authentic language They can search for any information in various forms such astext, audio, video There are also many websites designed for EFL students to do exercises,play games and for teachers download activities and make lesson plans

- word processor: has been mainly used in writing skill, including personal and group writing

It can also be used to create an endless number of exercises in English Doing exercises in aword processor implies giving traditional exercises a new format However, this way ofworking in the English language classroom results in a quite successful experience, sincestudents enjoy the mere fact of being manipulating computers

- MPS ( Multimedia presentation softwares): “Multimedia is the exciting combination ofcomputer hardware and software that allows you to integrate video, animation, audio, graphicsand test resources to develop effective presetations on an affordable desktop computer”Fenrich (1997) MPS is defined as the use of computer software to create slides similar tothose used on an overhead projector, except that the display can include text, sound, still andmoving images Slides are prepared in advance, can be edited and are stored in the correctsequence

- teaching and learning programs: There are two types of programs: tutorial and authoringprograms.

Tutorial programs with short introductory notes are followed by a series of questions, to whichthe students respond at the keyboard Discrete comments can be built in, and error, reviewroutines are automatic If required, a set of help notes can also be called up during the question– answer sequence in order to understand the student who has not fully understood the point ofthe exercise The result of students’ attempts at each exercise are stored on the computer.Language teaching software is currently much available on CD-ROM to meet the demand oflearners at different levels and various learning purposes

Authoring programs allow teachers to create their own different exercises or units unlike as inready-made “dedicated” programs, where the contents, questions and texts come with theprogram and cannot be changed The applications of authoring softwares in EFL teaching andlearning are various; however, we should choose the most suitable to apply in our languageteaching Below are two popular CALL authoring packages:

Hot potatoes

Hot Potatoes is a suite of programs published by Victoria University and Half-BakedSoftware Teachers use the Hot Potatoes programs to create educational materials, especiallyexercises and tests All these materials can be produced in the form of web pages, and the webpages can be uploaded to hotpotatoes.net very simply, from within the Hot Potatoes programs

The Hot Potatoes suite includes six applications, enabling you to create interactivemultiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fillexercises for the World Wide Web On September 1, 2009, Hot Potatoes was released asfreeware

The purpose of the Hot Potatoes is to enable us to create interactive Web-based

teaching exercises which can be delivered to any Internet-connected computer equipped with a

browser The exercises use HTML and JavaScript to implement their interactivity There are

five basic programs in the Hot Potatoes suite:

types, including multiple-choice and short-answer Specific feedback can be provided bothfor right answers and predicted wrong answers or distractors In short-answer questions,the student's guess is intelligently parsed and helpful feedback to show what part of aguess is right and what part is wrong The student can ask for a hint in the form of a "freeletter" from the answer

specified for each gap, and the student can ask for a hint and see a letter of the correctanswer A specific clue can also be included for each gap Automatic scoring is alsoincluded The program allows gapping of selected words, or the automatic gapping ofevery word in a text

can use a grid of virtually any size As in JQuiz and JCloze, a hint button allows thestudent to request a free letter if help is needed

different correct answers as you want, based on the words and punctuation in the basesentence, and a hint button prompts the student with the next correct word or segment ofthe sentence if needed

appears on the left (these can be pictures or text), with jumbled items on the right This can

be used for matching vocabulary to pictures or translations, or for ordering sentences toform a sequence or a conversation

In addition, there is a sixth program called the Masher This is designed to create completeunits of material in one simple operation

Question Tools Editor

Question Tools Editor is a fully-functional, free, integrated suite of e-learning toolsused in 121 countries Programming, scripting and HTML skills are not required If you canuse Microsoft Word you can use Question Tools Editor

Question Tools Editor Suite comprises Editor — for visually laying out and testingyour screens, SimpleSet — for quick text editing and converting existing materials, and theExam application — a secure alternative to a web browser We can create exciting, interactivee-learing, exercises, tests and lessons for delivery using the free Question Tools Examsoftware, or any modern web browser

long-answer, and drag

Portuguese and Dutch

In the scope of this study, I would like to apply these two authoring softwares in teachingand learning listening skill Tieng Anh 10

1.5 CALL & listening skill

As multimedia technology (interactive videodisc, CD-ROM, CD-I, etc.) becomes moreaccessible to teachers and learners, its potential as a tool to enhance listening skills becomes apractical option Multimedia allows integration of text, graphics, audio, and motion video in arange of combinations The result is that learners can now interact with textual, aural, andvisual media in a wide range of formats

The enormous amount of specific software that has been created for learning Englishincludes the possibility of teaching and training the skills of listening However, the problem isthat, rather than being truly interactive, the activities designed for improving listening aremainly based on drills Thus, learners have the possibility of enacting dialogues but these areindeed closed dialogues; that is, learners cannot ask or answer whatever they want, but theyhave to limit themselves to predetermined texts Nevertheless, despite the lack of realinteraction, this experience has been proved to be highly motivating, since many of the graphicenvironments that programs offer turn out to be quite realistic Thus, if learners concentrate onthe activity, they may feel -up to a certain extent- just as if they were really in that context

As a medium for learning language, multimedia represents a myriad of instructionalpossibilities As a tool for listening skills development, there is a logical match of systemcharacteristics (combining text, audio and video) and the goal of listening skills development

in a second or foreign language Careful consideration on the part of teachers and softwaredevelopers of the range of possibilities for combining input modalities and tools that empowerstudent manipulation of them is essential

Chapter 2: The application of the authoring programme in teaching listening Tieng anh 10

2.1 Procedure of a listening lesson

Listening plays an important role in second-language instruction for several reasons(Rost, 1994) First, listening provides comprehensible input for the learner which is essentialfor any learning to occur Second, listeners need to interact with speakers to achieveunderstanding Third, listening exercises help learners draw their attention to new forms(vocabulary, grammar, interaction patterns) in the language Thus listening comprehensionprovides the right conditions for language acquisition and development of other languageskills (Krashen, 1995) A listening lesson consists of 3 stages: Pre-listening, while-listeningand post-listening

2.1.1. Pre-listening

Pre-listening activities, in particular, facilitate second-language listeningcomprehension (Herron, 1994; Berne, 1995) They help students develop backgroundknowledge and improve their understanding of the spoken text Students will be able togenerate ideas about the topic and such information will help them activate relevant schemafor the listening text Students become able to connect new information with prior knowledgeschema In this way processing the new language becomes feasible as it becomes connectedwith concepts and words students have already used

In this stage, teachers often introduce general content of the listening passage, practise

vocabulary, presenting more words/phrases from tapescripts, get students to pronouncewords/phrases carefully, review already-presented grammatical patterns, present newgrammatical patterns (if any), ask students to predict content of the listening Below are somemain activities in the stages:

Discussion: Discussions to elicit information about the topic Select certain words, difficult

grammatical structures and expressions to be explained through the discussion

Prediction:Ask students to predict the content or what speakers are going to say, based on the

information they have already got through the preliminary discussion

Questions: Pre-setting questions to be answered upon listening to the text.

2.1.2 While-listening

While-listening acivities help students to have deeper understanding about the spoken text However, in this stage, teachers should give clear instructions for the listening task (rephrasingtextbook instructions if necessary), play the tape once (non-stop) for students to get generalcontent of the listening, providing other activities from textbook for slower classes, movingfrom simpler tasks (listening for getting key words/phrases, listening for main ideas, matching,deciding on true/false information, numbering pictures, sequencing events…) to morecomplicated ones (answering MCQs, gap-filling, table/graph completing, answeringinformation questions…)

Some times, teachers should play the tape several times (non-stop or with pauses if studentsneed help) and break long tapescripts into sections to facilitate the listening And here aresome activities in this stage:

Identifying the gist: Students note down main points and key words to work out the gist of

the talk

Identifying features of natural input: Students listen to natural spoken discourse They are

asked to identify stress patterns, stress contrasts,weak forms, etc

Dictation: Teacher dictates sentences which include features of natural discourse,

contractions, weak forms, elision, assimilation, etc

Prediction:Teacher plays half a sentence, learners try to predict the rest of it.

Classification: Students listen to the text, select specific information and classify it using the

table provided with the text

Written Support: After their initial listening, students are provided with the transcript of the

spoken text to make sure that they have listened to everything on the tape They look at thetranscript as they listen to the spoken text

Questions: Students answer comprehension questions while listening to the

text

2.1.3 Post-listening

Post-listening is the time students can apply what they have learnt to practisecommunicating The aim of this stage is practising designed post-listening activities intextbook, summarising listening passages in spoken or written form, relating to students’ ownexperience and extending the topic to oral or written presentations Therefore, what studentsshould do in this stage are:

Evaluation: Students answer true–false questions or multiple-choice questions as an

evaluation of their understanding

Speaking: Students act out a dialogue, interview or discussion on topics related to the text Writing: Students write messages, postcards, letters, etc on topics related to the text.

2.2. The application of the authoring programmes in designing activities

As a high school teacher, the author always tries to exploit the functions of the new softwares

in teaching English, expecially in teaching listening skill Not only the author, all teachers inHermann Gmeiner School try to learn to design listening activities with these two softwares.Below are some activities used in three stages of listening lesson: Pre-listening, while-

listening and post-listening

2.2.1 Pre-listening:

The aim of this stage is to help students to get familliar with the topic of the spoken text,understand the background knowledge and stimulate students’ interest by setting the scene Teachers can give them a context by pre-teaching some of the most difficult language (newwords/difficult grammar points/ structures), encourage them to make predictions about thecontent of the text by using games, crossword, or matching activity

Below are some activities used to pre-teach listening skill with HotPotatoes and QuestionTools Editor

“ Undersea world” is the theme of unit 9 and the topic of listening lesson here is “ the bluewhale” To draw students’ attention, a crossword game about the blue whale is designed withthe software Hotpotatoes It is very easy, simple and time-saving Students guess words down

or across and think about what are related to these words Students can know some mainfeatures of “ the blue whale”

Picture 1: Screenshot of the pre-listening crossword designed with HotPotatoes – unit 9

In unit 14, with the theme “The world cup”, the topic of listening lesson is about a famousfootball player – Pele We can use Hotpotatoes to create matching activities to motivatestudents to talk about Pele – his life, talent and sucessful career This helps students understandmuch about Pele It is much easier for them to listen to the tape

Picture 2: Screenshot of pre-listening picture matching designed with HotPotatoes – unit 14

In unit 16 “ Historical Places” with the listening lesson about “ Hoi An”, we can useQuestion Tools Editor to design pre-listening activities to draw students’ attention to thisfamous place Students look at four pictures and guess the names of places in four picturesthen talk something they know about those places.

Both Hotpotatoes and Question Tools Editor are simple and easy to use in designingactivities, however, Question Tools Editors is for more creative activities Teachers can designany kind of activities they want as long as they obey the rules of this software Hotpotatoes isless creative, it is used for some ertain types of exercises We can design crossword with thissoftware quickly and effectively

Picture 3: Screenshot of pre-listening picture matching designed with Question Tools Editor – unit 16

2.2.2 While –listening

Teachers allow students to listen to the text twice or several times and do the tasks oranswer questions; allow them to co-operate and help each other after listening, check theirlistening comprehension by using different tasks, activities or questions Activities in thisstage are : gap fill, matching, answering questions, true-false statements, multiplechoice With Hotpotatoes, we can design many types of gap fill ( word level, phrase level orsentence level), we needn’t use the original tasks in the textbook, we can create the new tasks

basing on the level of our students from easier ones to difficult ones Below are gap-fillexercises made with Jclose of Hotpotatoes and Question Tools Editor in unit 7 and unit 4

Picture 4: Screenshot of while-listening gap fill designed with HotPotatoes – unit 7

With two softwares, teachers can save time by using marking and explaining functions With some simple gaps, teacher needn’t explain and give marks, they can do other activities

We can choose Hotpotatoes or Question Tools Editor to design gap fill exercises It depends onthe level of students

Picture 5: Screenshot of while-listening gap fill designed with Question Tools Editor – unit4

2.2.3 Post- listening

In this stage, teachers might practise designed post-listening activities in textbook,summarise listening passages in spoken or written form, relate to students’ own experience,

and extend the topic to oral or written presentations With those aims, teachers can design

activities to help students consolidate what they have learnt and apply it in their life Sentencebuilding, role play, discussion, or writing a composition can be used in this stage Basing onthe level of students, teachers can design suitable post-listening activities For example:

Picture 6: Screenshot of post-listening sentence building designed with Hotpotatoes–unit 15

Picture 7: Screenshot of post-listening sentence building designed with Question Tools Editor- Unit 2

Above are some pictures illustrating what teachers use thes two softwares to design listeningactivities in three stages However,due to the limited time, the author only chose some typicalones which are useful for this research.

internet free of charge Students are trained with essential internet skills to use thesedevices

out various classroom activities such as:

+ one computer for the teachers From this computer, teachers can manage the classthrough the software named Multilab The teacher can contact to any student throughheadphone without disturbing the other or can divide the class into many groups to dodifferent tests.

+ there are 42 cabins for students to listen to the tapes, CD or VCD with headphones.+ There is an overhead projector, a TV set, a video player, and a speaker

+ All facilities are connected to one another through Lan, the teacher’s computer canaccess to the internet

These facilities have been provided at Hermann Gmeiner School Vinh for three years

So, their uses have been promoted for three years and teachers have been eager to use them in

form However, the application of IT in ELT teaching and learning has been mainly focused

on listening skill and sometimes speaking skill

3.2 Participants:

teachers of English at Hermann Gmeiner school

3.2.1 Students:

The researcher chose 50 students (about 20% of the total number of students) in 5 classes:10A, 10B, 10C, 10D and 10E to carry out the research because of their good conciousness ofstudy which is not affected by examination pressure The questionnaires were delivered tothese students to get the reliable data Among 50 students selected for the survey, the malestudents outnumbered the female with 29 and 21 respectively All of them are from the grade

10 so they are the same age: 16 years old

These participants were not randomly selected, however, from their listening results in thefirst semester, they proved to be of different levels at listening English, ranged from marks 3-4

to marks 9-10:

Table 1: Students’ marks in the previous listening test

Students’ marks in the previous listening test