Some suggestions for helping grade 10 students develop listening skills

Therefore, the teachers need to grapsp the difficulties and limitations of the students from which there are appropriate teaching methods helping students develop their listening skill..

PART A: INTRODUCTION

I Rationale for the study

In the trend of global integration, English is considered as an international language It is the major language of intercommunication, international commerce, business, science, culture and so on In Vietnam, the economic open-door policy pursued by the Government has increased the demand for using English Therefore, there has been a positive trend of teaching and learning English across the country English is also introduced to the educational curriculum from primary education (optional) to tertiary education (compulsory) [5]

In recent years, in high schools teaching and learning English has been taken into consideration In the process of teaching and learning English, listening skill is by far the most important of the four macro-skills It can be said that listening skill becomes so important and essential for language learners that all important tests such as IELTS, TOEFL, TOEIC, SAT… are focusing on testing listening skill of learners

Of the four language skills: Listening – Speaking – Reading – Writing, for most students, listening is by far the most difficult to master Therefore, the teachers need to grapsp the difficulties and limitations of the students from which there are appropriate teaching methods helping students develop their listening skill On the other hand, in our country and many countries in the world there is a fact that: high school students after graduation seem to be unable to communicate

in the foreign language they have learned and if necessary, they have to start over from the beginning This proves that in the teaching process in the previous years,

we have only focused on teaching language knowledge ( Grammar, Vocabulary) but ignored the teaching of communication skills for students

Listening comprehension is an important language skill to develop Language learners want to understand target language of the speakers Listening is not an easy skill to acquire because it requires listeners to make meaning from the oral input by drawing upon their background knowledge and produce information

in their long term memory and make their own interpretations of the spoken passage In other words, listeners need to be active processors of information

In order to help the students build up passion for listening, have strategies for comprehending the listening tasks well, develop effectively listening habit outside classroom so that student can improve their listening skill and can get high marks

in tests, I choose the topic of study: “Some suggestions for helping grade 10 students develop listening skills ”

This study is intended to make a modest contribution to an increased understanding of using practical activities in teaching English listening skill at high schools

Note: At this page, the paragraph “In the trend of……tertiary education (compulsory)’’ is

consulted from Reference number [5].

II Aims of the study

The aims of the study are to investigate some effective techniques and strategies in solving some types of the reading comprehension exerxcises in listening lessons Some main purposes covering the study are summarized as follow:

+ To understand the theoretical background of listening comprehension in order to improve students’ English listening skills

+ To investigate some techniques and strategies for listening comprehension + To help English teachers, especially teachers of English at upper secondary schools to find out effective techniques to deal with listening comprehension with the hope of helping them in teaching English

III Objects of the study

This study has been carried out to search for a better and more effective ways and strategies for doing some types of listening comprehension exercises

in order to help students to gain success in listening lessons, then in important tests such as IELTS, TOEFL, TOEIC, SAT…

IV Methods of the study

To achieve the aims mentioned above, a detailed study is used The theoretical background of the study presented in my study comes from documents

on the internet and many published books written by different authors on language teaching The statistics and data collected for the study come from the students and the English teachers at my upper secondary school and some nearby high schools

by making observation through reading comprehension lessons in the classroom and through tests and exams Through theoretical and practical experience in teaching and learning environment at my high school, I myself build up the topic

PART B: DEVELOPMENT I.Theoretical background

1.The importance of teaching listening

Listening comprehension is an important language skill to develop Language learners want to understand target language of the speakers Listening

is not an easy skill to acquire because it requires listeners to make meaning from the oral input by drawing upon their background knowledge and produce information in their long term memory and make their own interpretations of the spoken passage In other words, listeners need to be active processors of information [5]

2 Teaching principles of listening

On the basis of understanding the difficulties that students encounter in listening , I myself have been extremely anxious to find ways to improve their ability of listening comprehension in English better and better To formulate and develop students’listening skills, we need to ensure the following principles:

2.1 Principle 1: The tape recorder is just as important as the tape

We need to have tapes as well as tape recorders in good quality Listening sounds more and more difficult if we use poor tapes

2.2 Principle 2: Preparation is vital

Preparing lessons is especially important and necessary We need to prepare for both the knowledge and the ability to use the teaching equipment, namely radio

or tape generator controls

2.3 Principle 3: Listening once will not be enough

At the first time, students seem not to listen to anything about the text Don’t worry about this because even good listeners do that Therefore, allow students to listen at least 2 times for each task For difficult listening texts, listening twice or even more is okay

2.4 Principle 4: Different listening stages demand different listening tasks

Depending on the purposes of each stage, teachers can offer different listening tasks

2.5 Principle 5: Good teachers exploit listening texts to the full

The teacher not only requires students to complete all the procedures in the textbook but also needs tricks to transform the processes into real skills

2.6 Principle 6: Pay attention

Even native speakers need help with this Focus on the speaker Look at him or her because facial expressions and body language can communicate as much as language For example, there will usually be more engagement with the listener in making eye contact and use of hand gestures if what the speaker is saying is of importance to him or her In addition, it’s easy to mistake what someone actually said if you are not focusing on him or her and are engaged in some other task, such as reading or texting [5]

Note: At this page, the section 1 “The importance of teaching listening” and the section 2.6.

“Pay attention” is consulted from Reference number [5].

2.7 Principle 7: Listen for keyword

What words does the speaker emphasize? Usually the speaker will let you

know by stressing the main point: “Let’s talk about the TIME we will meet tomorrow…”The stressed word “time” signals that the time of tomorrow’s appointment is the main point, as does the marker “Let’s talk about…”

II Practical background

1 Background of the study

1.1 Description of the English syllabus at upper secondary schools

At upper secondary schools, there are three levels of English: English 10,

11 and English 12 In the past the textbooks used here are the three-year-course ones, the seven- year-course books have been used lately English is now a compulsory subject in schools Students have English lessons during the first term and second term of the school year

The textbooks chosen are English 10, 11, 12 by Nha Xuat Ban Giao Duc Each consists of 16 lessons which have been covered through out the school year with mid-term and term tests in between Each lesson is divided into 5 periods with the aim of giving the students basic knowledge of English and practice four skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing skill By using this textbook, we can develop our students’ communicative competence and our students can learn real things from daily life The textbooks also develop students’ reading and writing skill At the end of each term, students have an exam for four skills

1.2 Description of the students at upper secondary schools

Most of students at high school have already learned English for at least four years at lower secondary school but many of them are at the low level of English proficiency Another fact is that most of the students are from rural areas in diferent districts Consequently, individual differences in learning styles, identities, attitudes, motivation… etc are unavoidable and may cause the teachers some problems during their teaching In addition, their lack of awareness on the importance of English as well as motivation makes them not interested in learning English Although most of them have already learnt English for at least four years at lower secondary school, their knowledge of English is still poor and limited Some students can even hardly say a complete sentence in the target language

1.3 Description of the teachers at upper secondary schools

In terms of methodology, the teachers in high schools usually employ the traditional methods of teaching especially Grammar-translation method They often apply this method in teaching English In other words, they focus on analyzing the grammar rules, not on the acquisition of language skills They spend most of the classroom time explaining new words, analyzing grammar structures and translating texts into Vietnamese Students often listen and take notes passively This leads to low motivation in students and creates very few chances for them to improve their communicative competence

1.4 Description of physical setting

In most upper secondary schools, English teaching and learning activities are mostly carried out inside the classrooms which are designed for lecture lessons with the only classroom equipment: a blackboard, tables and a desk The only type of teaching aid that the English group has is some cassette recorders and pictures In term of class size, the number of students in an English class is quite large, from 40 to 50 This large number causes a great deal of difficulties for the teaching and learning activities The materials for reference and self-study are not available for teachers and students at schools In the school library, there are only some English books that are not really helpful for teachers and students

2 Difficulties

2.1 Teachers’ difficulties when teaching listening

When asking the teachers about the problems they were facing with in teaching listening, the majority admitted that the most difficult issue was the students’ limitation of vocabulary and grammatical structures

Moreover, despite the fact that the teachers at high schools are well aware

of the techniques and strategies for listening comprehension skill, some of them find it difficult to use them in their teaching because of many reasons The biggest one is that they are deeply affected by old teaching methods They said that after quite a long time applying these methods, they become absorbed to them and it is very difficult for them to change

2.2 Students’ difficulties

2.2.1 Passive learning style

The students are still deeply affected by the old and passive learning methods such as Translation or Audio-lingual Method and the learning environment at lower secondary school where reading was not fully taken into consideration They only learn what the teacher supply in the classroom They are accustomed to the habit of word-by-word readingand doing simple and short reading comprehension exercises

2.2.2 Lack of knowledge for listening

The information from the data collected clearly shows that students’ limitation of vocabulary and grammatical structures, their lack of appropriate listening strategies and their background knowledge are students’ main difficulties, which influence their motivation for listening as well as their understanding Not only the students but also the teachers faced many problems when dealing with listening lessons Students had very limited vocabulary, and were too dependent on teachers, peers dictionaries New words have affected the students’ process of listening

Moreover, high school students do not get used to linguistic phenomena

such as elision in English For example: " How do you like it here?"; " For a

week" ( Listening-Unit 2) or procrastination, for example: " Um I'm busy on

Saturday"; " Well, I guess that we just leave Uh, wait a second, what day are

we both free Huong?" ( Listening-Unit 13) Or sometimes listening to a topic

that students are not interested in or have little knowledge about can make them

feel stressed and burdened For example, in Listening lesson (Unit 9), there is

too much knowledge about whales such as length, weight or whales like blue whales, gray whales, sperm whales, dolphins, their habitats…etc while their general knowledge is limited This will lead to a loss of interest and depression

in listening lessons

Background knowledge is found to be a less challenge than vocabulary Students find that they do not know anything in some aspects Therefore, they have many difficulties when listening a strange topic With many demonstrations that those who possess rich prior knowledge about the topic of a listening yopic often listen better than the others with low prior knowledge Students’ lack of appropriate listening strategies is another problem, the teachers had to face

2.2.3 Lack of confidence

Students often have a fearful psychology, considering listening to foreign language is a challenge.They do not believe in themselves and become worried when doing listening tasks.Therefore, their learning will be difficult to take effect.It can be said that lack of confidence is also a major limitation affecting ability to make sense of their listening passage

2.2.4 Students have few opportunities to practice listening skills.

Most of my students come from the countryside, they have no opportunity

to interact with foreigners directly Therefore, it will be difficult for them to understand linguistic phenomena such as linking, contracted forms, omitted words or sometimes speakers use incorrect grammar sentences…In addition, they also have few chances to contact with native speakers, the environment for communication in English is not available On the other hand, students are still influenced by the old ways of teaching and learning, not focusing on developing communication skills Therefore, they do not have many opportunities to practice and develop listening comprehension skills

2.2.5 Students do not keep up with the speech of the tape.

Most students try to listen to every word and when they do not understand

a word or a phrase they often have a habit of stopping to think and try to remember what the word means However, the tape does not stop when the listener does not understand So they will miss the next part and fail to catch up with the listening speed leading to a loss of interest

2.2.6 Physical conditions

Noise , including background noise due to poor quality of radio, dics and noise outside the classroom, can distract students’ atteontion from listening Moreover, the tape has only aural purposes, which lacks visual cues Not seeing the speaker’s body language and facial expressions makes students more difficult to understand what the speaker mean

III METHODS FOR IMPLEMENTATION

1 Create initial confidence for students in themselves and the subject

A psychological factor that makes students feel more difficult to understand is that they often think they will not understand the listening If you are not confident in yourself, impatient when you do not see your progress, it

will lead to depression, confusion and even do not want to learn to listen anymore Therefore, creating trust for the children is extremely important Even

in the first class to get familiar with the subject, I often encourage my students

that: "Listening is a very difficult skill, especially when you listen to a foreign language, it is much more difficult, even English experts when listening to a conversation or an English news are almost not able to hear every word.

The key is to understand its main content It was already a success” In this 10th

grade English textbook, students are only required to understand short texts of

about 120 to 150 words, at a relatively slow speed So do not set yourself "too high a bar" Be confident in yourself, if your students are hard at work, patient

and know how to apply some good listening techniques, then they will definitely improve gradually Sometimes they are surprised by their ability to hear and find

it very interesting and useful to listen to English

I also analyzed and gave them an example which is easy to understand: “

When we were born, do we understand our mother tongue? Of course not, but

we learn to understand by listening, then we will learn to speak, read and learn

to write, so don't worry First we heard but did not understand English Learning English is just like learning how to ride a bicycle, few people can ride

a bike without falling a few times." After talking to my students like that, my

students hav become more comfortable, confident, ready for acquiring knowledge and new skills

2 Follow the 3-step process for a listening lesson.

We need to conduct the lesson in accordance with the 3-step process of

listening skills: Pre-listening; While-listening; Post-listening but combine and

use many different activities suitable to each part, each lesson in order to create interest in learning and improve students' activeness, initiative and creativity In this section, I would like to present some activities that I use effectively in the process of teaching listening

2.1 Stage 1: Pre-listening

At this stage, teachers need to create a listening situation for students in the content or topic of the listening lesson, inspiring students with the upcoming listening, suggesting to mobilize students' existing knowledge about the topic Therefore, students can use that knowledge to listen and understand more easily The important task of the pre-listening stage is to provide materials and introduce the topic of the listening

Depending on the content and level of each lesson, I will provide students with cultural with background knowledge, vocabulary, grammar, structures, complicated sounds…In listening lessons, teaching vocabulary, grammatical structures is not as important as in the reading lessons.Therefore, teachers

needn’t always rigidly follow the PPP teaching process( Presentation-

Practice-Production) but must be flexible Like vocabulary and grammatical structures,

teaching phonetics has a secondary function Practicing and developing new listening skills are our main goal As a result, teaching phonetics in listening should only stand at practicing and error correction I only provide students with words and structures that are new to them because they may not understand the

listening text if they do not know the meaning and cannot pronounce these words correctly

Example 1: When teaching Listening (Unit 14), I give the students the

following words:

+ goal-scorer (n): (using pictures)

+ hero (n): ( Give an example): Nguyen Hue is a national hero

+ ambassador (n): (translated)

+ kicking (n): (describe actions- miming)

+ Retirement (n): (Give an example): He retiredred at the age of 60 after 35

years working as a teacher

+ Promote (v): = to encourage [3].

When introducing the topic of listening lessons, in order to create a lively atmosphere, I often have students work in pairs / groups, use brainstorming with the whole class, use pictures or listen to music regarding to the content of the listening text

Example 2: When teaching Listening (Unit 11), before listening about

Cuc Phuong National Park, I asked students to brainstorm about what they know about this park

Image 1: Cuc Phuong National Park

Note: At this page, the words “ goal-scorer…to encourage” is consulted from Reference

number [3].

Cuc Phuong national park

This activity helps students focus on the topic of the listening lesson and get useful information before listening Therefore, listening to the tape will be easier for them

Example 3: To introduce the topic of Unit 12 (Listening), I let the

students listen to the National anthem of Viet Nam, then ask them what the name of the song is, who the author of this song is, what they know about him and his music Then, lead the students into the content of the song about a famous musician in Viet Nam – Van Cao

Image 2: Van Cao

With this approach, I find my students very interested, relieving them from the previous lessons, helping them enter the lesson gently In addition, depending on the content of each lesson I also use a number of other activities such as:

- Open prediction: I state the topic of the listening lesson and ask the whole

class to guess the content of the text

- True/False staements prediction: I make some stamements about the main

content of the lesson including some true sentences and some wrong sentences Students have to guess which is correct or incorrect

- Put sentences, ideas or pictures in order: I show students some pictures or read some sentences and ask them to put them in the correct order

- Pre-questions: I ask some questions on the topic of listening questions,

students use their existing knowledge to answer

- Wordstorm: I suggest students to recall words they have learned related to the

topic about the listening text These suggestions help students build vocabulary

"network" related to the listening topic, including new and difficult words they

will encounter in the listening text

Howerver, in all previous listening activities, I only encourage students to guess and do the requirements of the exercises, not give the right answer Students will have to give the correct answer after listening to the text

2.2 Stage 2: While-listening

At this stage, students listen and perform a number of requirements to

practice some certain listening skills such as True / False exercises, Multiple choice, Gap filling, Completing the tables, Completing sentences,Choose the best title…

To help them do the listening tasks effectively, I first show them the requirements of the exercises, give them a reason to listen I ask students to carefully read the exercise and make sure they understand the text correctly You can provide new vocabulary and structures if neccessary and instruct students to do the tasks one by one before doing another task

When teaching Listening lessons, I always ask my students to use pencils

and especially not to read the book "To study English well 10" because I don't

need the answers, I need them to be trained to develop their listening skills It is necessary to encourage students' activity and creativity through learning activities because no one can replace learners in capturing foreign language facilities and using foreign languages in communicating with your own communication skills

Very ofen, I play the tape three times For the first time, students have to listen to the entire text so that they may understand the main content At the second time, students have to listen again and perform the requirements of the exercise Therefore, at this time I can stop where it is needed and if I get the right results I take it At the third time, students have to listen and check the answers as well as give the final choice However, it depends on the situation that I let the students hear more or less If most of the answers are correct, I move on to the next one If the majority do not have the right answers, I direct them to listen again, focusing on the paragraphs or sentences that contain the answers

In order for students’ listening comprehension to be highly effective, I provide them with diferent styles for different types of exercises For example, for exercises of True/False statements; Filling the blank; Multiple choice and Answer the questions, I have students read the exercise, guess the answers first and then listen to the tape

While listening, I remind students to give a brief answer, so they do not waste time and miss the next part For the listening exercise that selects a paragraph title, I let them listen to the paragraph one by one For the exercise that listens to the main idea of the text, I let students listen to the entire text

Example 4: Task 1- Listening - Unit 2 ( page 26) : Listen to the

conversations and match them with the pictures.

- Step 1: I ask students to work in pairs, look at the pictures, ask and answer questions about the pictures For example: Who are talking? Where are they?

What are they talking about? What do you think they are talking about?/ Or ask