The effects of using authentic videos on IELTS students’ listening performance at an english center in ha noi

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ---oOo--- NGUYỄN MỸ LINH THE EFFECTS OF USING AUTHENTIC VIDEOS O

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

-oOo -

NGUYỄN MỸ LINH

THE EFFECTS OF USING AUTHENTIC VIDEOS

ON IELTS STUDENTS’ LISTENING PERFORMANCE

AT AN ENGLISH CENTER IN HANOI

(ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA VIỆC SỬ DỤNG VIDEO ĐẾN KHẢ NĂNG NGHE HIỂU CỦA HỌC SINH THEO HỌC KHÓA IELTS TẠI MỘT TRUNG

TÂM TIẾNG ANH Ở HÀ NỘI)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 8140231.01

Hanoi - 2018

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

-oOo -

NGUYỄN MỸ LINH

THE EFFECTS OF USING AUTHENTIC VIDEOS

ON IELTS STUDENTS’ LISTENING PERFORMANCE

AT AN ENGLISH CENTER IN HANOI

(ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA VIỆC SỬ DỤNG VIDEO ĐẾN KHẢ NĂNG NGHE HIỂU CỦA HỌC SINH THEO HỌC KHÓA IELTS TẠI MỘT TRUNG

TÂM TIẾNG ANH Ở HÀ NỘI)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 8140231.01

Supervisor : Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân

Hanoi - 2018

DECLARATION

Title: “The effects of using authentic videos on IELTS students’ listening

performance at an English center in Hanoi”

I certify that no part of the thesis has been copied or reproduced by me from any

other works without acknowledgement and that the thesis is originally written by

me under strict guidance of my supervisor

Hanoi, 2018

Student‟s signature

Nguyễn Mỹ Linh

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to sincerely thank my supervisor, Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân, for his support, guidance, advice, valuable comments, suggestions, and provisions which benifited me greatly in completing this study

Secondly, I would like to express my gratitude to all of my students at AMA English center who took part in my study because of their valuable feedback and contributions in the process of conducting this research

My appreciation also goes out to all professors and lecturers at the Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University for their valuable lectures

Post-Last but not least, I would like to send my gratitude to my parents, my brother and

my special friend, Logan for supporting me and giving me useful advice when writing this thesis

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the effects of using authentic videos on IELTS students‟ listening performance at an English center in Hanoi The researcher implemented the action research approach to find out the significance of using authentic videos in improving students‟ listening performance as well as their attitudes towards the use

of authentic videos as material in the IELTS foundation listening course The sample of this study was 30 students who enrolled in the IELTS foundation course from two classes To improve the quality of the course as well as meet students‟ needs, the researcher designed the new syllabus for the IELTS foundation listening course with the use of authentic videos, and the study instruments to collect the data were survey; pre-test, post-test and observation The findings from the survey showed that students had positive attitudes towards using authentic videos as materials in the course The results from pre-test and post-test showed that students‟ listening scores increased With the significant results and implications, the researcher hopes that this study will be useful for further studies as well as IELTS teaching and learning in general

TABLES OF CONTENTS

Declaration i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstract iii

Lists of Abbreviations vii

Lists of Tables, Figures viii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1Statement of research problem and rationale for the study 1

1.2Significance of the study 3

1.3 Scope of the study 4

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Introduction 5

2.2 IELTS listening 5

2.2.1 The IELTS listening test: an overview 5

2.1.2 IELTS listening performance 6

2.1.2.1 Listening performance 6

2.1.2.2 IELTS listening performance 7

2.3 Authentic videos in improving students‟ listening performance 8

2.3.1 Authentic materials 8

2.3.2 Characteristics of Authentic materials 10

2.3.3 Authentic videos 11

2.3.4 Advantages and disadvantages of using authentic videos in the classroom 11

2.3.5 Reviews of related studies 14

2.3.6 Criteria for selecting authentic videos 18

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY 21

3.1 Introduction 21

3.2 Research questions 21

3.3 Research approach 21

3.4 The validity and reliability of the action research 23

3.5 Strengths and weaknesses of action research 24

3.6 Research design 24

3.6.1 Participants of the study 24

3.6.2 The researcher 25

3.6.3 Data collection methods 25

3.6.3.1 Pre-test and post-test 25

3.6.3.2 The Survey on students‟ attitudes toward using authentic videos in the IELTS foundation listening course 26

3.6.3.3 Observations 28

3.7 Data collection procedure 29

3.7.1 Phase one: pre-intervention 29

3.7.2 Phase two: while intervention 32

3.7.3 Phase three: post intervention 34

3.8.Data analysis procedures 35

CHAPTER IV: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 36

4.1 Introduction 36

4.2 The significance of using authentic videos in improving students‟ listening performance in the IELTS foundation listening course 36

4.3 Participants‟ attitudes towards the use of authentic videos in the IELTS foundation listening course 38

4.4 Discussion 42

4.4.1 The significance of using authentic videos in improving students‟ listening performance in the IELTS foundation listening course 42

4.4.2 Students‟ attitudes towards the use of authentic videos in the IELTS foundation listening course 42

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION 46

5.1 Concluding remarks 46

5.2 Implications 46

5.3 Recommendations for further research 47REFERENCES 52 APPENDIX 1: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE

APPENDIX 2: PRE-TEST

APPENDIX 3: POST-TEST

APPENDIX 4: LESSON PLAN SAMPLE

APPENDIX 5: OBSERVATION CHECKLIST

APPENDIX 6: SYLLABUS

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

IELTS International English Language Testing System

Sig Equality of Variances

Std Deviation Standard Deviation

SPSS Statistic Package for Social Science

df

η2

Degree of Freedom Eta-squared value which is a measure of effect size

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 1.1 IELTS listening performance checklist

Table 2.1 Survey questions about students‟ attitudes toward the use of

authentic videos in the IELTS foundation listening course Table 4.1 Result of pre-test and post-test

Table 4.2 The recommended table for analyzing the effect size level

by Cohen (1988) Table 4.3 The effect size of using authentic videos on students‟

listening performance in the IELTS foundation listening course

Table 4.4 Results of survey questions about students‟ attitudes towards

the use of authentic videos in the IELTS foundation listening course

Figure 1 Formula to calculate Eta-squared by Cohen (1988)

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Statement of research problem and rationale for the study

For a long time, listening has been considered to be in a secondary position in the English language teaching classroom This originates from the fact that a variety

of approaches to teaching language and textbooks have been designed for other skills, but listening has not received as much attention It was due to the high emphasis on speaking which was always considered a more valuable skill to focus

on in the classroom

Although there was a lack of research interest in listening in the past, it is the language skill most often used in everyday life According to Burely (1995), more than forty percent of our daily communication time is spent on listening, thirty-five percent on speaking, sixteen percent on reading and only nine percent on writing Krashen (1994) affirms that listening is considered today as a complicated activity and a crucial factor in acquiring the language Despite the fact that listening has been a relatively neglected skill in terms of research and how it is introduced to language learners, it is now beginning to be highly appreciated In the past few years, several major texts, both practical and theoretical, specifically related to listening skills have been published In accordance with these books, teachers are gradually realizing that it is the teacher‟s role to help learners develop their listening performance rather than rely on the skill developing itself

The question of how to improve learners‟ listening performance brings attention

to the method teachers apply and the type of materials teachers use for their learners The purpose of all listening lessons should be to make learners more independent when facing listening to the foreign language in a real world context

As Castro (2009) states “The listening skill refers not only to the ability to comprehend sounds and different accents, but also the context and the language

employed to perform the speech act.” In other words, to learn any language, it is important to have access to good input in terms of listening, since listening helps learners of the language obtain most of the aspects of the language In addition, Higuchi (1998) also asserts that “Learning a foreign language through videos facilitates to develop performance skills in the target language, such as body language and facial expressions.” With the implementation of authentic videos in an English class, the students will be exposed not only to listening itself, but also to some other features of the language of the language as paralinguistic factors like body language, and facial expressions used by native speakers of English This may promote EFL Learner‟s understanding of the language in a real context with natural use of English

Another important issue is to consider the level of proficiency of the language in which the authentic materials could be used Guariento & Morley (2001) claim only intermediate and advanced students should be exposed to authentic materials These researchers believe that the use of authentic materials at lower levels make learners discontented and discouraged because students at these levels lack many lexical items and structures used in the target language In other words, a lot of cultural factors in authentic materials lead to difficulties in understanding the target language since beginner learner‟s lack of proficiency to tackle aspects involved in the cultural issues

Some researchers argue that motivation plays a key point in improving learners‟ listening proficiency Oura (2001) suggests that the use of authentic materials in ESL or EFL classrooms have a positive impact on learners‟ motivation to learn the language Images in authentic videos might make students feel more interested in listening

In the context of AMA English center, many students enrolled in IELTS course

to get an opportunity to study abroad As can be seen, IELTS is considered to be a ticket to help students go abroad, but the main purpose is to adjust to the academic

environment in foreign countries Therefore, learning listening skills not only helps them get a high score in IELTS listening tests, but offers them chances to get familiar with real-life situations Students feel bored with listening to audio in the textbooks so they lack motivation to practice listening skill Therefore, the researcher as well the teacher must come up with new ideas of how to use authentic videos in improving students‟ listening performance Although videos are used in some kind of English teaching in Vietnam, it is limited in some pronunciation or warm-up activities The use of authentic video in teaching listening skills is a new approach, so the researcher must investigate whether it brings positive or negative effects to students All of these reasons make the researcher conduct a study “The effects of using authentic videos on IELTS students‟ listening performance at an English center in Hanoi”

The aim of this research is to investigate the effectiveness of using authentic videos in enhancing students‟ listening performance in IELTS foundation listening course at AMA English center Besides, the researcher also attempts to explore students‟ attitudes towards using authentic videos in listening lessons To achieve the aims above, the study is conducted to answer the following research questions:

(1) To what extent is the use of authentic videos significant in improving students’ listening performance in the IELTS foundation listening course?

(2) What are students’ attitudes towards using authentic videos in the IELTS foundation listening course?

1.2 Significance of the study

By conducting this research, it is hoped that the findings may encourage teachers to use authentic material in their lessons Also, students can be motivated to do more extensive listening outside classroom to improve their listening performance Last but not least, for researchers who share the same interest in this topic, they can refer

to this paper as a source of updated and reliable information

1.3 Scope of the study

In this study, the researchers seek to find out the attitudes of students towards using authentic videos in IELTS foundation listening course Students who are studying TOEIC or Communication English are beyond this study

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

This chapter includes a review of the literature of listening performance, introducing theoretical background, conceptual framework, and theoretical framework of the study and the theory of IELTS listening pedagogy Last but not least, critical synthesis and summary of related research on using authentic videos in improving students‟ listening performance and IELTS listening pedagogy will be

mentioned briefly

2.2 IELTS listening

2.2.1 The IELTS listening test: an overview

IELTS listening test consists of 40 questions (10 per section) and lasts around 30 minutes The listening test consists of four separate sections, the level of difficulty increases from the first part to the last part In other words, the easiest part is part one and part four is the most difficult Each part has a different topic or focus Different types of questions are used, including answering multiple choice questions; labelling a plan, map or diagram, filling in a form, completing a table, completing a flow-chart and giving short answers

 In section 1, there is a conversation between two people and it is almost always someone making an appointment or making a booking of some kind (e.g making a hotel reservation or hiring a car) The questions are normally gap-fill questions in which you have to listen to the information and complete a form or sentence

 In section 2, the candidates will listen to someone talking by themselves about a non-academic subject (e.g TV or radio presenter)

 Section 3 switches to an academic context and it will always be more than one person discussing something (e.g an academic paper or assignment)

 Section 4 is normally an academic lecture and the candidates will listen to one person (normally the lecturer or professor) talking for an extended period of time

2.1.2 IELTS listening performance

1 Making a prediction of what speakers are going to say

2 Making a guess of unfamiliar vocabulary without getting too worried

3 Utilizing background knowledge to understand the topic

4 Finding out relevant points; rejecting irrelevant information

5 Maintaining relevant points (note-taking, summarizing)

6 Identifying discourse marker, e.g., well; oh, another thing is; now, finally; etc

7 Being able to grasp a variety of intonation patterns and uses of stress, etc., which provide clues to meaning and social setting

8 Understanding inferred information, e.g., speakers' attitude or intentions

2.1.2.2 IELTS listening performance

IELTS listening performance refers to the fact that candidates are able to comprehend the main idea of the conversations, monologues as well as lectures In addition, the candidates also need to understand details related to information about time, places, numbers, and letters as well as complex ideas mentioned in the recordings

Below is the table of IELTS listening performance checklist ranging from 1-9 to evaluate the candidates‟ performance in the IELTS listening test:

Table 1: IELTS listening performance checklist

1 I can easily understand a variety of English

dialects, particularly British and Australian accents

2 I find conversation between two people on a

general or social theme easy to listen to and comprehend

3 I find monologues easy to listen to and

comprehend

4 I can understand an academic conversation when

there are four speakers

5 I can interpret an academic talk or lecture

6 I can recall information several minutes after I have

heard it

7 I can listen, read and write simultaneously

8 I know how to answer a variety of different types

of questions

9 I can concentrate all of the time, so that I listen to

the recording rather than just hearing it

10 I use the questions to help me predict and

understand the recording

11 I can actively concentrate for five minutes or more

12 I am familiar with numbers and their spellings

( From: https://magoosh.com/ielts/how-hard-is-the-ielts/)

2.3 Authentic videos in improving students’ listening performance

in its own community” is an important aspect of authentic materials

From Sanderson‟s viewpoint (1999), authentic materials are kept originally without any changes even though they are used for ESL students Take an example of a newspaper article written for a native-English-speaking audience but it is used as teaching material for ESL students

According to Nunan (1999), authentic materials are spoken or written language created in real-life communication but they are not necessary designed for aims of language teaching Furthermore, he proposes to make the classroom be samples of authentic language data from real-world contexts outside of the classroom His learners have chances to practice listening and reading with a variety of materials, for example, TV or radio broadcasts, conversations on the tapes or CDs, meetings, talks, and announcements Besides, his students also access to authentic reading materials such as magazine stories, hotel brochures, airport notices, bank instructions, advertisements, and written messages presented in the real world situations

Additionally, Nunan and Miller (1995) presented the definition of authentic materials as “items not created or edited expressly for language learners” In other words, that is a source of materials that is about the reality of the world with problems and current events Another definition is said that authentic text is the real message produced by a real speaker or writer for a real audience

The past two decades advocated the idea of using authentic materials in classrooms Gilmore (2004) considered that utilizing authentic materials enhances the repetition

of certain syntactic structures, lexicon components and collocations This method was also used by Guariento and Morley (2001) who believe that it is the only way

to create a real world in classroom Authentic materials are generally considered to

be better than text-book based material because they demonstrate a real specific aspect of foreign language and encourage cultural understanding The formation of authentic material is a thing of concern beside different definitions

Gebhard (1996) divided authentic materials into 4 types including:

1 Authentic Listening Viewing Materials, for example: TV ads, quiz shows, cartoons, new clips, comedy shows, movies, soap operas, professionally audio-taped short stories and novels, radio commercials, songs, documentaries, and sales pitches

2 Authentic Visual Materials, for instance: slides, photographs, paintings, children‟s artwork, stick-figure drawings, wordless street signs, silhouettes, pictures from magazines, ink blots, postcard pictures, wordless picture books, stamps, and X-rays

3 Authentic Printed Materials composing of newspaper articles, movie advertisements, astrology columns, sports reports, obituary columns, advice columns, lyrics to songs, restaurant menus, street signs, cereal boxes, candy wrappers, tourist information brochures, university catalogues, telephone books, maps, TV guides, comic books, greeting cards, grocery coupons, pins with messages, and bus schedules

4 Realia (Real world objects) refers to coins and currency, folded paper, wall clocks, phones, Halloween masks, dolls, and puppets They are often used to illustrate points visually or for role-play situations

2.3.2 Characteristics of Authentic materials

The issue with authentic texts is that they have long been perceived as being too hard for students to comprehend (Ciccone, 1995) The very basic learners or learners at elementary level may feel frustrated when they encounter an authentic text However, Cook (1996) asserts that the level of difficulty relies on the designed task that is used with the material Schmidt-Rinehart (1994) and Wing (1986) state that the understanding process of authentic material is facilitated by not only the literal meaning of sentences but also several attributes of the spoken language such

as pausing, repeating, rephrasing, and the use of clauses Authentic texts are more redundant than most texts prepared for language learners; the redundancy of these texts gives students more clues to comprehension (Bacon, 1989; Gilman & Moody, 1984; Meyer, 1984; Schmidt-Rinehart, 1994) Nevertheless, other characteristics of the spoken language such as reduced and ungrammatical forms would, on the other hand, be expected to hinder understanding (Wing, 1986) In addition, the fact that authentic texts are often delivered at fast speed can be troublesome to some students (Joiner et al., 1989)

Other two aspects related to authentic materials are authentic speech and cultural aspect According to Bacon (1992) and Gilman & Moody (1984), authentic texts,

by their very nature, are more culturally rich and interesting Shrum and Glisan (1999) state that authentic materials reflect the details of daily life in a culture as well as social values because these materials are designed for native speakers To make the point clearer, Scarcella and Oxford (1992) assert that authentic language is rather stimulating to students, particularly when it is about the themes that students are interested in Fully exploited, Rivers ( 1987) and Rogers & Medley(1988) authentic texts provide students opportunities to benefit from cultural information and aid them use the new language authentically on their own, to convey meaning

in meaningful situations From the viewpoint of Herron & Seay (1991), authentic texts promote student learning and interest by presenting the culture in a natural way In addition, Stagich (1998) asserts that the most effective way to decipher real meaning of the language is from understanding cultural context, through perceiving cultural situations and views

In general, some aspects of authentic texts, such as redundancy, can make it easier

to comprehension process meanwhile other aspects, such as reduced forms, may obstruct comprehension of the material However, authentic materials provide a productive means for both expressing real language and integrating culture

2.3.3 Authentic videos

Video plays an essential part in education in general and language teaching in particular It is an extraordinary tool which facilitates learners with a chance to learn and acquire information in fascinating, intriguing, and motivational way According

to Sherman (2003) authentic video refers to any sort of programs that audiences can watch directly on cinema, television or DVD, films, documentary, advertisement, and game show Videos can be used as resources to learn English with excitement and bring both teacher and language learners a lot of benefits Idavoy (n.d) lists examples of authentic video such as TV commercials, public service announcements, short movies, full-length feature films, television dramas, sitcoms, documentaries, YouTube clips, music videos, news programming, even video games, and home movies Some claim that scripted programs, i.e., soap operas, are not authentic because they are produced with subtitle Nevertheless, Idavoy (n.d) asserts that if scripted videos are written by native speakers and for native speakers, they are qualified to be authentic in the context of this discussion

2.3.4 Advantages and disadvantages of using authentic videos in the classroom

From the viewpoint of Thanajaro (2000), the use of authentic videos in ESL or EFL classrooms has a positive influence on learners‟ motivation to learn the language For example, Guariento & Morely (2001) mention that authentic videos strengthen learners‟ motivation because it evokes the feeling that they are learning the real

language and they are in association with the target language used by the native community It is due to the fact that authentic videos include real language, and it shows the learners the pacing, the turn taking and the hesitations (“uh‟s”, “umm‟s”)

in conversations between native speakers (Oura, 2010), this factor can arise the pupils‟ interest when acquiring a foreign language since they can see the natural way in which English speakers have a conversation in their daily lives On the contrary, Porter & Roberts (1981) point out that non-authentic materials refrain from the speech components such as the ones previously mentioned because these conversations are prepared for teaching Besides, using authentic videos in the ESL classroom also provides students opportunities to practice the everyday situations in

a “real” context (Omaggio H, 1993), and (Rogers & Medley, 1998) cited by (Thanajaro, 2000) There are some other benefits of using authentic materials such

as videos, for the following reasons:

1 Kilickaya (2004) claims that students can be exposed to real language and closely fulfil their needs from authentic videos because students have chances to know more about real world intercultural discourse

2 Duquette et al (1987) asserts that cultural knowledge for cultural adaptation, language comprehension, and language use are also provided from authentic videos

3 Karpova (1999) mentions authentic materials as videos creates a close link with language, expand paralinguistic features, bring life-like settings into the classroom, and can be utilized for all levels

4 Gilmore (2007) considers authentic videos as a rich input and latent qualities to enhance the communicative proficiency of learners

5 Castro (2009) emphasizes that “videos can be an effective tool for language learning since they are created for native speakers which allow the EFL learners to learn lots of expressions or collocations as well as grammatical forms for them to interact with other people in different life contexts.”

6 Ting Hung (2008, cited by Arteaga et al, 2009) in a study conducted by this author, the participants of his research benefited from the visual part of the video

that supported them to self-analyse their own performance; thus, students became autonomous learners and critical thinkers One interesting kind of authentic videos

to work with is films which offer the language that is commonly used by native speakers Furthermore, “the most useful point of a film is that learners naturally acquire the sense of „language in action‟ in the target language” (Gilmore, 2007) However, a problem with films is that sometimes it is not clearly spoken (e.g.use of verbal contractions, the speech is too fast ,use of jargon, collocations and expressions); as a result learners might get confused and should need to review the previous scene of the movie to understand it better (McCarthy & Carter, 1995)

It is an a benefit to learn a foreign language with films because learners can identify these concepts afresh in order to aid developing performance skills in the target language, such as body language and facial expressions (Higuchi, 1998) From previously being said, the use of films for listening is a helpful tool as learners can

be in the use of authentic videos for listening comprehension contact with the gestures and body language, thus the communication could be clearer and better The use of authentic videos can also have a variety of disadvantages which are mentioned bellow To begin with, Ciccone (1995), Rogers & Medley (1998) et al maintain that “beginner language learners may experience extreme frustration when confronted by an authentic material”; the authors refer to the idea that the use of authentic videos should be implemented in higher levels, since beginner learners might have problems because of lack of proficiency in the language Nevertheless, the difficulties of using authentic videos do not concern on the level of proficiency, but on the tasks the teacher uses in the classroom, Cook (1996) In addition, (Martinez, 2002) states: “one of the biggest disadvantages of using videos for listening comprehension is that it requires special preparation which can be time consuming for the teacher.” The problem here is that authentic videos have a lot of cultural content, which can require the teacher to look for relevant information useful for the students before introducing this kind of material Also for the teacher

it is a challenge, since he/she has to find relevant and appropriate authentic videos, analyze and organize them in a pedagogical way

2.3.5 Reviews of related studies

Many studies related to the use of authentic videos have been implemented with a lot of participants in different settings The reviews of these valuable studies extended the previously analysed theory with the proofs shown in the application of authentic videos for improving listening performance With the analysis of these studies in detail and the analysis of how these studies contributed to this research paper as well as conclusions are provided

Nowadays, using authentic material brings L2 teachers and learners with advantages that let them perform a better teaching-learning process The use of authentic videos for teaching listening skill gained promising results, which can be applied to develop learning and teaching processes with specific purposes for enhancing listening skills in ESL classrooms It can be pedagogically claimed that the usage of authentic videos would form a good connection between learners and the real exposure A study carried out by Arteaga, Guarín & López (2009) focused on the impact of using video materials as a teaching strategy for listening comprehension This project states that the use of authentic videos as an educational tool would increase students‟ abilities to understand language in real context as well as expanding lexicon range and body language by using video materials in an Elementary English level course, in which learners can access to real context in order to be prepared for real life situations Arteaga, Guarín, & López conducted this project by studying a group of 5 students, 4 females and 1 male of the first semester in a TEFL program of Basic English course, with a level of proficiency equivalent to A1 of a public university in Colombia, located in the coffee region The data collection methods used to develop this project was:

1 Field notes: they offer a means of recording behaviors

2 Questionnaire: to collect the students‟ attitudes and perceptions about the video activities applied in class to obtain information

3 Interviews: to answer the research questions

4 Tests: to find out the impact of videos on listening skills

5 Instructional designs: to carry out the study

Subsequently, the data obtained from each instrument were analyzed, codified and grouped into categories to gain relevant information Arteaga, Guarín & López (2009) emphasized essential aspects in their project based on the students‟ perceptions about using videos in class First, the activities used to attract students‟ attention were enjoyable and successfully completed Second, it was clear that students had positive attitudes towards the effectiveness of introducing important new words and key words prior to showing the video, in as much as they feel contextualized Besides, it was presented that when the learners continuously watched videos, they gradually tended to be familiar with the real language and it not only accelerated students‟ listening performance, but also their pronunciation and words recognition These two researchers concluded that the use of video materials as teaching strategies in a TEFL class made a positive influence on English listening comprehension for ESL students Another evidence which also shows the effective of using videos in this project is the better results of post-test compared to pre-test at the end of the sessions In addition, students had higher motivation in learning English because they were exposed to real language that used

by native speakers Although this project brought evidences about the good points

of using authentic in improving learner‟s comprehension as well as showed positive perceptions of the students, it was a big question about the reliability of this project

to beginner students The speed of most videos in which native speakers communicated with each other is rather fast so I do not think that beginner learners with basic level of English can understand the content and information in the videos

Learning a second language is a complicated process in which students must have knowledge of many language features such as syntactic structures and communicative functions as well cultural aspects and pragmatic components of the language that they are learning Therefore, with the purpose of helping students be exposed to these elements, authentic videos are considered to be valuable tools

because it is not easy to invite a group of native speakers to the classroom To support these ideas, 45 Iranian females EFL learners took part in a study conducted

by Shahani, Tahriri and Divsar (2014) which demonstrates descriptive statistics of data collection of close ended questionnaire to explore the positive results and attitudes that participants experienced during their exposure to authentic videos At first, audio visual aids are tools that teachers started to implement in classrooms to foster the communicative language approach in students However, students are not very interested in audio materials because most of them are from the textbooks with academic topics Even though teachers make efforts to deliver knowledge and help students improve their language proficiency but the effectiveness is not very positive It can be inferred that perhaps students are not exposed to the sufficient input and given the fact that, most of them do not have the possibility to travel abroad to experience and have exposure to the language they are learning

In this case, technology is considered to be a good tool to present and introduce the language in an authentic way and it brings the classroom advantages Shahani, Tahriri & Divsar (2014) stated that authentic videos can enhance student‟s listening performance and students can see a variety of real-life language features that should

be practiced by students inside the classrooms but textbooks may not provide In that same way this modern pedagogical tool provides students many chances to develop their second language in an adequate way It can be said that authentic videos show real life situations letting learners observe authentic linguistic features and cultural interactions of native speakers There has been evidence that videos are

a powerful tool in helping English learner enhance their language skills and also expand their cultural awareness and see advantages in their listening skills, these were the most relevant and crucial results this study had All of these results were thanks to the proper implementation done by Shahani, Tahriri & Divsar (2014) The data collection shows the benefits of using authentic materials and the way learners respond in a positive way when the teacher implemented the authentic video material The results also showed that watching authentic videos had positive

influences on enhancing the other skills and most of the students expressed positive attitudes towards the stimuli provided by authentic videos However, this study did not have a clear explanation about the connection between students‟ level and criteria to choose authentic videos as well as the types of videos that they use in the research As can be said, students‟ level is an important factor to consider when using authentic videos as material because if the students‟ level is too basic, they cannot absorb the content of video

A third remarkable study was implemented by Woottipong in 2012 at Thaksan University in Thailand, with the participation of 118 first-year English major students in the second semester of academic year 2012 This research applied useful instruments such as 10 units of lesson plans for instruction, English language documentaries about culture, environment and adventure activities, pre and post-tests of listening comprehension, and a questionnaire to check students‟ attitudes towards learning listening skill with videos The data as interpreted through quantitative analysis obtained from the pre-test, the post-test and the questionnaire The comparison among the results of the tests and the questionnaire provides significant conclusions such as the achievement of higher scores Students‟ level of comprehension of listening increased significantly after learning with videos Besides, in terms of the learners‟ attitudes the use of videos for learning, it can be concluded through the implementation of the questionnaire that their motivation for learning the language changed positively, for they could notice their remarkable development of the communicative skills, especially listening Therefore, the findings of this study demonstrate that the use of video materials for enhancing listening comprehension in first-year English major students proves effectiveness and a higher strengthening in the learning of the language, as well as a higher preference from learners for watching videos when being exposed to the language The results of this research enlightened research method about instruments for evaluating students‟ performance before and after listening tasks, so to check the effectiveness of specific activities with authentic videos, it is necessary to activate

schemata for listening comprehension Furthermore, the questionnaire in this study worked as a reference for finding out students‟ perception towards video materials, and as an evaluable evidence to confirm the potency of implementing video resources for developing listening competency The population of this research is a sample of 118 students, a rather larger sample than other studies about implementing authentic videos in the classroom so the reliability of this research is better Besides, this study also has a clear lesson plan of 10 units which means that the researcher is well-prepared of the process before using authentic videos in the classroom Last but not least, focusing on schemata to evaluate listening activities before and after using authentic videos is also a good point of this study

In the context of Vietnam, there are many studies related to using videos and films

in improving students‟ vocabulary and pronunciation One of the studies is “ Using movies and videos to teach vocabulary to the 10th form students” by Anh (2010) The result of this study pointed out that using videos and movies help students retain students‟ motivation, strengthen their memory as well as better their pronunciation

2.3.6 Criteria for selecting authentic videos

Criteria for selecting authentic materials vary as scholars suggest different ideas on the issue Some claim that authentic sources are supposed to fulfil students‟ interest

in all respects while others believe that they should contain new information To make it more specific, Maria Spelleri (2002) emphasizes two things when selecting authentic videos as material in the classroom including “novelty of information and its suitability” Not all authentic materials but the ones which give new information

to learners should be brought into classroom because they help to increase learners‟ motivation and attract attention of audience with ease With the term of suitability, there is a consideration about the level of difficulty implied In other words, teachers should not select videos with too complicated words that don‟t match a target level at all Although these factors play an essential role in choosing authentic materials, some other detailed aspects of selection are also suggested In addition to

suitability of content, Nuttall (1996) theorizes that exploitability and readability of sources need to be thought of as well Within this criterion, Nuttall (1996) proposes the term of suitability slightly different that sources should meet the learning needs (so suitability has a strong connection with learning needs) Exploitability means a source needs to be useful for developing language skills and adequately interesting

to elicit learners‟ attention while readability refers to coincidence of materials with students‟ current level Another scholar, Lee (2002) proposes the fourth factor, to be more precise, while choosing authentic materials, textual authenticity should also be considered alongside with above mentioned aspects Textual authenticity is known

as the first factor of choosing material because any material used in the classroom should firstly be authentic in nature It is an initial aspect because it is not necessary

to consider about the suitability of source if the material is refined or adjusted to a teaching objective

Although there are a variety of elements in the choice of the authentic material including textual authenticity, suitability, compatibility with course objectives and exploitability prevail, they deliberately have to be specified in terms of their role in enhancing language skills (i.e listening or reading skills) Some scholars, therefore, put their own criteria related to this issue specifically To make it clear, Mc Grath (2002) points out some key aspects of material selection including its relevance to learners‟ needs, cultural appropriateness, linguistic demands, cognitive demands and exploitability According to the author, any authentic listening source should correspond with learning needs and avoid context that is “too specific to a certain culture” (it surely makes demands on comprehension of people of another culture) Moreover, it is necessary that learners need to know a certain amount of vocabulary

of the material in advanced To illustrate, the term “cognitive demands” makes mention of the existence of complicated ideas in a source and their density (whether ideas can easily be understood by learners or not) This criterion obviously composes of the most essential aspects of selection process, but there are some other factors to take into consideration In accordance with Maria Spelleri and

Nuttal's opinions, Ji Lingzhu and Zhang Yuanyuan emphasize that learners‟ language proficiency and their interests must be examined to select the suitable sources As defined by Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (2013), English Language Proficiency (ELP) refers to the capacity to communicate in English including competency in either academic English or academic literacy as the data Therefore, it is supposed that the language proficiency level of learners is the key point to apply appropriate authentic sources into classroom; otherwise, it would make learners‟ confused or frustrated during teaching process In addition, the authors propose that presented data from the authentic material need to attract learner‟s attention or interest as well as involve them in a discussion so they will be motivated to receive information Indeed, motivation and interest play an important role in enhancing learning process in most aspects Evaluating all ideas and suggestions, it can be concluded that an instructor should pay attention to the following criteria while selecting authentic sources for class:

1) to be closely connected and appropriate to learners‟ needs and their levels

2) to be in accordance with the course objectives

3) to be skill-oriented (they need to target and develop certain skills)

4, to be interesting enough for learners (they should capture learners‟ attention)

5, to be informative (they should contain new information)

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction

The point of this chapter is to analyse the methodology of the study Keeping in mind the general purpose of the present research, the research questions, the researcher, the research design including participants, research approach, data collection methods and procedures, analytical framework and data analysis procedures will be explained thoroughly

Initially, I intended to use experimental research, but it includes several disadvantages In fact, one of the limitations of this research approach is the causal relationships between variables and hypothesis testing (Kaplan and Duchon 1988) According to Oates (2006), quantitative methods are often used by experimental studies to create generalization and results in theories, so this type of research is regularly carried out in controlled environments like laboratories However, these types of experiments are not recommended when dealing with social phenomena, or culture etc which are likely to be difficult to control and manage In other words, if using this approach in your research, it would be difficult to explain which variable

causes which effect, but also to recreate situations, as participants are human who are prone to frequent changes in behavior

As mentioned by Norton (2009), there is a five-step process shortened into the

acronym ITDEM in conducting action research Step 1 begins with identifying a

problem Step 2 involves thinking of ways to tackle the problem Step 3 revolves around doing it Step 4 relates to evaluating it (actual research findings) And step 5

is designed to modify future practice

Within the general framework of a pedagogical action research, the present research mainly focused on creating an alternative syllabus for the IELTS foundation listening course through designing and developing an authentic listening environment, validating and evaluating a specific course, named “The IELTS foundation listening course with the use of authentic videos as materials for teaching and learning”

The research is put to use at an English centre, by the researcher or instructor who notices some weaknesses or limitations in the learning environment and is interested in finding a way to counteract the effect of that weakness, conduct the action, observe the results, and reflect upon the outcomes of the research, which was regarded as the relevant method for the present study Since it is claimed that the aim of the present study is primarily to design, develop, evaluate and improve the IELTS foundation listening course through applying a new syllabus for the contemporary IELTS foundation listening course at AMA English centre The five-step process model proposed by Norton (2009) was implemented for the present study The present study is implemented in a five-cycle process Within the framework of

an action research, the first step is the identification of the issue faced by the researcher in the workplace situation by observing the situation The second one of the present action research is designing a new syllabus for IELTS foundation listening course using authentic videos as materials, and conducting it in the IELTS foundation listening course will be held in the third step The fourth step is to evaluate the effectiveness of the course from the students‟ perspectives The last step is to modify, if necessary

3.4 The validity and reliability of the action research

According to the literature, reliability and validity could be considered as essential terms to deal with the matters related to the quality of statistics and the relevance of methods which were used in a study Indeed, Wisker (2000) claims reliability relates to how well researchers have carried out their researches It is considered reliable if another researcher implementing the same research activities with the same kind of group would be likely to replicate your findings even though their findings need not be identical It has to be said that sometimes action research data are not very reliable in this technical sense Sometimes, getting a high degree of reliability means controlling nearly all aspects of the situation that can change or vary ( ie variables) In many action research situations, this is impossible or undesirable Meanwhile, Messick (1989) refers validity to the degree which empirical evidences and theoretical rationales support the adequacy and appropriateness of interpretations and actions based on the test scores Validity is seen as a unitary concept An example would be if various researchers had to examine one specific research study and also come up with the same conclusion, then the research study would be internally valid Conversely, with external validity, the results and conclusions can be generalized to other situations or with other subjects To illustrate, Altricher et al (1993) argue that judging reliability in action research can only be performed on a restricted basis as a result of the unique nature of any individual project Consequently, authors tended to focus on examining validity McNiff (1994) claims that validity in action research is not about methodology, but is concerned with personal and interpersonal issues She does not want to reject methodological theory but she feels insights acquired in solving issues of validity help inform action research methodology This idea is agreed by Clark (2000), claiming action researchers need to prose an analysis of decisions made during the implementation of the study to promote judgment validity Waterman (1998) describes this aspect of validity as reflexive validity, whereby articulation of the researchers‟ influences on a study enables the reader to evaluate the appropriateness of their influence

3.5 Strengths and weaknesses of action research

According to the literature review, multiple features and potential drawbacks of action research have been highlighted The following section is to examine those limitations

On the one hand, the unique characteristics of action research contribute to its core strength For example, Coghlan (2004) argues that “action research has the potential

to confront the self perpetuating limitations (such as practical relevance) that befall traditional research approaches” In addition, Dick (2002), in the postgraduate educational research context, states that action research can broaden their professions in both practice and theory at their high levels, and change the problems

of the context

On the other hand, action research cannot avoid being criticised As mentioned in the literature, one of the criticisms of action research is that it is not „scientific‟, at least in comparison to the quantitative research, which results in the reliability and validity of its findings in a certain research context Furthermore, various practical difficulties are raised for the action researchers In other words, Rapoport (1970) put forward the idea that the danger of the action researcher being influenced by the situation or being taken advantage of in organizational politics Another potential challenge is that the action researcher can be all at the same time the researcher, practitioner and organizational planner Finally, several ethical issues might become arguable in action research A good example is the principle of informed consent, which might be difficult to implement in an educational environment which tends to

be rapidly changing throughout time or in which the boundaries of the research are made less clear

3.6 Research design

3.6.1 Participants of the study

The participants of the present study were 30 students from two classes who enrolled in the IELTS Foundation listening course at AMA English center Most of the participants were students at Vietnamese high schools, colleges or universities

in Hanoi; few learners were working at offices

3.6.2 The researcher

The researcher of the study has been teaching English at AMA English center for 2 years I have taught IELTS listening courses for nearly 2 years and I found that the students met a lot of difficulties in practicing this skill as well as they did not have motivation to practice this skill compared to speaking or reading because listening

to audio clips in the IELTS practice books can be really tiring Therefore, I decided

to apply new materials (authentic videos) instead of the audio in the textbooks to make the listening process become more effective and interesting The researcher taught one class and another teacher at AMA English center taught another one Both of us used authentic videos in the IELTS foundation listening course

3.6.3 Data collection methods

To evaluate the effectiveness of the IELTS foundation listening course with using authentic videos, a group of 32 students who enrolled in the IELTS foundation listening course in 1st April, 2017 There are two purposes of using these instruments: measuring (a) how using authentic videos is significant in improving IELTS learners‟ listening performance and (b) their attitudes toward using authentic videos in the IELTS foundation listening course

The improvement in IELTS listening performance was assessed pre-test and

post-test In addition, the students‟ attitudes of the course in terms of their improvement

in IELTS foundation listening performance were documented by classroom observations and Survey questionnaire

3.6.3.1 Pre-test and post-test

The pre-test and post-test are regarded as one of the most crucial and popular tools

of measurement and therefore are utilized in examining the extent to which the participants improved in their IELTS listening performance at the end of the particular period of time As the test can be considered as the most appropriate means, the researcher decided to utilize it as the measurement tool to explore the students‟ improvement in their listening performance before the application of authentic videos in the IELTS foundation listening course to investigate the

participants after the application to examine the difference in the participants‟ achievement or improvement in their IELTS listening performance The pre-test and post-test were chosen from the online book “ IELTS Recent Actual tests with answers Vol 5” and the students would do the listening tests on the paper

3.6.3.2 The Survey on students’ attitudes toward using authentic videos in the IELTS foundation listening course

The aim of the survey is to examine the participants‟ attitudes towards using authentic videos, and so, the researcher implemented a survey questionnaire at the end of the course Questionnaires seem to be very popular among educational research in general and ELT research in particular It is a useful device for the researcher to gather information about people‟s opinions According to Hannan (2007) by using questionnaires, the researcher can pursue their aim strictly, as the researcher can make a list of the things they want to question On the other hand, it

is very easy to ask students or other teachers to tick the statements or options provided in the question items, to indicate the ones with which they agree with and how strongly they agree or disagree with a statement given The survey included 16 questionnaire items, which were divided into 3 groups (learners‟ general attitudes toward the course, learner‟s opinions about advantages of using authentic videos, and learners‟ opinions about disadvantages of using authentic videos in the IELTS foundation course)

Table 2: Survey questions about students’ attitudes towards the use of authentic videos in the IELTS foundation listening course

No Statements

5 Strongly agree

4 Agree

3 Neutral

2 Disagree

1 Strongly disagree

1 I would recommend this course to others

recordings with the

some cultural jokes

and information that

observed the students‟ listening performance in the classroom setting frequently Throughout the observations, the researcher regularly observed and took notes in the classrooms at AMA After each observation, the researcher reviewed and

transcribed the hand-written notes

3.7 Data collection procedure

3.7.1 Phase one: pre-intervention (the observing, planning and designing of the learning environment for the IELTS foundation listening course)

Statement of problem

AMA English center is a center which focuses on both teaching English for children and IELTS courses Students study here with the expectations of not getting high marks in IELTS test but also having the ability to communicate with foreigners in different countries Many of them enrolled in IELTS courses to be able to study in countries like America, England, Canada or Singapore To communicate with foreigners, learners have to understand what foreigners said to them and respond to them That is the reason why listening skills play a very important role in IELTS courses Another reason is that listening is the skill that if students spend more time practicing, they can have achievements and faster improvement compared to speaking and writing skill One more reason is that the learning process of a student who studies IELTS often takes from six months to 16 months at AMA so normally there are two phases in studying for IELTS including IELTS foundation courses and IELTS intensive courses of the four skills ( listening, reading, writing and speaking) The purpose of IELTS foundation courses are to strengthen students‟ base knowledge of the four skills as well as equip them the general introduction of those skills for the IELTS test before taking IELTS intensive courses Usually, most students have to study IELTS foundations courses of four skills first and pass all the four final tests of four skills before moving to intensive IELTS courses so the process of studying IELTS foundation courses usually take from 10 weeks to 20 weeks depending on the fact that students have to retake the final test of the foundation courses or not Many students shared with teachers that they had a lot of

difficulties in improving their listening performance They kept practicing the listening tests by listening again and again but it did not provide them the results that they wanted Another thing that made leaners demotivated in improving their listening performance was that they felt very bored and discouraged to listen to the audios of lectures or conversations which are designed for IELTS It is commonly known that only when the content is interesting, people have the motivation to keep listening However, at AMA English centers, teachers would teach students strategies and asked students to listen to audio recordings of different types of listening questions in the IELTS foundation listening course books named “Tactics for listening”, “ Complete IELTS band 4-5” and “ Get ready for IELTS by Collins” In a ninety minute lesson, students have to keep on listening to the audios of the IELTS listening textbooks and this made them really tired and bored Some students even complained that if they went to class just to practice listening like that, they could stay at home to use headphones to listen to the audios Students wanted to have a new studying program to improve their listening skill but the previous syllabus of AMA IELTS foundation listening course did not provide them with that

It was the reason why as a teacher there, I needed to change and offered ideas about designing a new syllabus for IELTS foundation listening course which both provided strategies, listening type questions as well as new materials I chose the authentic videos as materials for students to practice their listening because I thought that it would be effective to try new materials to help them practice their listening skill both at home and in the class

The literature review on using authentic videos for English classroom environment inspired the researcher that the use of that type of material could motivate students‟ extensive listening practice, which also means a combination between intensive listening and extensive listening, could be beneficial for easing the observed issues

of IELTS learners in their IELTS foundation listening course The IELTS foundation listening course with authentic videos might encourage practicing at home along with listening practice in the classroom thanks to the fact that students