An investigation into the first- year- students’ attitudes towards learning English listening at faculty of Electrical Engineering Technology, Hanoi University of Industry (HAUI)

In English as second language learning context ESL, many studies have been conducted on how to teach and learn listening skills effectively.. minor thesis, the study mainly concentrates

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

-o0o -

PHẠM THỊ VINH

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE FIRST – YEAR – STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS LEARNING ENGLISH LISTENING AT FACULTY OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY,

HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY (HAUI)

(Thái độ của sinh viên năm nhất ngành công nghệ kỹ thuật điện đối với việc học nghe tại trường Đại học Công Nghiệp Hà Nội)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Hanoi – 2014

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

-o0o -

PHẠM THỊ VINH

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE FIRST – YEAR – STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS LEARNING ENGLISH LISTENING AT FACULTY OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY,

HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY (HAUI)

(Thái độ của sinh viên năm nhất ngành công nghệ kỹ thuật điện đối với việc học nghe tại trường Đại học Công Nghiệp Hà Nội)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Dr Trần Thị Tuyết

Hanoi – 2014

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby state that I: Phạm Thị Vinh, am the author of the thesis entitled “An investigation into the first - year - students‟ attitudes towards learning English listening at faculty of Electrical Engineering Technology, Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI)”, which is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master

of Arts at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, and this thesis has not been submitted for any other degrees

Ha noi, 2014

Phạm Thị Vinh

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to Dr Tran Thi Tuyet, my honorable supervisor for her great guidance and encouragement without which the study would not be completed Her patience and the amount of time she spent on revising manuscripts with muddled up contents have been truly appreciated Besides, her sense of thoughtful criticism and recognition of the work have played a crucial role to the progress and completion of this study

I also take this opportunity to express my thankfulness to all of my course instructors and lecturers of the University of Languages and International Studies - Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their valuable advice and suggestions throughout my study

In addition, I am appreciative of my first - year - Electrical Engineering Technology students as well as my colleagues at Hanoi University of Industry for their wholehearted cooperation in participating in survey questionnaires and interviews which gave great help to form a significant part of this study

Last but not least, my heartfelt gratitude goes to all those who have kindly advised and helped me towards the completion of my study report

ABSTRACT

The current study sheds light on attitude which is considered one of the most key factors affecting learners‟ achievement in foreign language learning It can be seen that attitude varies and different students lead different attitudes Thus, this study was conducted to examine attitudes of the first – year – Electrical Engineering Technology students towards learning English listening at Hanoi University of Industry The 120 male students and 5 teachers involved in this study Also, questionnaire and interview were chosen as the instruments for data collection In the context of the study, it mainly focused on the influence of some determinant factors (learners‟ factors, teachers‟ factors and learning environment‟ factors) on students to evaluate their attitudes towards learning listening skills Overall, the findings indicated that the participants kept negative attitudes towards learning English listening Some possible causes accounted for their unfavorable attitudes could be named as their disinterest, limited level of English, uncreative teaching methods, poor learning conditions and inappropriate materials Based on the research findings, some recommendations were discussed to foster positive attitudes towards learning listening skills

Keywords: Attitude, language learning, questionnaire and interview, learners‟ factors, teachers‟ factors and learning environment‟s factors

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF ABRREVIATIONS vii

LIST OF APPENDICES vii

LIST OF TABLES viii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Research questions 3

4 Method of the study 3

5 Scope of the study 3

6 Significance of the study 4

7 Organization of the study 4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 6

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

1.1 Overview of the current situation of teaching and learning listening skills in Vietnamese context 6

1.1.1 Introduction 6

1.1.2 The teaching and learning of listening skills in the Vietnamese context……… 7

1.2 Individual differences influencing on students’ success in learning English listening skills 8

1.3 The concepts of attitude 10

1.3.1 Definitions of attitude 10

1.3.2 Role of attitudes in students’ language learning 11

1.3.3 Factors affecting students’ attitudes towards language learning 12

1.4 Summary 15

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 16

2.1 The setting 16

2.1.1 The students’ background information at HaUI 16

2.1.2 The English teachers at HaUI 16

2.1.3 A brief description of the English course 17

2.2 The study 18

2.2.1 The participants 18

2.2.2 The instruments 19

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS 21

3.1 Data analysis of the students’ questionnaire 21

3.1.1 The influence of internal factors on students’ attitudes 21

3.1.1.1 Students’ perception 22

3.1.1.2 Students’ interest 23

3.1.1.3 Students’ ability 24

3.1.2 The influence of external factors on students’ attitudes 25

3.1.2.1 Teachers’ factors 26

3.1.2.1.1 Teachers’ behaviors 26

3.1.2.1.2 Teachers’ practices 27

3.1.2.2 Learning environment’s factors 29

3.1.2.2.1 Learning conditions 29

3.1.2.2.2 Listening materials 30

3.1.3 Summary from students’ questionnaire 31

3.2 Data analysis from teachers’ interviews 31

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 33

4.1 Students hold negative attitudes towards learning English listening……… 33

4.2 Some factors leading to students’ negative attitudes

towards learning listening skills 34

4.3 Suggestions to foster students’ positive attitudes 36

PART C: CONCLUSION 38

1 Summary of the study 38

2 Limitations 39

3 Suggestions for further studies 39

REFERENCES 40 APPENDICES I APPENDIX 1 I APPENDIX 2 VI APPENDIX 3 XI

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

HaUI Hanoi University of Industry ESL English as a second language

LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1: STUDENTS‟QUESTIONNAIRE (Vietnamese version)

APPENDIX 2: STUDENTS‟QUESTIONNAIRE (English version) APPENDIX 3: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Students‟ perception

Table 2: Students‟ interest

Table 3: Students‟ ability

Table 4: Teachers‟ behaviors

Table 5: Teachers‟ practices

Table 6: Learning conditions

Table 7: Listening materials

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

English is known as an international language that is widely used to communicate in all fields of the life such as science, technology, culture, education, economy and so on Therefore, mastering English has become an essential requirement in many nations all over the world as well as in Vietnam

In Vietnamese educational system, one of the most concerned problems is how

to help teachers and students teach and learn English effectively English has been introduced as a compulsory subject at grade three in most Vietnamese primary schools, so English learning process extends through primary school, secondary school, high school and university Communicative competence is required as the ultimate aim of foreign language teaching and learning in all schools; it means that students are required to focus on all four skills, namely listening, speaking, reading, and writing However, in reality, the emphasis on some basic knowledge of English in terms of grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension or written forms is seen for the purposes of examinations instead

of communicative purposes in many Vietnamese schools (Hoang, 2010) As the result, it is likely that the majority of Vietnamese students are good at grammar, writing, and reading but weak in listening and speaking (Nguyen, 2008) Among four skills, listening skill seems to be the most difficult to students They have to face much trouble in learning English listening skills

In English as second language learning context (ESL), many studies have been conducted on how to teach and learn listening skills effectively Numbers

of them have shown that various factors have strong impacts on the success of learning English language in general and learning English listening in particular

These factors can be motivation, anxiety, attitudes, aptitudes, intelligence,

personalities, age, etc (Gardner, 1960; Lehmann, 2006 - cited in Shames, 2008) Among them, the matter of attitudes is one of the most crucial features affecting second language learning It is said that both positive and negative attitudes have

associated with learners‟ language learning Positive attitudes can enhance students‟ language learning and help them achieve their goal easier; meanwhile, negative ones can decrease it (Ellis, 1994)

As an English teacher at Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI), I have recognized that my students, especially the freshmen met many difficulties in learning listening skills All of them have learnt English for at least 7 years; however, their listening abilities were quite poor As far as I has observed, my students reflected different attitudes towards learning listening skills Some students showed their favorable attitudes and wanted to improve their listening abilities, but others felt uncomfortable and under pressured in listening lessons Hence, I think it is vital to identify students‟ attitudes to learning English listening After identifying students‟ attitudes, we can also find out some reasons for their favorable or unfavorable attitudes to facilitate positive attitudes and limit negative attitudes towards learning listening skills

For all what I have just mentioned, I decide to choose the topic “An investigation into the first – year – students‟ attitudes towards learning English listening at faculty of Electrical Engineering Technology, Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI)” for my minor thesis Hopefully, the efforts in doing this research can contribute effectively to help my students overcome their difficulties, and make them feel more comfortable in practicing English listening and assist them in improving their listening skills

2 Aims of the study

The study is conducted to identify the Electrical Engineering Technology students‟ attitudes towards learning listening skills

The specific aims of the research are as follows:

- The study investigates the students‟ attitudes at HaUI towards learning English listening

- The study aims to find out factors affecting their attitudes towards learning English listening

- Then the study can provide some suggestions to facilitate students‟ positive attitudes in their listening learning process

3 Research questions

In order to classify the aims, the paper answers the following research questions:

1 What are the first – year – Electrical Engineering Technology

students‟ attitudes towards learning English listening?

2 What should be done to foster students‟ positive attitudes towards learning English listening?

4 Method of the study

Both quantitative method and qualitative method were used; however, the quantitative one was the main focus The quantitative data was collected through students‟ questionnaire to examine the first – year – students‟ attitudes at faculty of Electrical Engineering Technology at HaUI School towards learning listening skills

In addition, to make the data collected more reliable and authentic, qualitative method was applied with semi - structured interviews for teachers to check students‟ attitudes in class Then, some guides were drawn to help students have positive attitudes to learn English listening All the comments, remarks, recommendations and conclusions provided in the study were based on the data analysis of the study

5 Scope of the study

Due to the limited time and within an M.A minor thesis, the study mainly concentrates on investigating students‟ attitudes towards learning English listening

in a case of the first- year students at the faculty of Electrical Engineering Technology at HaUI School All of them has been studied English for at least seven years and they have continued to learn English as a fundamental subject in the university The researcher intends to discover the attitudes of the target population towards learning English listening; then offers some recommendations to foster students‟ positive attitudes to learning listening skills

6 Significance of the study

Conducting this study is necessary because it sheds light on one of the most

significant factors claimed to affect learners‟ language learning In fact, identifying

attitudes is beneficial to students, teachers and researchers as well Most importantly, the results of the research may give the answer to the question whether students‟ attitudes are in line with the aim of facilitating positive attitudes towards learning English listening At tertiary level, it is essential to impart language programmers by realizing the right attitudes perceived by students because there is a strong correlation between attitudes and language learning achievement Last but not least, such efforts in the study hope to contribute to the development of educational field by instilling in students more interest in learning English listening and stimulating them to accomplish higher English language proficiency

7 Organization of the study

The study is divided into three parts: the Introduction, the Development and the Conclusion

Part A: Introduction – deals with the rationale, aims, scope, methods, significance and organization of the study It expresses the reason why the researcher chooses this study and the methods for the fulfillment of the study

Part B: Development – consists of four chapters

Chapter 1 – Literature Review – is intended to give some theoretical background related to listening skills, individual differences influencing on students‟ success in

learning listening skills, the attitude concepts and some components affecting

Chapter 4 – Findings and suggestions – discuss some major findings and also offers some recommendations to facilitate positive attitudes of students to learn listening skills

Part C – Conclusion – presents a summary of the study, limitations of the study and suggestions for the further research

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

To provide a theoretical background to the study, this chapter is devoted to the reexamination of concepts most relevant to the thesis‟s topic Firstly, the overview

of the current situation of learning and teaching listening skills in Vietnamese context is taken into consideration Besides, individual differences influencing on

students‟ success in language learning as well as learning listening skills are also

discussed Lastly, some theories involving concepts of attitude (definitions, its role

and some components affecting attitudes) are also introduced

1.5 Overview of the current situation of teaching and learning listening

skills in Vietnamese context

1.5.1 Introduction

Richards and Renandya‟s research (2002) reveals that listening skills were not given much attention by researchers as well as ESL learners in the early history of language teaching Sharing the same view, Mendelsohn (1994:9) states that the teaching of listening skills is almost ignored and less concerned Also, listening

skills in the second language learning area are neglected (Chiang & Dunkel, 1992)

However, the attention to learning and teaching listening skills has been recently increased and gone along with the development of English language teaching The importance of teaching and learning listening skills is considerably emphasized with the discovery of Communicative Language Teaching where it is believed that learners learn mainly through the act of communication (Helgesen, 2007: 25) Miller (2003) points out that there has been a growing interest in the theory and practice of listening skills dedicated to understanding the nature of listening and to developing effective listening skills and materials Thus, it can be seen that many

concerns about teaching and learning listening skills have been raised to ESL

communities recently

1.5.2 The teaching and learning of listening skills in the Vietnamese context

The significance of English teaching has been emphasized considerably in Vietnamese education system since 1980s after Đổi mới policy English is a compulsory subject at both lower and upper secondary levels and an elective subject

in primary levels At tertiary, English is also introduced as a compulsory subject to all students However, Nguyen (2008) states that many students are normally good

at doing exercises of written forms, these forms of exercises mostly concern grammar, reading or writing comprehension; they have many difficulties in speaking and listening Nguyen also claims that many Vietnamese students still cannot communicate successfully with foreigners even in simple daily conversations despite the fact that they are good students with high marks in English tests In Vietnamese context, this situation is understandable because there are some common problems in teaching and learning English in general and listening skills in particular

The first problem lies on the quality of the teaching staff Most English teachers in

Vietnamese schools are deeply influenced by grammar – translation method (Le, 2011) Hence, there is a lack of skillful and professional staff in terms of language knowledge and methodology, practicing communicative skills and updating modern technologies in language teaching Besides, teachers of English have limited opportunities to communicate in person with foreigners or native speakers at schools It is claimed that many of them do not normally communicative in English fluently, so it raises the question of how they can deal with teaching skills that mainly depend on communicative interactions

Second, despite the emphasis on the development of practicing communicative skills, it is rarely reflected in classrooms (Hoang, 2010) He claims that most Vietnamese schools and Vietnamese students mainly focus on the importance of reading comprehension, vocabulary or some structures for the purpose of passing the entrance examinations into colleges or universities Thus, it can be indicated that due to the neglect in listening skills in language classes as well as the unawareness

of the importance of listening skills, it causes Vietnamese learners‟ weakness in English listening skills In addition, the majority of students have few chances to interact with English foreigners at schools, except in some urban schools Therefore, understandably they have to struggle with many difficulties in using English in actual situations

Third, the insufficiency of poor facilities and teaching materials also causes the difficulties for Vietnamese learners in learning English in general and listening skills in particular (Hoang, 2010) In fact, the average class of forty-five to fifty

students with poor facilities such as low lighting, inadequate ventilation, and

inoperative heating and cooling systems can have negative impacts on the learning

of Vietnamese students Besides, limited materials for teachers and students, including supplementary exercises, methodology or training books, dictionaries, magazine or newspapers in English, tapes and recorders are also barriers in listening teaching and learning process

In sum, it might be said that in Vietnamese context, there are many limitations on the development of teaching and learning English communicative

skills in general and listening skills in particular Listening seems to be the most

challenging skill for most students and they have to suffer from numbers of difficulties in their learning of listening skills Accordingly, it causes much trouble for all teachers and authorities to help students increase their listening proficiency Therefore, finding solutions to this situation is necessary despite the fact that it may require much time and energy

1.2 Individual differences influencing on students’ success in learning English listening skills

As have been said in the previous part, most students have to face with many difficulties in learning listening skills A challenging question raised among teachers as well as researchers is that how to improve students‟ listening abilities and help them achieve success in their English listening learning However, under the same circumstance, some students gain much higher proficiency in learning

English skills and some do not make any progress This can be explained with individual differences among learners Individual differences stand for the variation

or deviations among individuals in regard to a single characteristic or numbers of characteristics Obviously, each student is an independent individual with various characteristics In foreign language context, researchers have confirmed that individual differences have strong impacts on the success of English language learning in general and learning English listening in particular (Oxford, 1990; Ellis,

1994; Cook, 1996)

Oxford (1990) notes that individual characteristics affecting language learning are very complicated, including motivation, attitudes, language anxiety, self-confidence, language aptitude, family size, and personality variables

Sharing similar view with Oxford, Skehan (1991) also suggests that individual differences such as aptitude, motivation, learner strategies and learner styles are the factors affecting language learning achievement

Similarly, Lightbown and Spada (1999) claim that “many of us believe that learners have certain characteristics which lead to more or less successful language learning” They believe that learners possess characteristics such as personality, intelligence, aptitudes, ages and attitudes and motivation which can determine more

or less successful language learning

In sum, from the opinions of the researchers above, it can be concluded that there is a great variety of learners‟ individual factors affecting students‟ second language learning Among these factors, scholars have recently spent considerable attention to the impact of students‟ attitudes on language learning (Gardner, 1985; Baker, 1992; Fakey, 2000) Attitude is suggested to be one of the key predominant factors affecting learners‟ success in language learning and conducting attitudinal research in the field of language learning is essential Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the impact of attitude on students‟ language learning

1.3 The concepts of attitude

1.3.1 Definitions of attitude

Many researchers refer to different definitions of attitude from various aspects Especially, they distinguish language attitude from general attitudes by the fact that language attitudes are precisely about language (Faso, 1984:148) It can be understood that language attitude refers to attitude people hold towards language Ryan and Giles (1982) define language attitude as “any affective, cognitive and behavioral index of evaluative reactions towards different language varieties or their speakers” According to their opinions, attitude is the way we feel, think and behave

to different languages in a particular situation

Sharing the same view about attitude, Gardner (1985) mentions that “an individual‟s attitude is an evaluative reaction to some referent or attitude object on the basis of the individual‟s beliefs or opinions about the referent” It also means that people‟s beliefs or perceptions can lead their attitude favorably or unfavorably

to an object

Based on Gardner‟s argument, Wenden (1991) refines a comprehensive definition

of the attitude concept He categorizes attitude concept into three components: behavioral, cognitive and affective The behavioral aspect of attitude mentions the way one behaves in a specific context The cognitive component refers to the beliefs, ideas or opinions about the object of the attitude The affective one is expressed through the feeling of “like” or “dislike” the objects or surrounding situations The three components are interrelated and they are always present whenever a person holds an attitude

Also, Baker (1992:10) defines attitude as “a hypothetical construct used to explain the direction and persistence of human behavior” From this point of view, attitude interprets the way human beings act and behave in a consistent manner towards an object

Looking from a different angle, Brown (1994:168) also suggests that “ Attitudes, like all aspects of the development of cognition and affect in human beings, develop

early in childhood and are the result of parents‟ and peer‟s attitudes, contact with people who are different in any number of ways and interacting affective factors in the human experience” Here it seems that attitude is formed through a long process and it is affected by many factors in the daily lives of each person

In sum, most of the definitions have indicated that, attitude can be understood as an emotion that has a considerable influence on behaviors of human beings People‟s reactions and responses toward certain things in general and toward a specific language depend on attitude to this language Therefore, attitude is

an important concept in second language learning

1.3.2 Role of attitudes in students’ language learning

Considering the role of attitudes in learning a language, many studies have shown that there is a reciprocal relationship between learners‟ attitudes and their language learning Attitudes towards a particular language might be either positive

or negative; some individuals might possess neutral feelings In fact, both negative and positive attitudes partly decide the success or failure of second language learning

It is believed that those who keep the positive attitudes towards the target language can attain higher proficiency in language learning Gardner and Lambert (1972) in their extensive studies provide evidence that positive attitudes towards a language can enhance students‟ proficiency Also, Brown (2000:181) discusses several studies about the effects of attitudes on language learning and concludes that

“positive attitudes towards the self, the native language group, and the target language group enhanced proficiency”

Karahan (2007:84) states that “positive language attitudes let learner have positive orientation towards learning English” He believes that students become more active

in their learning process when they hold the favorable attitudes, so their positive attitudes can help them access to the target language easier

Brown (2000:181) also supports this opinion when he claims that second language learners benefit from positive attitudes and negative attitudes may lead to decreased

motivation, and in all likelihood, because of the decreases input and interaction, to unsuccessful attainment of proficiency It seems that learners with positive attitudes can become successful in achieving their goals whereas those with negative attitudes find it difficult to acquire the expected level of proficiency in language learning

From all of these views, it is evident that attitude is considered as one of the most crucial elements impacting to the students‟ achievement in language learning

It is obvious that second language learners gain many benefits when they possess positive attitudes Therefore, it is essential to discover students‟ attitudes towards their target language to facilitate their positive attitudes and limit their negative ones

1.3.3 Factors affecting students’ attitudes towards language learning

In second or foreign language learning, attitude has recently received remarkable attention from language researchers (Gardner, 1985; Baker, 1992; Dornyei, 2001) They share the opinions that there are numbers of different factors affecting students‟ attitudes towards language learning In the context of this study, some of internal and external factors are considered as determinant factors directly influencing students‟ attitudes would be discussed

Kumaravadivelu (2006) states that attitudes are “the matter of individual differences”, so different students lead different attitudes Thus, internal factors namely students‟ perception, students‟ interest and students‟ ability are considered

to be the key factors affecting students „attitudes

Perception is a way of thinking or point of view of each person, so each learner has certain perceptions about the target language Such individualized perceptions shape what students think, how they make decisions, and how they define what is important Therefore, the way students perform their thinking (perceptions) is what results in their attitudes (Walther & Langer, 2008: 87)

In addition, learners‟ interest to a specific subject also has a strong impact on their attitudes It is suggested that the inner feelings and emotions of learners

influence their attitudes towards the target language (Choy & Troudi, 2006) Students with interest in a subject are likely to be more motivated to manage their own learning and develop the requisite skills to become effective learners of that subject In contrast, low enjoyment can become a barrier leading to students‟ negative attitudes in their learning process

Also, another internal factor that influences students‟ attitudes towards learning language is the level of ability It is generally agreed that the ability to learn a language and the attitudes to that language are in some way correlated (Baker, 1992; Gardner 1985) They argue that the ability of language learning, a high proficiency level and achievement in the second language will enhance favorable attitudes towards the target language Hence, students‟ attitudes are also

in direct relation to their ability

Apart from internal factors, external factors also have strong impacts on the development of students‟ attitudes Masgoret and Gardner (2003) believes that learner‟s attitudes towards the learning situation can be elicited through their evaluation of the course, the teacher, the materials and/or teaching environment Thus, it is inferred that students‟ attitudes are affected directly from factors associated with teachers and learning environment

Indeed, a number of studies have indicated that behaviors of the teacher are

very important in the formation of students' attitudes (Fontana, 1988; Moore, 1993)

Good and Brophy (1994 - cited in Dornyei, 2001: 121) claim that the teacher should

be a patient, encouraging person who supports students‟ learning efforts Thus, it is believed that good behaviors of teachers towards learning might have a beneficial impact on students‟ attitudes towards education in general and the target language

in particular Such attitudes are useful to students, for example; help bring interest, enjoyment and fun in classroom, etc

Furthermore, teachers‟ practices in class are also worth mentioning It is reasonably assumed that there is an essential link between teachers‟ practices and students‟ attitudes (Masgoret & Gardner, 2003) Hammer (2001) suggests that a

teacher is a person with multiple roles such as subject specialist, classroom director, employee and curriculum implementer Thus, teachers‟ practices should guarantee leadership or guiding role in the teaching and learning context Teachers need guides and instructions to help students actively participate in class activities Therefore, teachers‟ practices are extremely influential on students‟ attitudes in the learning process

Additionally, it has been shown that students‟ attitudes towards learning are closely linked to learning environment (Entwistle & Entwistle 1991, 2003) Learning environment can be considered as the combination of learning conditions and learning materials

Learning conditions can form positive or negative attitudes of students in learning process In fact, such elements as infrastructure, class size and class atmosphere can affect learners‟ attitudes towards their learning (Wolf & Fraser, 2007) For instance, the number of students in a class is quite large with 40 or 50 students; it can easily make noises and lead students to lose concentration in lessons Accordingly, students can feel tired and they may have disfavored attitudes

to their learning

Also, it is said that materials such as textbooks, referent books, video and audio tapes, visual aids, etc…have attribution to shape learners‟ attitudes (Garden, 1985:40) As the matter of fact, materials should be designed appropriate for learners‟ needs and interest If materials meet students‟ needs, they can encourage students‟ positive attitudes towards language learning However, if materials cannot make students satisfied, they can demotivate students and then they may lead students to negative attitudes

1.4 Summary

This chapter has presented relevant literature, which has helped to form the theoretical framework for the study Through what have been discussed in this chapter, it is important to reconfirm that in foreign language learning, students‟ attitude becomes an essential component in language learning context in general

and in learning listening skills in particular Moreover, in the case of this study, two groups of factors that play a vital role in influencing students‟ attitudes are taken into consideration The first group is internal factors associated with the students themselves (students‟ perception, interest or ability) The second one is external factors associated with teachers (teachers‟ behaviors and teachers‟ practices) and

learning environment (learning conditions and materials)

In sum, from what I have mentioned above, it is essential to conduct this research to investigate the first – year – Electrical Engineering Technology students‟ attitudes towards learning English listening

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, two parts are going to be presented The first part is the description

of the situation where the study was conducted with the description of the HaUI students and teachers and the English course The second one is the overview of participants, instruments of the study as well as procedures of data collection

2.1 The setting

2.1.1 The students’ background information at HaUI

The students at HaUI come from different parts of the countries; mostly come from cities/ provinces in the North of Vietnam such as Hanoi, Ha Nam, Nam Dinh, Hai Phong, Thanh Hoa, etc Non - English major students belong to different faculties: economics, mechanical engineering, automobile, chemistry, electronic and computer science, etc The majority of them are male; female students only account for a few percents out of the total number Some students have learnt English from primary schools, but others did not study until they were at the sixth grade All of them have studied English before entering the university; however, they are not good at English In the entrance exam to the university, they are required to test Math, Physics and Chemistry but English is unnecessary This causes the general

situation that English is not paid much attention by many students Besides, students

learn English in almost isolated environment from English native speakers, so they hardly get any chance to communicate with foreigner in both classroom and outside classroom Consequently, their ability to speak and listen to English is hardly improved; meanwhile, they are often doing better at writing and grammar exercises than other skills (Nguyen, 2008) From my classroom observation and discussion with the participants, many of them claim that among the four skills, listening is regarded to be the hardest for them

2.1.2 The English teachers at HaUI

HaUI is known as one of the biggest universities in the North of Vietnam; therefore, the number of teaching staff in general and English teachers in particular is quite large There are about 117 English teachers at HaUI and the majority of them are

female teachers They graduated from different universities The greatest proportion, about 60% of the teachers at HaUI was graduated from Vietnam National University, Hanoi, The University of Languages and International Studies (ULIS) Some teachers were from Hanoi University (about 25%), and the rest was from Hanoi National University of Education or other universities The teaching staff‟s age ranges from 22 to 47 Most of the teachers are still very young; some have just graduated from university, and they do not have much experience in teaching However, teaching staffs in HaUI have still tried to improve their teaching experience through pursuing MA courses and other forms of further education

2.1.3 A brief description of the English course

The study was conducted with non – English major students at HaUI where English has been taught as a compulsory subject

There are two stages for the English courses at HaUI The first stage is General English which provides general knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, phonology and develops language skills with the focus on speaking skills At this stage, students learn English during the first five semesters; each semester consists of 90 periods and 45 minutes per period However, students are required to take part in the replacement test before starting this English course If students pass this test, they can skip the first semester of English The textbook used during the first four semesters is the series of New – headway textbook (Elementary and Pre-Intermediate) by Liz, John Soars & Sylvia Wheeldon The fifth semester is taught with the textbook International Express (pre- intermediate) published by Oxford University Press After the first stage, students are expected to improve their communicative competences and enhance other skills to have good background knowledge in the second stage The aim of the second stage is to focus on English for Specific Purposes It lasts one semester with 60 periods This stage provides students with specialized knowledge directly related to their jobs Depending on discipline areas, the materials are selected and designed to use by HaUI teachers

These materials mainly focus on increasing students‟ specific vocabulary, reading and translation

2.2 The study

2.2.1 The participants

The study is conducted in order to explore the non – English major students‟ attitudes towards listening learning and find out some suggestions for helping students in their listening skills Both teachers and students are chosen as participants in the study The first group of participants is the first – year – non – English major students (course 8 - at university grade) Besides, the second group is the teachers who have been teaching English subject at HaUI for at least two years

The first group chosen for the study is all 120 freshmen at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering Technology They are from four different classes and they are in the second semester of the school year One thing noticeable is that all of them are male and no female in this faculty They are mainly from cities or provinces in the North of Vietnam Most of them have spent three to nine years studying English at Secondary and/or High School After graduating from high schools, the majority of students have general knowledge of grammar and an active vocabulary which they can use mostly in written forms However, their listening abilities are limited Hence, when they become the first year students of non- English major in the university, they have to deal with many difficulties in learning English listening Especially, a problem of the large numbers of students is that they have a tendency to become passive in English class Many students do not have the habit of learning independently and tend to depend largely on the given course book and the teachers

The second group comprises 5 teachers: 3 females and 2 males who have had

at least two years of experience working as English teachers Two of them have completed MA courses from Faculty of Post – graduate Studies, The University of Languages and International Studies, the rest have BA degrees; they are all experienced and dedicated teachers All of them have had opportunities to teach

different subjects in English and especially in specific language skills Hence, they can understand many difficulties in learning listening skills of non – English major students at HaUI All of them are devoted to help students improve their learning

2.2.2 The instruments

To have a good understanding of the issues under discussion, it is essential to refer to an important source of data collection associated with the literature review The research was conducted with both qualitative and quantitative methods, using questionnaires for students and semi - structured interviews with teachers

Firstly, the questionnaire was used in the study as the main source for collecting data It is said that questionnaire is one of the most useful instruments for the research because its unprecedented efficiency in terms of (a) researcher time, (b) researcher effort, and (c) financial resources (Gillham, 2000, as cited in Hoa and Minh, 2006:11) Therefore, this instrument was chosen in order to collect a huge amount of information in a little amount of time Besides, administering

questionnaire can help to process the data fast and relatively convenient

Secondly, interview was chosen as the second instrument to ensure the information collected objective and reliable For Phipps and Borg (2009), flexibility

is one of the values of semi-structured interviews in researching someone‟s beliefs because respondents have the freedom to talk in an open-ended manner Most of the interview questions were open-ended in an attempt to “allow the respondents opportunities to develop their responses in ways which the interviewer might not have foreseen” (Nunan, 1992:99) In the study, the interviews were designed for 5 teachers and conducted individually in an informal setting to check students‟ attitudes to learning English listening and some suggestions to facilitate positive attitudes of students in their learning process

The procedures of data collection were as follows:

1 Piloting questionnaire for students

2 Delivering and gathering back the questionnaire

3 Conducting interviews with selected teachers

4 Analyzing the collected data and discussing the findings

5 Offering suggestions

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS

This chapter of the thesis is the comprehensive analysis of the data collected from the questionnaire conducted on 120 students at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering Technology and the semi - structured interviews with 5 English teachers The analysis of the data is presented in two parts: the first part is the results of the questionnaire for students and the second one is from the teachers‟ interviews

3.1 Data analysis of the students’ questionnaire

The questionnaire was designed based on the theoretical framework on the literature It aimed to identify the students‟ attitudes towards learning English listening The internal and external factors which were suggested to affect students‟ attitudes were all taken into consideration when designing questionnaire In detail, internal factors pertained to the students‟ perception, interest and level of ability Then, external factors were comprised of teachers‟ factors and learning environment‟s factors

3.1.1 The influence of internal factors on students’ attitudes

The aims of this section were conducted to explore how the internal factors consisting of students‟ perception, interest and level of ability affected students‟

attitudes to their learning of listening skills The results indicated that these internal

factors created negative impacts on students‟ attitudes towards learning English listening skills

3.1.1.1 Students’ perception

Items Strongly agree

(%)

Agree (%)

Neutral (%)

Disagree (%)

Strongly Disagree (%)

1 Learning listening is very

important because it helps me

2 Learning listening is a waste

3.Being good at listening skills

4 Learning listening helps me

5 Being good at English

listening will help me get a job

easily

6 Learning listening is very

Table 1: Students’ perception

As can be seen from the table, most of the respondents realized the significance of learning English listening in their learning process

All 120 students agreed that learning listening skills was very important because it helped them communicate effectively In the next item, a limited number (14.1%) of students found that learning English listening was a waste of time Items 3 to 5 explained the reasons why mastering learning English listening skills was important

to students All students argued that learning listening skills well could help them have more chances to find jobs in the future Besides, it was also believed to be able

to support for the improvement of other skills (64.2%) Passing their exams was also the desire of 95% of the students

However, the majority of the participants (95.3%) found that it was a challenge to learn listening skills It is unsurprising to the responses of the participants in this