An evaluation of listening task complexity in the coursebook new headway pre intermediate to the non english major students at hanoi university of industry

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* BÙI PHƯƠNG THẢO AN EVALUATION OF LISTENIN

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

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

BÙI PHƯƠNG THẢO

AN EVALUATION OF LISTENING TASK COMPLEXITY IN THE

COURSEBOOK NEW HEADWAY PRE- INTERMEDIATE TO THE NON-

ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY

( Đánh giá sự phức tạp của các hoạt động nghe trong giáo trình New Headway

Pre- intermediate dành cho sinh viên không chuyên Tiếng Anh tại trường Đại

học Công nghiệp Hà Nội)

M.A Minor Program Thesis (Type I)

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Hanoi - 2016

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

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

BÙI PHƯƠNG THẢO

AN EVALUATION OF LISTENING TASK COMPLEXITY IN THE COURSEBOOK NEW HEADWAY PRE- INTERMEDIATE TO THE NON- ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY

(Đánh giá sự phức tạp của các hoạt động nghe trong giáo trình New Headway Pre- intermediate dành cho sinh viên không chuyên Tiếng Anh tại trường Đại

học Công nghiệp Hà Nội)

M.A Minor Program Thesis (Type I)

Field : English Teaching Methodology

Code : 60140111 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Phan Van Que

Hanoi - 2016

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and effort and that it has not been submitted to any other university or institution wholly or partially

Hanoi, January 2016 Bùi Phương Thảo

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, Assoc Dr Phan Van Que, for his precious advice, academic guidance and support Without his invaluable assistance, this thesis would not have been fulfilled

I would also like to express my sincere thanks to all lecturers and the staff of the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University for their useful lessons and materials which are of great values to my thesis

I am appreciative of all my colleagues, and the non- major English students

at Hanoi University of Industry for their precious cooperation in giving valuable information

Last but not least, I find myself in debt to my dear family, and my friends who are always supporting me with their considerations and encouragement

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to obtain knowledge about the evaluation of listening task complexity in the coursebook New Headway Pre- intermediate used for non- major English students at Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI) from the perspectives of the users of the material (i.e non- major English students and their listening teachers) It took into consideration the needs in listening tasks of the target students in order to suggest changes for the improvements for teaching listening skill to non- major English students at HaUI

The participants included 100 students chosen randomly among non- English major students at HaUI and 20 teachers who were in charge of teaching English for non- major English students Two survey questionnaires were employed to discover the participants‟ perspectives of the students‟ needs in listening tasks and how listening tasks met these needs Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used

to analyse data obtained from the aforementioned data collection instruments

The findings of the research provided insight into the needs in listening tasks

of non- major English students at HaUI as well as how listening task complexity in the textbook New Headway Pre- intermediate was evaluated in the students and teachers‟ viewpoints It can be clearly seen from the results of the study that listening to English was a challenge to the students The results indicated that listening task complexity generally met the students‟ needs However, there was a need to improve some elements of listening tasks such as provided vocabularies, listening topics, three stages in listening, the speed and length of listening texts, format of responses, etc to better meet the Ss‟ needs Based on the findings of the study, some recommendations for listening tasks in the coursebook were suggested

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CFL College of Foreign Languages

HaUI Hanoi University of Industry

MA Master of Arts

NA Needs analysis

SLA Second language approach

TBLT Task- based language teaching

Ss Students

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 1: Robinson‟ model of task complexity

Table 2: Skehan‟s model of task complexity

Figure 3.1: Students‟ listening needs in terms of code complexity

Figure 3.2: Students‟ listening needs in terms of cognitive complexity

Figure 3.3: Students‟ listening needs in terms of communicative stress

Figure 3.4: Ss‟ evaluation on listening task complexity in terms of code complexity Figure 3.5: Ts‟ evaluation on listening task complexity in terms of code complexity Figure 3.6: Ss‟ evaluation on listening task complexity in terms of cognitive complexity

Figure 3.7: Ts‟ evaluation on listening task complexity in terms of cognitive complexity

Figure 3.8: Ss‟ evaluation on listening task complexity in terms of communicative stress

Figure 3.9: Ts‟ evaluation on listening task complexity in terms of communicative stress

TABLE OF CONTENT

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rational for the thesis 1

2 Aims of the study 1

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Significance of the study 2

5 Methods of the study 2

6 Design of the study 2

PART II: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Task and task- based language teaching 4

1.1.1 Real – world tasks 4

1.1.2 Pedagogic tasks 4

1.1.3 Significance of task- based language teaching 5

1.2 Task complexity 6

1.2.1 Definition of task complexity 6

1.2.2 Significance of determining task complexity 6

1.2.3 Models to determine task complexity 7

1.2.4 Skenhan‟s model of task complexity 10

1.3 Listening tasks and teaching listening tasks 12

1.3.1 Definition of listening comprehension 12

1.3.2 Potential problems in learning listening comprehension 13

1.3.3 Three stages in listening tasks 14

1.4 Needs analysis ( NA) in language teaching 15

1.5 Summary 17

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 18

2.1 Current situation of teaching and learning English listening at Hanoi University of Industry .18

2.1.1 The context of the study 18

2.1.2 The material description 19

2.2 The study 19

2.2.1 Research questions 19

2.2.2 Participants 20

2.2.3 Data collection instrument 20

2.2.3.1 Questionnaires 20

2.2.3.2 Interviews 21

2.2.4 Methods of data analysis 22

2.2.4.1 Quantitative method 22

2.2.4.2 Qualitative method 22

2.2.4.3 Data collection and analysis procedure 22

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 23

3.1 Questionnaire findings 23

3.1.1 Students‟ need in listening task 23

3.1.1.1 Students‟ needs in listening tasks related to code complexity 23

3.1.1.2 Students‟ listening needs in listening tasks related to cognitive complexity 24

3.1.1.3 Students‟ needs in listening tasks related to communicative stress 26

3.1.2 Evaluation of listening task complexity in the course book 27

3.1.2.1 Evaluation of listening task complexity in terms of code complexity 27

3.1.2.2 Evaluation of listening task complexity in terms of cognitive complexity 29

3.1.2.3 Evaluation of listening task complexity in terms of communicative stress 31

3.1.3 Teachers‟ opinions on the book‟ changes in order to better meet their students‟ needs 33

3.2 Interview findings 34

3.2.1 Students‟ needs in listening tasks 34

3.2.2 Students‟ opinions on listening tasks‟ changes in order to better meet their

needs 34

3.3 Discussion findings 35

3.3.1 Students‟ needs in listening tasks 35

3.3.2 Evaluation of listening task complexity in the course book New Headway Pre intermediate for non- Engish major at HaUI as perceived by the Ss and Ts 36

PART III: CONCLUSION 38

1 Conclusion of the study 38

2 Recommendation to improve listening tasks in the book 39

3 Limitations and suggestions for further studies 40

REFERENCES 41

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rational for the thesis

Task - based language teaching (TBLT) has gained favor over the last two decades, both in second language pedagogy and in studies on second language acquisition Tasks in TBLT vary in terms of their complexity and the language they elicit Therefore, one of the major challenges facing those concerned with gauging the influence of task characteristics and performance conditions on candidate performance is how to determine the complexity of tasks (Elder et al 2002)

At Hanoi university of Industry, there are a lot of teaching methods and TBLT is applied in teaching and learning English English language has been taught

for non-major English students based on the coursebook New Headway Pre -

intermediate (the third edition by Liz, John Soar & Sylvia Wheeldon) for a long

time From the researcher‟s observation and professional experience as a teacher of English, it can be found that the students, especially the non-English major students often have a lot of difficulties in doing listening tasks They find the listening tasks somehow complex to accomplish Consequently, students seem to get bored to learn listening component However, no research has been done to evaluate the complexity of listening tasks in this textbook Thus, it urges the researchers to

conduct a research on the topic: “An evaluation of listening task complexity in the coursebook New headway Pre- intermediate to the non- English major students at Hanoi university of Industry” with an expectation to make a small contribution

towards improving the quality of teaching and learning listening skill at HaUI with

listening tasks in the course book New headway Pre- intermediate

2 Aims of the study

New Headway Pre- intermediate course book is used for the second year students during two semesters or thirty weeks Each unit is instructed in nine or ten periods of teaching and learning The listening component is studied in one or two periods, including three or four tasks The research aims to both evaluate the complexity of listening tasks in the course book and determine whether the

complexity of listening tasks are suitable for teaching listening in the situation More specifically, this study seeks to examine the following research questions

1 What are the non- major English students‟ needs when doing listening tasks at HaUI?

2 To what extent does the complexity of the current listening tasks in New Headway Pre- intermediate meet their needs from perspectives of teachers and students at HaUI?

3 Scope of the study

Due to the small scale of the study as well as the limitation of time, this study

only focuses on evaluating the complexity of listening tasks in the coursebook New

Headway Pre- intermediate for non- major English students at HaUI from the

perspectives of the users of these materials (e.g the students and teachers taking

part in teaching and learning with New Headway Pre intermediate in school year

2015-2016.)

4 Significance of the study

The findings of the thesis may serve as useful information not only for the researcher, the course book designers but also for the teaching staff and the non- major English students at HaUI It is also hoped that the thesis will make great contributions towards the development of the listening learning at HaUI

5 Methods of the study

To achieve the aims stated, both quantitative and qualitative methods were used The data collected for the study come from two survey questionnaires (of 100

non- major English students at HaUI who have just finished studying New

Headway Pre- intermediate ,and 20 teachers who have taught non- major English

students using the coursebook) and interviews from 10 random ones among 100 students

6 Design of the study

Part I: Introduction presents the rationale, aims, scope, significance and

methodology of the study

Part II: Development - consists of three chapters:

Chapter 1: Literature review – The first part provides some theoretical

background about task- based language teaching, including definition of task and significance of task- based language teaching The next one is theory of task complexity including some definitions of task complexity, significance of determining task complexity and the model of task complexity with the factors affecting task complexity Some theory of listening is reviewed in the third part And the last one is need analysis in language teaching and learning

Chapter 2: Methodology - in this chapter, the introduction of research

method including research questions, data collection instruments are presented

Chapter 3: The study - shows the procedure of carrying on the research and

presents the data analysis result from survey questionnaires, interviews

Part III: Conclusion, which is the last chapter, followed by references is the

summary of the whole study The limitation of the study and suggestion for further study are also recommended

PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Task and task- based language teaching

1.1.1 Real – world tasks

Michael Long (1985, p.19) provides a definition of task in its everyday meaning: “a piece of work undertaken for oneself or for others, freely or for some reward Thus, examples of task include painting a fence, making an airline reservation, borrowing a library book, taking a driving test, typing a letter, weighing a patient, sorting letters, taking a hotel reservation, writing a cheque, finding a street destination and helping someone across a road In other words, by

„task‟ is meant a hundred and one things people do in everyday life, at work, at play, and in between Tasks are the things people will tell you they do if you ask

them, and they are not applied linguists.”

In this sense, the concept of task is used when discussing human skills performance models Crookes (1986, p 32) supposed that “It has been shown that the category „task‟, as used by researchers generally, is widely applicable and has psychological reality Much, if not most, of human activity, whether in employment

or in the classroom can be seen a series of tasks – some having a communicative aspect, others not”

1.1.2 Pedagogic tasks

Skehan (1998, p 95) identifies a series of defining traits most researchers would agree on when conceptualizing a task: “a task is an activity in which meaning is primary; there is some kind of communication problem to solve; there is some sort of relationship to comparable real-world activities; task completion has some priority; the assessment of the task is in terms of outcome”

According to Bygate (2001), however, tasks are susceptible to pedagogic intervention; tasks can be influenced by learner choice and can be potentially reinterpreted by learners Bygate (2001) also pointed out that tasks may have a static, controllable nature if used for research, and they may include more dynamic and

extended qualities if they are used for teaching purposes Tasks are clearly

„sequenceable‟ both in practice and theory, although there currently exist considerable doubts as to the validity of the criteria by which tasks can be ordered That is why they pointed out that it may be necessary to clarify the definition of task under different circumstances, who to determine the tasks‟ goals and how to sequence tasks

In brief, tasks can also be manipulated for different empirical purposes and to test different theoretical constructs in both classroom and experimental settings In this way, researchers usually propose a series of operationalizations that may affect either their internal structure, their interactional design, or the conditions under which they are performed in order to test and measure their effects on learners‟ comprehension, production, or learning

1.1.3 Significance of task- based language teaching

Recently, there has been an increasing interest in TBLT The application of TBLT comes from different reasons Skehan (1998a, p.95) pointed out that "as

an approach to instruction, TBLT is theoretically defensible and practically feasible The assumption here, then, is the fact that transacting tasks will engage naturalistic acquisitional mechanisms, cause the underlying interlanguage system

to be stretched, and drive development forward" Elsewhere, Skehan (2002, p.293) suggested that a task-based approach is generally based on language use, that the language learning problem is how learners, from such use, develop a system of rules, and that individualization is an important aspect of the learning situation

From different perspective, Ellis (2003) listed three arguments in favor of task-based syllabi According to him, "the rationale for task-based syllabuses that has been advocated by SLA researchers draws on a variety of arguments First, it is based on the theoretical view that instruction needs to be compatible with the cognitive processes involved in L2 acquisition Second, the importance of learner 'engagement' is emphasized And third, tasks serve as a suitable unit for

specifying learners' needs and thus for designing specific purpose courses"

1.2 Task complexity

1.2.1 Definition of task complexity

Robinson (2001b) argues that task complexity is the result of the

attentional, memory, reasoning, and other information processing demands

imposed by the structure of the task to the language learner Robinson (2007,

p.210) regards task complexity as differences in intrinsic cognitive processing

demands of tasks which will explain within-learner variation in successfully completing any two tasks (such as doing simple addition versus calculus, or doing the simple versus complex intentional reasoning task)

Ellis (2003, p.351) believes that task complexity is the extent to which a particular task is inherently easy or difficult

1.2.2 Significance of determining task complexity

It is a widely accepted idea that research into complexity of second language tasks is necessary to pedagogical decisions regarding the grading and sequencing of tasks for the purposes of syllabus design (Gilabert, 2005, 2007; Long2007; Rahimpour 1997, 1999, 2008; Robinson, 1995a, 2001b, 2003b, 2005a, 2007a, 2007a; Robinson and Gilabert, 2007; Van Den Branden, 2006) Skehan (1998a, 1998b) reiterates that knowledge of task difficulty provides the teacher or syllabus designer with information about the level of challenge that a task is likely to contain, a level which the teacher will then have to match his or her knowledge with that of the students who will do the task Skehan( 1998) also provides rationale for estimating task difficulty: "the rationale for estimating task difficulty is twofold, firstly, tasks of appropriate difficulty are likely to be more motivating for learners as they feel that they are required to meet reasonable challenges, and secondly, considering that attentional capacities are limited, tasks of appropriate difficulty mean that learners will be able to overcome the difficulties put upon their attentional resources"

In par with the above arguments, Skehan (1998b, p.134) argues that: "If the appropriate level of task difficulty is chosen, there is much greater likelihood that noticing will occur, that balanced language performance will result, and that spare attentional capacity can be channeled effectively" Researching in the framework of the Cognition Hypothesis, Rahimpour (1997) is of the belief that criteria for distinguishing the difficulty of second language tasks are an important issue for SLA researchers, syllabus designers, and second language instructors who are concerned with implementing task-based proposals for syllabus design Like other researchers working in the cognitive framework, Gilabert (2005) relates the construct of task complexity to the syllabus design by stating that, "the concept of task complexity was born from the need to establish criteria for sequencing tasks in

a syllabus from easy/simple to difficult/complex in a reasoned way that will foster interlanguage development."

Apart from application in syllabus design, Robinson (1995a) rightly points out that the emergent debate about task complexity promises to be an important site for the development of comprehensive theories of second language acquisition Additionally, Robinson and Gilabert (2007) argue that research into the effects of task complexity aims both at pedagogic applications of findings regarding the effects of task design and sequencing decisions on learning and performance, and also at the deeper understanding of the second language processing and learning mechanisms that cause these effects

To sum up, all the above statements highlight the significance of task complexity in implementing task-based pedagogy

1.2.3 Models to determine task complexity

Brindley (1987) suggested that the following factors will determine the complexity of what the learner has to do:

 Relevance: Is the task meaningful and relevant to the learner?

 Complexity:

How many steps are involved in the task?

How complex are the instruction?

What cognitive demands does the task make on the learner?

 Amount of context provided prior to the task:

How much prior knowledge of the world, the situation or the cultural context

is assumed in the way the task is framed?

 Processability of the language of the task:

Is the language that learners are expected to produce in line with their processing ability?

 Amount of help available to the learner:

How much assistance can the learner get from the teacher, other learners, books or other learning aids?

 Degree of grammatical accuracy/contextual appropriacy:

How 'standard' does the task require learners to be?

 Time available to the learner;

How long does the learner have to carry out the task?

Candlin (1987) proposed a set of criteria by which tasks might be selected and graded These are:

 Cognitive load: this concerns the general complexity of the content of the task, including the naturalness of the sequence it may be required to follow

 Communicative stress: more stressful tasks are seen as those which involve pressure which comes from the interlocutor, either because s/he is a native speaker

or because of superior knowledge or proficiency

 Particularity and generalizability: this concerns the clarity of the goal of the task, as well as the norms of interpretation

 Process continuity: this derives from the familiarity of the task as well as the learner capacity to relate the task to tasks they are familiar with

 Code complexity and interpretative density: the first concerns the complexity

of the linguistic code, while the latter is concerned with the complexity of the operations which need to be carried out on such a code

Candlin and Nunan (1987) have also suggested that activities can be graded according to the general cognitive demands they make Their scheme has four

levels as follows:

 Attending and recognizing: the learner's ability to notice what kind of input he

or she is being confronted with

 Making sense: the learner's ability to make sense of the input as a particular example of language, determining, for example, what particular language it is, how

it is organized, how it is classified and patterned

 Going beyond the information given: the learner's ability to hypothesize, infer, and make judgments, for example, about the underlying meaning of the test

 Transferring and generalizing: the learner's ability to extrapolate from any particular texts of same type, genre, and purpose, or transferring the information gained from and about a particular text to other texts that may be of other quiet different structure, channel and purpose

Robinson (2001A; 2001B; 2003A) proposes a three-dimensional model that distinguishes between three different types of factors

Cognitive factor Interactive factors Difficulty factors

Task complexity

a, Resource directing

e.g, +/- few elements

+/- Here and Now

b, participant variables

e.g gender familiarity power/ solidarity

Task difficulty

a, affective variables

e.g motivation, anxiety, confidence

b, ability variables

aptitude proficiency intelligence

Table 1: Robinson’ model of task complexity

Robinson‟s Cognition Hypothesis provides a rationale for designing tasks and organizing them into a coherent program that will lead to better performance and development For Robinson (2003a, p 56) Task Complexity “refers to the intrinsic cognitive demands of the task”, and it can be manipulated during task design along resource-directing and resource-dispersing dimensions Task

Complexity accounts for within participant variation By task difficulty Robinson

understands what learners bring to the task, and suggests that differentials in ability variables affect learners‟ perception of the task with consequences for performance

and learning Task difficulty accounts for between participant variations Finally,

task conditions have to do with how information is distributed and flows among participants In his view, information about the effects of Task Complexity on production should help syllabus designers to organize pedagogic tasks from simple

to complex so that they progressively approximate real world target tasks

1.2.4 Skenhan’s model of task complexity

Skehan‟s conception of task-based learning comes from a communicative approach to language teaching (Brumfit, 1984; Widdowson, 1972) which has been concerned, among other issues, with how task and syllabus design can contribute to interlanguage development According to Skehan(1998); Skehan & Foster( 2001), both task manipulation and sequencing for syllabus design should

be based not just on intuitions about difficulty but on empirical findings

Skehan & Foster (2001, p 196) indicated that “Task difficulty has to do with the amount of attention the task demands from the participants Difficult tasks require more attention than easy tasks”

One model was developed by Skehan and his associates (Skehan, 1998; Skehan and Foster, 2001) presenting a framework of factors which they claim affecting the complexity of a task This framework is known as Trade- Off Hypothesis

Code complexity Cognitive complexity Communicative

- familiarity of task Cognitive processing

- Information organization

- number of participants

- length of texts used

- type of response

- opportunities to control

Table 2: Skehan’s model of task complexity

Code complexity deals with the linguistic demand of the task, the language needed to complete the task More complex tasks are hypothesised to be those which require more advanced and a wider range of grammatical structures and lexical items from the task performer Cognitive complexity distinguishes two areas: cogntive familarity and cognitive processing Cognitive familarity concerns the extent to which the learner can draw upon previous experiences of performing such a task or similar ones Thus, if the task itself or the topic of the task is not familiar to the learner, it is hypothesised to be more complex Cognitive processing concerns the thinking that is required to perform the task The more the learner needs to organize the information or the more steps needed to complete the task, the more demanding the task will be and thus more complex The last set of factors is referred to the term „communicative stress” Time pressure refers to the amount of pressure exerted on the learner to perform a task quickly, as little or no

planning time may make the task more complex The other factors referred to speed

of presentation, number of participants, length of text used, response type and opportunities to control In addition to these three categories, Skehan recognizes that learner characteristics, such as the learner‟s intelligence, breadth of imagination and personal experience may also interact with the essential complexity of the task to influence its difficulty for a particular learner

In this study, the evaluation of task complexity will be mainly based on Skehan‟ model because it is updated and the researcher finds it easy to follow

1.3 Listening tasks and teaching listening tasks

1.3.1 Definition of listening comprehension

Listening comprehension is more than obtaining meaning from utterance It also involves a process in which students match utterance with what they already know about the topic When knowing the concept or the topic, they can activate their prior knowledge to get something from that knowledge which is needed for comprehending the message Brown (2001: 2) states “One very important idea for teaching listening is that listening courses must make use of student‟s prior knowledge in order to improve listening comprehension”

According to Buck (2001: 31), listening comprehension is an active process

of constructing meaning and this is done by “applying knowledge to the incoming sounds” in which “number of different types of knowledge are involved: both linguistic knowledge and non-linguistic knowledge”

Vandergrift (1999: 168) states that “listening comprehension is an active process in which the listener must discriminate between sounds, understand vocabulary and grammatical structures, interpret stress and intonation, retain what was gathered in all the above and interpret it with the immediate as well as the larger context of the utterances”

To sum up, listening is an active, conscious and complex process Moreover, ability to integrate in real information from the various knowledge sources is considered crucial for successful listening comprehension (Rost, 2005) Listeners do

not receive information passively but applied and moderated their background knowledge to assist the understanding of input actively

1.3.2 Potential problems in learning listening comprehension

Underwood (1989) presents seven problems which learners often encounter

in learning listening Firstly, it is difficult for them to catch speakers‟ speed Secondly, the listeners are not able to get things repeated Another difficulty is learners‟ limited vocabulary The next, they are not able to recognize the „signals‟

by which a speaker can indicate that he/she is moving from one point to another, or giving an example, or repeating a point, or whatever Listeners‟ problems of interpretation are also mentioned by Underwood Students who are unfamiliar with the recording may have considerable difficulty in interpreting the words even if they can understand their „surface‟ meaning Especially, this can even occur when the speaker and listener are from the same background and use the same language Besides, inability to concentrate is a major problem to the listeners, because even the shortest break in attention can seriously impair comprehension The last problem is learners‟ established learning habits due to the fact that their teachers aim to teach them to understand everything in the English lesson Consequently, students are worried if they fail to understand a particular word or phrase when they are listening

Goh (2000) attributes ten listening comprehension problems in relation to three cognitive processing phases – perceptions, parsing, and utilization Firstly, learners reported most difficult ones are: „do not recognize words they know‟,

„neglect the next part when thinking about meaning‟, „cannot chunk streams of speech‟, „miss the beginning of texts‟, and „concentrate too hard or unable to concentrate‟ Secondly, listeners complained of problems such as „quickly forget what is heard‟, „unable to form a mental representation from words heard‟, and „do not understand subsequent parts of input because of earlier problems‟ Third, in the utilization stage, „understand the words but not the intended message‟ and

„confused about the key ideas in the message‟ were often mentioned (Goh, 2000)

These reported difficulties partially reflect Underwood‟s (1989) views on second language listening problems

Yagang (1994) attributes the difficulty of listening comprehension to four sources: the message, the speakers, the listeners and the physical setting

As a whole, there are four main factors that contribute to the difficulty of listening comprehension: speaker factors, the listener factors, the content of the listening, and the physical environment The aforementioned potential listening problems have been chosen to be the basis of some items in the questionnaires on listening needs analysis (NA) and task complexity evaluation in the study

1.3.3 Three stages in listening tasks

There are often three main stages in a listening task They are: pre-listening stage, while-listening stage, and post-listening stage Each stage has its own aims and activities

Pre-listening stage

Pre-listening stage prepares student by getting them to think about the topic

or situation before they listen to the texts In other words, it gives students a purpose

to listen It also gets students to relate to what they already know about the topic and

arouses their interest in listening During pre-listening the teacher may

 assess students' background knowledge of the topic and linguistic content of the text

 provide students with the background knowledge necessary for their comprehension of the listening passage or activate the existing knowledge that the students possess

 make students aware of the type of text they will be listening to, the role they will play, and the purpose(s) for which they will be listening

 provide opportunities for group or collaborative work and for background reading or class discussion activities

Post-listening stage

Post-listening stage involves activities related to a particular listening text (whether recorded or spoken by the teacher) which are done after the listening is completed

The purposes of post-listening activities are:

 To check whether the learners have understood what they need to or not

 To see why some students have missed parts of message

 To give the students the opportunity to consider the attitude and manner of the speaker of the listening text

 To expand on the topic or language of the message and to transfer learned things to another context

 To make introduction for the planned work

1.4 Needs analysis ( NA) in language teaching

From goal-oriented perspectives, needs can be defined as what students should be able to do at the end of their language course or “what the user-institution

or society at large regards as necessary or desirable to be learnt from a program of language instruction” (Mountford, 1981, p 27)

According to Brindley (1984), needs refer to wants, desires, demands, expectations, motivations, lacks, constraints, and requirements From this point of view, needs of students may be in a great harmony or in opposition to the requirements of course designers

Hutchinson and Waters (1987) categorize two types of needs:

Needs

Targets needs Learning needs

Necessities Lacks Wants Psychological Attitudinal/ Material

Target needs are defined as “what the learner needs to do in the target situation” (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987, p 54) They are broken down into three categories: necessities, lacks and wants Necessities are considered to be “what the learner has to know in order to function effectively in the target situation” (p 55) Lacks are defined as

• Teaching and learning styles with which the learners are familiar

• Appropriate or ineffective teaching and learning methods

• Knowledge of specialized contents that teachers should have

• Suitable instructional materials and study location

• Time of study and status of English for specific purpose (ESP) courses

• Expectations about what learners should achieve in the courses

• How necessary the courses are for the learners

Wants mean learners‟ needs based on their data relating themselves and their environment Learning needs are understood as “what students need to do in order

to learn”

Needs analysis has been proven to play a crucial role in language teaching According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987), a NA is usually seen as being most beneficial for an ESP course, “an approach to language teaching which aims to meet the needs of particular learners” (p 21) Nunan (1988) considers it as the initial process for the specification of behavioral objectives It is from these objectives that detailed aspects of the syllabus such as functions, topics, lexis and structures are

derived The research to date emphasizes the significance of a NA for devising a course, writing textbooks or coursebooks, and the kind of teaching and learning that takes place (Robinson, 1991; Jordan, 1997) Yet it is recommended that a NA should be carried out continuously because “as students become more involved with the course, their attitudes and approach may change” (Robinson, 1991, p.15)

1.5 Previous studies on task complexity

There have been a number of researchers paying attention to task complexity Skehan (1996, 1998) proposed possible orientations that learners may have in performing a task Besides, Robinson (2001) also proposed a triadic componential framework that organize the factors influencing task performance While tasks may employs any of the four language skills, most of research in tasks and task complexity has been conducted on output activities such as writing and speaking This study focuses on listening task complexity in terms of code complexity, cognitive complexity and communicative stress

1.6 Summary

So far, the relevant literature which is needed to form the theoretical framework for the present study has been presented in this chapter It is hoped that they will be of great help for the next chapter, which deals with the actual procedures of the study: methodology, and data collection procedures

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

2.1 Current situation of teaching and learning English listening at Hanoi

University of Industry

2.1.1 The context of the study

Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI) was officially established in 2005 on the basis of Hanoi Industrial College where thousands of skilled workers and engineers are trained every year HaUI is in the process of reaching one of the great universities of Southeast Asia

At HaUI, the number of students in each non-English major class is 50 students All non- major students at HaUI learn English for five courses: New Headway Elementary is used in the first and second course, in next two courses they study New Headway Pre- intermediate and specialized English is learnt in the last one English contains six credits in each course There are a lot of teaching methods such as task- based language teaching, communicative method or learner- centred approach, etc It is good to say that task- based language teaching is applied in teaching and learning English at HaUI

The Faculty of Foreign Language consists of 147 teachers aged 23 to 45 years old However, there are only 30 teachers assigned to teach non-English major students using the coursebook New headway Pre- intermediate Out of these 30 teachers, the researcher chose 20 teachers to participate in the study The teachers are all female and graduated from Hanoi University of language and international studies, Vietnam National University Eleven of them had an M.A degree in English, four are doing their post graduates studies in the CFL and five are Bachelor

of English Eight of them have ages ranging from 30-40 with more than 10 years of teaching experience; and the last aged from 24-30, who have just worked for the University for about 2-3 years These teachers were the subjects of the questionnaire

A majority of students are at the age of 18- 22 Most of them come from urban areas and they have learnt English for 3 or 7 years However, the problem is

that most of them do not consider English as their major, so they did not pay much attention to study English at that time Besides, they are not really interested in learning English, especially in listening and speaking Moreover, they have been familiar with the tradition teaching and learning method focusing on grammar The teachers must work a lot to help their students Among the non-English major students studying the coursebook New headway Pre- intermediate at HaUI, the researcher randomly selected 100 students in 2 classes They are both male and female aged from 19-21 They were also the subjects of the questionnaire

2.1.2 The material description

New Headway Pre- intermediate( the third edition) has been chosen as a course book for the following reasons:

 The authors Liz, John Soars & Sylvia Wheeldon state that Headway Pre- intermediate has been designed for adults and young adults who want to use English both accurately and fluently and all four language skills are developed systematically

 New Headway Pre- intermediate covers the next stage of New Headway Elementary

 Each teaching unit is about a certain topic which is structured into sections: Grammar, Vocabulary, Everyday English, Reading, Speaking, Listening, and Writing In listening tasks, texts and discussions are used to help students activate their knowledge about topics The listening tasks do not often new vocabulary before the tasks There are from two to three sub tasks in each task set And then, students must listen to listening texts to do exercises The students sometimes practise speaking in this part

2.2 The study

2.2.1 Research questions

In order to evaluate the listening task complexity, the survey questionnaires were employed to answer the two following research questions:

1 What are the non- major English students‟ needs when doing listening tasks at HaUI?

2 To what extent does the complexity of the current listening tasks in New Headway Pre- intermediate meet their needs from perspectives of teachers and students at HaUI?

2.2.2 Participants

This study was carried out with the participation of 20 full-time teachers and

100 second- year students who were teaching and learning the coursebook New headway Pre- intermediate These students and teachers were randomly chosen from the second year students at HaUI They were asked and answered questions by the end of the semester when they have just finished the coursebook

2.2.3 Data collection instrument

2.2.3.1 Questionnaires

It is obvious that questionnaires, as a common tool to collect data in research

on applied linguistics, offer certain advantages As Seilinger and Shohany (1989) pointed out, questionnaires do not take much time to administer as other procedures Also, since the same questionnaire is given to all the subjects at the same time, the data are more uniform, standard and accurate Lastly, questionnaires can be easily quantified because multiple-choice questions are used Due to these advantages questionnaires were used as a main data collection method in this study

In this study, two sets of questionnaires were used to get information about the students‟ needs in doing listening tasks as perceived by the Ss, and the Ss and Ts‟ evaluation on the current listening task complexity in the coursebook The questionnaire type constructed by the author belongs to both „close-ended‟ and

„open-ended‟ items The steps of constructing the questionnaires were performed as follows: (1) Constructing and piloting the questionnaires; (2) Revising the questionnaires; (3) Delivering the questionnaires

The first set of questionnaires – students’ needs in doing listening tasks

The content of these questionnaires was based on the literature in chapter 2

to answer the first question of the study These try to identify students‟ need in listening task in terms of task complexity The first part of the questionnaires includes questions 1 to question 3 about their needs in doing listening tasks in terms

of code complexity From questions 4 to questions 10, it is hoped to find out the students‟ needs in cognitive complexity Questions 11- 15 seek students‟ needs in communicative stress

The second set of questionnaires – an evaluation of the listening task complexity in the textbook New Headway Pre- intermediate

The second one is designed to answer the question number 2 of this study so that it can be found out the suitability of listening task complexity to the students‟ needs

The questionnaires for students and teachers contain the same questions The complexity of listening tasks in the coursebook is evaluated regarding to code complexity, cognitive complexity and communicative stress The last question in the teachers‟ questionnaire is designed to find out teacher‟s opinions for improving listening tasks in the coursebook to find out the appropriate complexity of listening tasks Since the students were non English major ones, the author assumed that it would be hard for them to understand all questions so they were translated into Vietnamese

2.2.3.2 Interviews

According to Brinkman (2008: 470), interviewing is a conversational practice whose knowledge is produced through the interaction between an interviewer and an interviewee or a group of interviewees They are useful for eliciting perspectives

In this study, interviews were carried out to obtain knowledge about students‟ personal perceptions on the students‟ needs in listening tasks and the current listening tasks in the textbook New Headway Elementary Since the student participants were all non- English major students whose English was at a relatively low level, it was assumed that they might feel more comfortable expressing their

ideas in their mother tongue when having an informal talk with the researcher Therefore, after the questionnaires on the matters above, unstructured interviews were conducted in Vietnamese to encourage the students to share their ideas about these matters Due to limited time, in each interview, there were 10 participants randomly chosen among 100 participants

2.2.4 Methods of data analysis

2.2.4.1 Quantitative method

According to Jacobsen (2002), the fundamental starting point of the quantitative method is that the social reality can be measured by methods and instruments that give information based on numerical values This method was employed to analyze the data obtained from close-ended questionnaire items

2.2.4.2 Qualitative method

Qualitative data from the interviews and one „open-ended‟ question was analyzed in this study Each episode was coded and compared with every other episode for similarities and differences After that, analyzed data was grouped into categories, those categories were examined for how they were related to one another and then collapsed under a higher level category until the central category that explained most of variation in the data was revealed or „discovered‟

2.2.4.3 Data collection and analysis procedure

Data collection was conducted via the questionnaires for both teachers and the students First, the questionnaires were developed based on the criteria which are the most appropriate to this study And then, the Vietnamese questionnaires were given to the 100 students and they were requested to complete the questionnaires during the class time After that, 10 students were randomly chosen for interviewing

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

This chapter presents the data results, analysis and the discussions of these findings from the study

3.1 Questionnaire findings

3.1.1 Students’ need in listening task

3.1.1.1 Students’ needs in listening tasks related to code complexity

Figure 3.1: Students’ listening needs in listening tasks related to code complexity

It can be seen clearly from figure 3.1 that there is a high level of agreement

on students‟ need in terms of code complexity The largest components both found

it “very important” and “important” Regarding the vocabulary in question 1, most students agreed that the suitable vocabulary to their level was very important (32 %) and important (59%) Only 2 % students thought that suitable vocabulary is unimportant It means that vocabulary in the listening text should be considerably suitable to students‟ level

One of the basis for this view of listening task is the grammatical structure (question 2) Understanding the importance of grammar structures, 80% students agreed with the statement Hearing the sound is difficult for many learners because learners do not perceive certain English sounds with any accuracy because they do not exist in their first language Therefore, over 81 % students had desire of

following sounds easily They supposed that following instructions of sound easily was important (18%) and important (63%) Surprisingly, none of students thought that following instruction of sound was unimportant

3.1.1.2 Students’ listening needs in listening tasks related to cognitive complexity

Figure 3.2: Students’ needs in listening tasks related to cognitive complexity

Notably and interestingly, regarding students‟ need in terms of cognitive complexity, a number of students (almost over 80%) favored with statement from questions 4 to 10 As shown in the above figure 3.2, there were a great number of students agreeing on the significance of familiar topics (question 4) Most of the students agreed that familiar topics were very important (24%) and important (66

%) in doing listening tasks while only 10 % chose option “ neutral” and “ not very important” Surprisingly, none of students thought that familiar topics were unimportant It means that familiar topics should be taught in listening tasks

Beside familiar topics, familiar types of task were mentioned, which got enthusiastic approvals from students (question 5) 27% students considered it very important and 50 % of them thought it important The same with the above question, nobody found it unimportant