An action research on applying a blended learning program to improve students’ TOEIC listening performance in a TOEIC class

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HA NOI UNIVERSITY OFLANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES ****************** LƯỜNG HẠNH NGÂN AN ACTION RESEARCH ON APPLYING A

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST

TOEIC của học sinh trong một lớp học TOEIC)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF

LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST

GRADUATE STUDIES ******************

LƯỜNG HẠNH NGÂN

AN ACTION RESEARCH ON APPLYING A BLENDED LEARNING PROGRAM TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ TOEIC LISTENING PERFORMANCE IN A TOEIC CLASS

(Nghiên cứu cải tiến sư phạm về việc áp dụng một chương trình học kết hợp công

nghệ thông tin vào lớp học truyền thống để cải thiện khả năng nghe TOEIC của

học sinh trong một lớp học TOEIC)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

Supervisor: Dr Dương Đức Minh

HANOI - 2018

I, Lường Hạnh Ngân, hereby certify that this thesis entitled: “An action research onapplying a blended learning program to improve students‟ TOEIC listeningperformance in a TOEIC Class”, which is submitted in partial fulfillment of therequirements for the degree of Master of Arts at the Faculty of Post-GraduateStudies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam NationalUniversity, Hanoi, is the result of my own work I have provided fully documentedreferences to the work of others The material in this thesis has not been submittedfor any other formal course of study

Hanoi, 2018

Lường Hạnh Ngân

I owe my parents their continuous support Their patience and love havehelped me go beyond what sometimes looks like an insurmountable task.

I thank all my dear friends for their lifting my spirits at each turning point ofthis journey as well as for their great encouragement and valuable help during thedata collection process

Last but not least, I extend my special thanks to all the research participants.Without their valuable opinions and ideas in the questionnaires, the study would nothave been accomplished

This paper investigates the use of blended learning (BL) in an on-groundtraditional face-to-face TOEIC course and seeks to determine the extent to whichthe blended TOEIC listening course significantly affects the improvement instudents‟ TOEIC listening performance, how students experience the teacher‟spractice and behavior and measure the students‟ perceptions of the blended learningenvironment with respect to its effectiveness The purpose is to explore how toprepare English teachers to create a productive BL environment for their students

To carry out this study both quantitative and qualitative methods were used In thiscase, the use of research may be directed by emphasizing on either quantitative orqualitative approaches in the mixed method research (Creswell, 2009) Qualitativeand quantitative data were collected through the questionnaires at the end of thecourse Quantitative data would also be collected and analyzed to evaluate the effect

of the blended TOEIC listening course by continuous evaluation and the pretest andposttest at the beginning and the end of the course respectively

The results from the data revealed that the Blended TOEIC listening coursesignificantly affected the improvement in students‟ TOEIC listening performance

In addition, most of the students involved in the study are generally happy about theprogram and they recognize the benefits of the curriculum in enhancing interactionbetween them and their classmates as well as their teacher

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi

LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES vii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Research questions 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Significance of the study 3

6 Thesis outline 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Overview of listening comprehension 5

1.1.1 Definition of listening comprehension 5

1.1.2 Significance of listening comprehension 7

1.1.3 The listening comprehension process 9

1.1.4 Possible problems in listening comprehension 10

1.2 Overview of blended learning 12

1.2.1 Definition of blended learning 12

1.2.2 Features and possibilities of blended learning 14

1.2.3 Challenges to implementation of blended learning 15

1.2.4 Blended learning and E-learning 18

1.2.5 Blended learning frameworks 18

1.2.6 Learning outcomes in blended learning 21

1.3 Overview of the TOEIC listening test 23

1.3.1 The TOEIC test 23

1.3.2 TOEIC listening comprehension section 23

1.4 ICT tools and listening 24

1.5 The blended TOEIC listening course 25

1.6 Summary 30

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 31

2.1 Research design 31

2.2.Context of the study 32

2.3 Participants 32

2.4 Data collection instruments 36

2.5 Data collection procedures 37

2.6 Data analysis methods 38

2.7 Summary 39

CHAPTER 3: RESULTS, DISCUSSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 40

3.1 Results and discussions 40

3.1.1 The level of the blended TOEIC listening course in the improvement of students‟ listening performance 40

3.1.2 Learners‟ attitudes towards the blended learning environment during their TOEIC listening course 42

3.2 Summary 49

PART C: CONCLUSION 50

1 Recapitulation 50

2 Major findings 50

3 Limitations 51

4 Recommendations and suggestions for further studies 53

5 Contribution of the study 54

REFERENCES 55

APPENDICES I

APPENDIX 1: TOEIC LISTENING COMPREHENSION TEST 1 I

(PRETEST) I

APPENDIX 2: TOEIC LISTENING COMPREHENSION TEST 2 XII

(POSTTEST) XII

APPENDIX 3: QUESTIONNAIRE ABOUT BLENDED TOEIC LISTENING COURSE XXII APPENDIX 4: REPLIES FOR OPEN QUESTIONS FROM LEARNERS XXV APPENDIX 5: TOEIC LISTENING SYLLABUS (12 Sessions) XXVI

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ESL : English as Second Language

EFL : English as Foreign Language

ICT Information and Communications Technology

LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 2.1 The pretest results

Table 2.2 The course procedures

Table 3.1 Group‟s performance in the pre-test and post-test

Table 3.2 Results of the Paired-Sample T-tests

Figure 1.1 Khan‟s Octagonal Framework (adapted by Singh, 2003)Figure 1.2 The homepage of Blended TOEIC listening course

Figure 1.3 Further practice web page

Figure 1.4 Assigned homework

Figure 1.5 Summited homework

Figure 1.6 Further exercises/practice

Figure 1.7 The learners check the results of excersies

Figure 3.1 Periodical test results

Figure 3.2 Students‟ satisfaction of BL TOEIC listening course

Figure 3.3 Students‟ attitude of online assignments

Figure 3.4 Students‟ opinion about their online listening assignmentsFigure 3.5 Students‟ perception of online assignments

Figure 3.6 Technical difficulties

Figure 3.7 The impact of online activities on listening skills

Figure 3.8 The impact of online assignments on specific listening skillsFigure 3.9 Reasons for not completing the online assignments

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

With the emergence of online technology, the modern classroom is changing,nobody can deny the effectiveness of applying information communication andtechnology and the internet in foreign language teaching; therefore, living in the 21stcentury with a lot of new technologies coming into beings, teachers of English need

to make use of these new technologies to apply in their English language teaching.The computer with the internet is the one among the achievements of the newtechnologies and computers have had a great marvellous impact in English languageteaching, so merging these two fields - computers and English language is inevitable

in a world where many things are being automated and implemented into computerprograms

Listening ability is one of the important skills in foreign language learning and

no one can deny its important role However, listening skills in language learninghave not received sufficient attention and listening remains one of the leastunderstood processes in language learning Hardly has anyone doubted nowadaysthat listening skills must be trained and practices regularly and continuously Thecontemporary application of high technology in language teaching and learning islistening online which can also be consolidated into traditional classroom listening

to audio from cassettes or CDs Researchers and language practitioners have alsoperpetuated that listening skills could be chosen by the learners for a long period oftime and the present advantages of high technology allow the use of a combination

of learning techniques in which the method blended learning of listening skills inEnglish classrooms is employed and applied effectively From the own experience

as an English teacher in teaching English in general and listening skill in specific,the researcher has found that students encounter many difficulties when studyinglistening and since having a big gap in listening comprehension, when converging

on the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) syllabus they

tend to be disheartened Most students were not able to get the required passing mark for the listening part and the students only got an average score of 150 over

495 Therefore, the researcher focused on listening comprehension rather than otherskills and this thesis attempts to examine the practice of blended learning approach in thesense of its classic definition and present some evidence of its

positive contribution to the students‟ TOEIC listening performance

2 Aims of the study

This study aims to provide English teachers and students with productiveblended learning environment in an intensive TOEIC listening course Morespecifically, this study seeks to discover to what extent the blended TOEIC listeningcourse affects the improvement in students‟ TOEIC listening performance as well

as to find out the attitudes of students about the blended learning environmentduring their TOEIC listening course

4 Scope of the study

The study is idiosyncratic to a TOEIC listening class (TOEIC 450) in Centrefor Human Resouce Development for Foreign Language Studies in Thai Nguyen,Viet Nam and restricted to the exposure of a limited number (N:16) of students asparticipants The course is titled “TOEIC Listening Skills” and it aims at improvingthe listening comprehension of the learners; therefore, it gives them the opportunity

to practice listening to various types of listening materials Through this trainingcourse, students are introduced to the basic practices and strategies in listeningcomprehension In addition, all the participants certified that they have a sufficient

amount of background on the information technologies and most of the participantswere students at colleges or universities in Thai Nguyen.

5 Significance of the study

Findings from this study will contribute to the field of teacher training,computer assisted language learning, and the area of blended learning research.First, this study provides a methodologically well-found approach to preparing ESLteachers for teaching listening in a blended language learning environment viablending a traditional face-to-face class and online learning environment to enhancethe quality of TOEIC listening teaching and learning process in Vietnam

Another possible contribution of this study focuses on evaluating theproductiveness and learner attitudes of a blended learning environment towards theeffectiveness of the implementation of blended learning procedures into the TOEIClistening courses in order to determine the changes for improvements in terms ofteaching and learning methods

Last but not least, the study contributes to dealing with the investigation ofhow teacher practice and behavior may influence student‟s satisfaction of a blendedlanguage learning environment

6 Thesis outline

The thesis is divided into three parts: the introduction, the development andthe conclusion

Part A is the introduction which presents the rationale for the study, the aims

and objectives, the research questions, the scope, the methods, the significance, andthe design of the study

Part B - The development consists of three chapters.

Chapter 1 is the literature review which provides an overview of the

theoretical background and the previous researches related to the study

Chapter 2 presents the methodology of the study restating the research

questions and describes the setting where the study is conducted, the participants,and the instruments used to collect data, and the procedures of data collection

In Chapter 3, data analysis and the findings are shown which aims at

describing the analysis of data in detail and giving the summary of the findings aswell as a thorough discussion of the findings of the study Some explanations andinterpretations of the findings are also presented in this chapter

Part C, the conclusion of the study, provides the summary of the main issues

and concluding remarks of the study The limitations as well as some suggestionsfor further research are also discussed in this part

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

The aim of this chapter is to provide the theoretical background for the study.

It covers theories related to blended learning and listening comprehension skill Reviewing the literature is an essential part of the research process that generates ideas and helps to form critical questions in the process of research design (O’ Leary, 2004, p 83) The chapter starts with a literature review on blended learning This is followed by an overview of listening comprehension and TOEIC Listening comprehension Section The end of the chapter is a discussion of Moodle and using Moodle in education.

1.1 Overview of listening comprehension

1.1.1 Definition of listening comprehension

Understanding the importance of listening and the different situations wherelistening skills are needed, there are numerous definitions of listening by manyscholars Each one defines in a different way as seen from one‟s own point of view.Chastain (1971) defines listening comprehension as the ability to understandnative speech at normal speed in unstructured situation whereas Morley (1991,p.82), listening is the most communicative activity in daily life: “we can expect tolisten twice as much as we speak, four times more than we read, and five timesmore than we write.”

From Rubin and Meldelsohn‟s (1995) standpoint, listening is an active process

in which a listener selects and interprets information which comes from auditoryand visual clues in order to define what is going on and what the speakers are trying

to express Buck (2001) provides a broader definition of listening comprehensionand noted that listening is a complex and active interpretation process in whichlisteners matches what they hear with what they already know He asserts that

“listening involves linguistic and non-linguistic knowledge” (p.10), listeners have to

be able to apply their abilities and learning strategies involved in

both linguistic knowledge and non-linguistic knowledge to interpret andcomprehend messages from the speaker.

In the words of Farrell and Mallard (2006), many language learners, especially

at low proficiency levels, find that listening is the most difficult English skill.Listening concerns both correctly interpreting incoming speech and respondingappropriately to the speaker, especially in face-to-face conversations where listenersmust be able to contribute verbally

While scholars‟ definitions of these two terms are often worded differently,they typically describe the same basic concept, listening comprehension areconsidered as an activity in which listeners employ a variety of mental process in aneffort to recognize and master major foreign language patterns, as well as to initiateall the schemata to make sense of the incoming information

In addition, Anderson and Lynch (1988) affirm there are two influential viewsrelated to listening comprehension: the first one is the traditional view and the otherone is the alternative view In the traditional view, the teaching of listeningcomprehension centers on what teacher does, and student is a mere by stander orrecipient of input during the communication process (Elkhafaifi, 2005) In this view,students are seldom required to use the language by themselves in listening classesand they just need to receive passively the information provided in the listeningmaterials Most listening lessons take the form of simply having the students listenand then answer comprehension questions This view is criticized as inappropriateand inadequate (Anderson and Lynch, 1988; Elkhafaifi, 2005) On the other hand,alternative view considers the listener as an active model builder Listener needs toget involve actively in the interpretation of what they hear, bring his ownbackground knowledge and linguistic competence to reach full comprehension ofwhat had been heard Most scholars now agree with this view

In a word, listening comprehension involves to an active process of listeningfor meaning, using both the linguistic and nonlinguistic knowledge According toBuck (2001), linguistic knowledge consists of different types such as phonology,

lexis, syntax, semantics and discourse structure Nonlinguistic knowledge includesthe knowledge about the topic, about the content, and general knowledge about theworld and how it works.

1.1.2 Significance of listening comprehension

Listening plays a very important role in student‟s academic success Krashen(1980) provides a large amount of listening or comprehension input which is theraw material necessary for the process to occur was the best way to learn a secondlanguage because of its contribution to the development of the overall languageproficiency Rost (1994) also pinpoints the importance of listening in the languageclassroom as the supplier of supplying the input for students Withoutcomprehension input at the right level, learning cannot work well Students spendmost of their time listening to the teacher‟s lecture Elkhafaifi (2005) reports data

on how students spend their communicative time among four language skills inlanguage learning and listening is the most frequently used skill: 45% is devoted tolistening, 30% to speaking, only 16% to reading and a mere 9% to writing.Therefore, listening is a fundamental and vital skill in the acquisition of languages(Nunan, 2002)

Furthermore, listeners could develop their communicative competence throughlistening skills “Speaking does not of itself constitute communication unless what

is being said is comprehended by another person” (Rivers,1966, p 196) As a result,listening in EFL learning becomes a vital necessary condition of good speakingability If the learners get a large amount of listening practice before speaking andreading, they are more likely to acquire a second language with a greater efficiency.Through listening exercises, learners draw their attention to new forms such asvocabulary, grammar and interaction pattern, which provides the right conditionsfor language acquisition and development of their language skills The lack oflistening comprehension skill may lead to difficulties in discussion andcommunication Therefore, listening has been shown to play a key role in languagelearning

1.1.3 The listening comprehension process

There are two distinct processes involved in listening comprehension:

bottom-up processing and top-down processing

Bottom-up processing

Bottom-up processing refers to what the listener is hearing by focusing onvocabulary, grammar, sounds, etc The listener starts with the smallest units such asindividual sounds or phonemes of the message to later combine them into words andthen into phrases and sentences These sentences create concepts, ideas, andrelationships between them (Buck, 2001) Bottom-up processing applies knowledge

in a serial, hierarchical way She further states that when listening involves bothbottom-up and top-down process, it is considered to be interactive listening.Vandergrift (2007) explained that listeners exercise top-down processes when theyuse context and background knowledge such as topic, genre, culture and otherschema knowledge stored in long-term memory to construct a conceptual structurefor comprehension Listeners make use of bottom-up processes when they constructmeaning by addition, gradually combining increasingly larger units of meaningfrom the phoneme - level up to discourse - level features

Top-down processing

In top-down processing, listeners use their prior knowledge including the topic

of the listening material, context of the listening material, culture of the listeningmaterial, text type of the listening material to generate assumption In addition, it isimportant for both teachers and students to recognize the existence of these twotypes of processing listening input since both of them contribute to the development

of listening skill

However, both bottom-up processing and top-down one have its weak points.Bottom-up processing fails to see that understanding a text does not depend only onone‟s linguistic knowledge It is also an interactive process between the listener‟sprevious knowledge and the text Top-down processing cannot evoke listeners‟schemata if the incoming information they hear is unfamiliar to them Besides,

although listeners can trigger a schema, they might not have the suitable schemaexpected by the speaker.

Because neither bottom-up process nor top-down process alone is sufficientfor comprehension, “these two processing intersect to develop an interactiveprocessing.” (Wu, 2008, p.23) In the Vandergrift‟s (2007) words, successfullisteners will use a combination of top-down (meaning-focused) and bottom-up(detailed-focus) accordingly to the listening objectives He also notes that the speedand effectiveness at which listeners carry out these processes depend on the degree

to which the listeners can efficiently process what is heard Successful listeningdepends on the ability to combine these two types of processing; therefore, one oflistening teacher‟s jobs is to help students learn to balance the two kinds ofprocessing

Listening is a complex process and critical in developing the second languagecompetence Guiding students through the process of listening not only providesthem with the knowledge by which they can successfully complete a listening taskbut motivates them and puts them in control of their learning as well Therefore, bydesigning appropriate listening tasks and activities, teachers can help studentsdevelop their listening comprehension skill through these processes

Understanding how listeners process listening comprehension and consideringthe possible problems students often encounter in learning to listen to English willprovide students and teachers with a lot of ideas to listen more effectively

1.1.4 Possible problems in listening comprehension

Listening is usually a hard skill to master in one‟s own language as well as insecond language acquisition There exist some problems from the point of views ofthe listeners when learning to listen

Underwood (1989) states seven problems in listening comprehension whichinclude “lack of control over the speed at which speakers speak”, “not being able toget things repeated”, “the listener‟s limited vocabulary”, “failure to recognisesignals”, “problems of interpretation”, “inability to concentrate”, and “established

learning habits ” (p.16) Lack of vocabulary is really an obstacle for people listening

to a foreign language since they can sometimes hear the words clearly, but theproblem may occur in understanding the meanings of the words they do not know

An unknown word can be like a suddenly dropped barrier causing them to stop andthink about the meaning of the word and thus making them miss the next part of thespeech Besides, “established learning habits” mean students are traditionally taught

to understand everything in the English lessons by listening carefully to teacherswho probably speak slowly and clearly As a result, students become worried anddiscouraged if they fail to understand every word while listening

Ur (1996) shares some of the main points with Underwood (1989) aboutproblems in listening comprehension There are six major problems refered by Ur(1996) which are difficulties in perceiving sounds, following natural speed andnative accent, catching up with the load of information as well as the needs tounderstand everything, to get things repeated, and to have a rest Trouble withsounds seems to be the biggest problem as most students have difficulty catchingthe actual sounds of the foreign language The misconception that listening meanshaving to understand every word is a very common problem and is oftenunconsciously fostered by teachers and/or listening materials The effort tounderstand everything results in ineffective comprehension as well as feelings offatigue and failure The speed of the speakers also causes many difficulties tostudents because they cannot hear the sounds clearly when dealing with fast andnatural native-sounding speech

Yagang (1993) provides a little bit different point of view when saying that “Theevidence that shows why listening is difficult comes mainly from four sources: themessage to be listened to, the speaker, the listener, and the physical setting.” Themessage is considered in terms of the content (topic, organization …) and linguisticfeatures (liaisons, elision …) The speaker factor includes redundancy, speaker‟s voice,accent and speech style The listener factor involves in

linguistic knowledge, background knowledge, exposure to different kinds oflistening materials, psychological and physical factors The physical setting consists

of background noises, visual and aural environmental clues, etc

The problems students may encounter in listening comprehension are various

As a result, they need to have some solutions to overcome these difficulties anddevelop their listening competence

1.2 Overview of blended learning

1.2.1 Definition of blended learning

In general blended learning is defined as a combination of online and face face education, but the definition somewhat varies according to different scholars.According to Sharma (2010), there are three definitions of “blended learning” thatare pertinent in the world of education The prototypical interpretation of the term is

-to-“the integrated combination of traditional learning with web based onlineapproaches” (Oliver and Trigwell, 2005, p 17) “Traditional learning” is understood

as classroom face-to-face language classes Two other definitions refer to either acombination of technologies or a combination of methodologies (Sharma, 2010, p.456) and the educational effect of blended learning Considering the features andeducational effects, blended learning has become an issue of great interest lying in theapparent fact that there is no single way to meet the needs of various learners and toachieve an optimal level of learning

From the learner‟s viewpoints, blended learning is effective in satisfying thelearner‟s satisfaction in that it enhances the learner‟s convenience and accessibility(Cottrell & Robinson, 2003), meeting the various needs and learning styles(Dziuban, Hartman & Moskai, 2004), encourages interaction between learners(Osguthorpe & Graham, 2003), and it creates an environment where both real-timeand delayed interaction are available Blended learning also improves the learningachievement by fostering active interaction between learners, learners and teachers,and learners and lessons Since this blended course is a combination of face-to-face

learning with web-based online one, this thesis generally follows the definition of blended learning by Oliver and Trigwell (2005).

1.2.2 Features and possibilities of blended learning

There are several reasons why a blended learning (BL) approach can bebeneficial Osguthorpe and Graham (2003) classified the six reasons for usingblended learning They are pedagogical richness, access to knowledge, socialinteraction, personal agency, cost-effectiveness and ease of revision Of these sixreasons Graham, Allen and Ure (2003) explored that blended learnning wasprimarily carried out for the reasons of improved pedagogy, increased access andflexibility, and increased cost-effectiveness Knowing these possible reasons whyblended learning is used in many training courses brings up the topic of who ispromoting this use, how it is being integrated into training courses, and whether it

is, in fact successful It is generally well established that there is a savings potential

in moving some classroom contact hours online (Dziuban & Moskal, 2001; Oh &Park, 2009) This reduces the need for physical meeting space and classrooms withtheir associated costs While cost-effectiveness is undoubtedly a significantmotivation to support the use of blended learning, it is not the focus of thisdissertation study and will not be addressed Notwithstanding the issue of cost-effectiveness, it is clear that administrators play an important role in the promotionand success potential of blended learning Among other things, institutional goalsand policies may seek to promote personal agency and increased learnerresponsibility for their own learning Many educational institutions also seek toreach as many potential students as possible, which means that access and flexibilityare likely to be prioritized by administrators Regarding some scholars‟ review of

BL studies, Bliuc, Goodyear and Ellis (2007) asserted the vital role of the teacher bydemonstrating that “a substantial portion of the literature is written by teachersresearching their own innovative educational practice” (p 232)

In the words of Osguthorpe and Graham (2003), teachers may be attracted to

BL thanks to its benefits such as improving pedagogy, providing greater access toknowledge, and facilitating increased opportunities for social interaction Asdifferent researchers focus on a multitude of variables, factors, and variants of

instructional approaches in an attempt to gain knowledge about the usefulness ofblended learning, leading to the result of somewhat muddied researches focusing inthe area of blended learning; therefore, several researchers (Bliuc, Goodyear andEllis, 2007; Shea, 2007; Vignare, 2007) call for more and better research that goesbeyond to seek and to establish useful frameworks for the integration andapplication of BL in education They also believe that research should focus on keyaspects such as accessing, quality and blended learning environments.

1.2.3 Challenges to implementation of blended learning

Based on recent research on the implementation of blended learning in generaland in language education in specific, there are numerous challenges in theimplementation of blended learning in EFL education

Challenges from students

The major student-related challenges to the implementation of blendedlearning come from the students‟ lack of knowledge and skills for independentlearning and their problems with utilizing computer and Internet-based resources.The serious and very important requirement for the success of applying blendedlearning is that students are responsible for and play an active part in learning(Alebaikan, 2010; Kaleta, Garnham & Aycock, 2005; Launer, 2010) This isexplained in details that students are aware of the learning objectives and areencouraged to achieve these aims They also need to have their individual learningneeds in their minds in order to choose necessary learning steps, to demonstrate,analyze and evaluate their learning progress and to reorganise the steps if necessary(Launer, 2010) However, not many students are able to carry out the self-regulatedlearning practices required in a blended learning environment in early years of theirstudy According to Alebaikan (2010), this aspect might be due to their previouslearning experiences in teacher-centred learning environments at high schools.Alebaikan (2010), Launer (2010), Moskal & Cavanagh (2013) and Oliver &Stallings (2014) also share the same view in their research which shows thatstudents face difficulties in managing time and motivating, controlling and directing

independent learning In particular, many students do not realise the importance orthe benefits of their self-study phase online, regarding online learning as optional orless important than learning in face-to-face classes (Alebaikan, 2010; Comas Quinn,2011; Murphy & Southgate, 2011; Orton Johnson, 2009) Hence, students‟ lack ofknowledge and skills in self-regulated learning could become a major challenge forimplementating blended learning Since students have to employ technologies tostudy blended courses, their lack of experience in employing computer and web-based technology for learning or their unfamiliarity with a technology-advancedlearning environment can cause difficulties for learning The fact that students facewith technical problems when studying online such as the requirement for additionalsoftware or problems with Internet connection and assignment submission systems

is also shown in research (Chew, 2009; Grgurović, 2010; Larsen, 2012; Moskal &Cavanagh, 2013) Students also encounter difficulties when making meaning out ofmaterials presented (Oh & Park, 2009), correlate online materials with learning inface-to-face classes or identify critical content or resources online (Chew, 2009;Taylor & Newton, 2013)

The student-related challenges can be even more extreme in the context ofEFL education in Vietnam in which students are familiar with a teacher-controlledlearning environment where they are expected to listen and follow teachers‟instruction to learn (Williamson, 2009) Their tendency to depend on teachers forlearning motivation and direction can hinder students from making their owndecisions on what and how to learn While the interaction and collaboration withteachers and peers is considered as an important potential of blended learningenvironment

Research indicates that in order to address to the challenges and minimize suchbarriers to blended learning implementation, particular consideration and attentionwould be needed to provide students with sufficient training and ongoing assistance

to develop their ability to carry out active and collaborative learning and utilisetechnology-assisted learning environments effectively

Challenges from teachers

The main challenges related to the teachers in the implementation of blendedlearning include teachers‟ limited pedagogical expertise and information andcommunication technology skills, and low motivation to develop a soundpedagogical approach is another challenge The didactic hypothesis forimplementing blended learning, which is the key contributing factor foreffectiveness of implementation, is to foster a more student-centered pedagogicalapproach which addresses students‟ diverse learning needs and promotes theiractive and collaborative learning (Marsh, 2012; Sanprasert, 2010; Vaughan, 2007).However, for those teachers who are familiar with teacher-centred pedagogy, theaffirmation of a student-centred approach requires profound changes in teachers‟pedagogical practices

According to Vaughan (2007) and Stracke (2007), many teachers show littleawareness of their students‟ self-study periods or have considerable difficulties inintegrating students‟ self-study periods into their teaching in face-to-face classes.Teachers also report encountering problems with giving online feedback, facilitatingstudents‟ online discussion and community, and addressing and managing onlineproblems (Alebaikan, 2010; Chew, 2009; Dziuban, Hartman, Juge, Moskal & Sorg,2006; Taylor & Newton, 2013; Vaughan, 2007) Some teachers indicate doubt aboutthe quality of blended learning courses (Betts, 2014) and report feelings of isolationwhen teaching in blended format (Moskal & Cavanagh, 2013) In languageeducation, Comas-Quinn (2011) proclaims there are still some teachers, instead offacilitating students‟ meaningful and interactive communication, they still focusmainly on language accuracy They also do not have sufficient knowledge of thepotential of nonsynchronous communication tools for language learning and preferface-to-face or real time online communication with students (Comas-Quinn, 2011).Larsen (2012) and Stracke (2007) also affirm that teachers‟ role is fundamental increating and shaping a supportive environment to promote students‟ active andcollaborative learning; therefore, their lack of

knowledge and skills in exploiting a blended learning environment to promote anddevelop students‟ learning is one of the most stringent challenges to theimplementation of EFL blended learning.

1.2.4 Blended learning and E-learning

The term “blended learning” and “E-learning” may sometimes be confusedwith each other; however, in fact, the usage of the two approaches is notinterchangeable While e-learning refers to the situation where the interactionbetween the students and the teacher is done online, blended learning is acombination of learning at a distance and the traditional on-site learning According

to Littlejohn and Pegler (2007), e-learning has become an umbrella term that coversweb-based instruction, online learning, networked learning, computer-assistedlearning and computer-mediated learning or internet-enabled since 2002 Morris andNahlik (2009) also share the similar viewpoints when stating that e-learning, in itsbroadest sense, is the learning that is electronically enabled and in its narrowestsense, it is web-based or internet-enabled To make it clearer, e-learning is referred

to as “the term most commonly used to represent the broader domain ofdevelopment and research activities on the application of technologies to education”(Morris and Nahlik, 2009, p 4) From all these definitions, it is clear that the use ofinformation and communication technologies in learning is strongly emphasized in

elearning Blended learning, which is also called “hybrid learning” or “mixed

-mode learning”, on the other hand, despite being a controversial term, is the

combination of face-to-face and online learning in its essence

1.2.5 Blended learning frameworks

Hornby (1995) defines a framework is a structure giving shape and support tosomething Frameworks for blended learning are also varies for different learning

goals Alammary et al (2014) presented three distinct design approaches for

developing blended learning modules namely: low-impact approach in which onlineactivities are added to an existing course, medium-impact approach which designs

an online activity to replace an existing activity and high-impact approach which

focuses on developing a blended module from the outset or redesigning a face or web-enhanced module as a blended learning module However, according toAlammary et al (2014), it can increase the teachers‟ workload and be challengingfor the teachers or lecturers to develop an appropriate online activity due to lack oftime and incentives Another framework for e-learning was created by Khan (2003).Khan‟s e-learning framework which is also referred to as Khan‟s OctagonalFramework because of its octagonal shape representing the eight dimensions of thee-learning environment provides a framework that enables educators to selectappropriate ingredients for flexible learning environments (Khan 2003) WhileKhan‟s Octagonal Framework focuses primarily on e-learning, Singh (2003)adapted this framework to focus on blended learning In the words of Singh, theframework created by Khan (2003) can serve as a guidance to outline, create,provide, organize and assess blended learning programmes Khan‟s frameworkconsists of eight dimensions as be shown in Figure 1.1.

face-to-Figure 1.1 Khan’s Octagonal Framework (adapted by Singh, 2003)

The framework has eight dimensions namely: institutional, pedagogical,technological, interface design, evaluation, management, resource support andethical Each of these dimensions in the framework represents a category of issuesthat need to be addressed in order to create a meaningful learning experience

(Singh, 2003) The institutional dimension is involved in issues relating toorganizational, administrative affairs, academic affairs and student services withreference to matters of education Staff involved in designing and implementingblended learning programmes should consider the preparedness of the organization,availability and structure of content and infrastructure as well as the students‟needs According to Singh (2003), a needs analysis should be conducted to ascertainthe needs of the students.

The pedagogical dimension refers to teaching and learning needs Thisdimension addresses issues concerning content that has to be delivered, students‟needs and learning objectives This dimension also includes the design, organizationand methods and strategies of blended learning environments In Singh‟s view, thelearning goals or learning outcomes need to be listed and the most appropriatedelivery method is selected The technological dimension considers issues related totechnology infrastructure used in blended learning environments, particularly the e-learning aspects This includes infrastructure planning such as servers that supportthe learning programme, bandwidth and accessibility, security and hardware andsoftware This includes creating a learning environment with the appropriate tools to

be able to deliver a learning programme (Singh, 2003) This dimension alsoaddresses the need for finding the most suitable learning management system thatcould manage multiple delivery types and a content management system thatcatalogues the learning content for the learning programme (Amalou, 2006)

The interface design directs to the overall look and feel of the blended learningprogramme Teachers need to ensure that the user interface supports all thecomponents and features of the blend The interface design dimension includes pageand site design, content design, navigation, and usability testing The user interfaceneeds to support all the elements of the blend It has to be able to unite the differentcomponents of the blend, which will enable the students to use the different deliverytypes as well as switch from one delivery type to another In the words of Singh

(2003), issues relating to content structure, navigation, graphics and help featuresare also addressed in this dimension.

According to Singh (2003), the evaluation dimension involves both assessment

of learners and evaluation of the instruction and learning environment Programmesshould have the capability to evaluate the efficiency of a learning programme aswell as the performance of the students This dimension also addresses maintenance

of learning environment and distribution of information, registration andnotification and scheduling the different elements of the blend

The resource support dimension analyses the online and offline support andresources required to support meaningful learning environments Resource supportcould also include counselor or tutor that is accessible in person, via e-mail or onchat systems (Singh, 2003) Singh also states that issues such as equal opportunities,cultural diversity, bias, geographical diversity, information accessibility, etiquette,and legal issues such as copyright are also addressed in this dimension

Thanks to Khan‟s (2003) e-learning framework, educators can selectappropriate components for bendable learning environments While Khan‟sOctagonal Framework focuses primarily on e-learning, Singh adapts this framework

to focus on blended learning Khan‟s framework can serve as a guide to planning,development, delivery, management and evaluation of combined learning programs

1.2.6 Learning outcomes in blended learning

According to Mugenyi and Zhu (2016), there are four factors that make up thelearning outcomes of a blended learning course: they are intrinsic motivation,satisfaction, knowledge construction and learning performance

The first factor is intrinsic motivation which is used to measure the learners‟experiences with regard to the experimental tasks set in the blended learningintervention; it is also considered as a learning outcome The learners‟ intrinsicmotivation can be negatively influenced by emotional feelings of anxiety,nervousness and tension among learners taking part in blended learning

environments Saadè and Otrakji (2007) also point out that the state of learneranxiety can result from the utilization of a learning management system or the tasks

to be attempted among other factors Kuo et al., (2013) share the same view when

state that much as course grades are usually used as indicators of studentachievement, affective factors are also as good as cognitive factors in indicatingoutcomes of learning From Kremenska‟s (2009) viewpoint, doing work with ease,fun, enjoyment and competence has been found to indicate learners‟ intrinsicmotivation

The second factor and another learning outcome is satisfaction According toNaaj, Nachouki and Ankit (2012), the satisfaction of learners under blendedlearning environments is the baseline requirement in order for a successfulimplementation plan Debourgh (1999) noted a high connection between learnersatisfaction and the teachers‟ work especially in terms of availability and feedbacktime to students

According to Bower and Kamata (2008), technology with reliable andaccessible equipment is essential for learner satisfaction In addition, the learners‟felling of being frustrated with technology involved in blended learning often leads

to low satisfaction in the learning process as stated by Chong (1998) In Debourgh‟s(2003) view, the outlining of the course content and its teaching in blended learningenvironments are known to lead to learner satisfaction Jones and Chen (2008)found out that since the course instructor helped learners update and gave promptfeedback, learners made more effort to interact with the instructor as compared to atraditional classroom

In addition, research shows that the learning process from others as a way ofknowledge construction in online learning has resulted from learners exchanging

ideas as well as sharing information (Rahman et al., 2011) According to Lai

(2013), high levels of knowledge construction were found in a doctoral program inwhich the instructor had a good design of the academic programs and assigned roles

to the learner acquisition of their own knowledge

Learning performance is the last learning outcome When comparing thelearner performance while doing traditional face-to-face instruction with blendedlearning, it shows that blended learning instruction yields better performance (Hill,Chidambaram and Summers, 2013) although the contrary has also been found out inother studies (Brown and Liedholm, 2002) Kwak, Menezes and Sherwood (2013)affirm there is no effect of blended learning on the performance of students in astatistics course Or even in some studies, performance in blended courses has beenthe same as in traditional face-to-face as noted by Delialioglu and Yildirim (2009),superior or better (Atan, Rahman and Idrus, 2004) or even worse (Brown andLiedholm, 2002).

In this study, not all factors mentioned above was dealt with, only satisfactionand learning performance were considered to be the main criteria to evaluate theeffectiveness of the blended TOEIC listening course

1.3 Overview of the TOEIC listening test

1.3.1 The TOEIC test

TOEIC, which stands for Test of English for International Communication,measures English proficiency in a work related environment It is designed to give

an accurate measurement of the English capabilities of people who do not useEnglish as their mother tongue According to the information from the website byIIG Vietnam (a leading organization in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar intesting and educational quality accreditation), TOEIC is widely used in more than

150 countries around the world with more than 7 million test entries per year and isthe most prestigious test used by more than 14,000 organizations to assess Englishproficiency in the internationally working environment In Vietnam, TOEIC hasbeen used as a benchmark for more than 127 universities, colleges and vocationalschools and is a recruiting and evaluation standard in more than 350 corporations,enterprises

1.3.2 TOEIC listening comprehension section

In the TOEIC listening section, there are 100 questions and lasts for about 45minutes: In part 1, students see ten pictures For each picture, they will hear fourstatements and they must select the statement that best matches the picture Studentsshould see the picture carefully and try to predict the vocabularies and statementsthey might hear By first picking out the key focus of the picture and quicklybrainstorming related vocabularies and possible statements, they are likely to bemuch better prepared when they actually listen In part 2, students will listen to thequestions or statements followed by three possible responses They must choose theresponse that best matches the question This part of the test is a pure listeningchallenge as there are no clues students can use to predict what they are going tolisten to Responses in this part are authentic and students must often listen forimplied meaning of a response to realize it is the correct one In part 3, students willlisten to ten conversations and then answer three questions for each conversation.The students should answer questions as quickly as they can especially when thelistening text is still being read Moreover, students need to use the time betweenconversations to skim the next three questions, predict what they are going to listen

to and isolate exactly what they should be listening for As in part 3, in part 4students will listen to ten monologues followed by three questions for each Thedifference is that instead of a conversation, the listening features a single speakergiving a talk: a report, a speech, an advertisement, etc The similarities to part 3mean that students can adopt the same approaches used there In fact, thesignificantly longer texts make it even more important that students have an exactidea of what they are listening for in advance, listening first and then consideringthe questions later won‟t work because there is simply too much information toremember

1.4 ICT tools and listening

According to Vandergrift (2011), information and communication technology(ICT) can be a great asset for listening development Thanks to technology, teacherscan choose audios and videos from different sources according to their learners‟

needs and use multimedia to improve their listening lessons (Lynch, 2009;Flowerdew and Miller, 2005) English listeners can also be supported by ICT inmany ways First, they can independently access the recording from theircomputers, mobiles or other audio devices Second, they can carry the listeningtasks at their own pace without having to depend on the pace of the class (Wilson,2008) Third, thanks to multimodality, “the opportunities for processing input areamplified” (Rost, 2007: p.102) In fact, with multimedia devices the secondlanguage listener can control the audio, see images while listening and use subtitlesand the transcript Moreover, with the replay, pause and rewind options, the listener

is no longer subject to the temporal and linear nature of speech (Guichon andMcLornan, 2008)

Fourth, multimedia can aid listening comprehension as it has been shown bysome researchers such as Guichon and McLornan (2008), Grgurvic andHegelheimer (2007), Hulstijn (2003) and Brett (1997)

Overview of Moodle

Moodle stands for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment.According to Moodle Official Web Site, Moodle is defined as an Open SourceCourse Management System, also known as a Learning Management System or aVirtual Learning Environment It has become very popular among educators aroundthe world as a tool for creating online dynamic web sites for their students Moodlewith its wide range of tools definitely offers users to be creative, but with certainpurpose, the most probably seen in self-directed studying The focus of the Moodleproject is always on giving educators the best tools to manage and promote learning,Moodle is used for blended learning, distance education, flipped classroom andother e-learning projects in schools, universities, workplaces and other sectors Withcustomizable management features, it is used to create private websites with onlinecourses for educators and trainers to achieve learning goals

1.5 The blended TOEIC listening course

The blended TOEIC listening course was planned and designed by theresearcher in order to provide an alternative instructional environment for the on-ground TOEIC listening course The blended TOEIC listening course was organized

as a combination of both face-to-face and online instructional assignments Theclass meets face-to-face every week for two hours in the classroom and the rest ofthe activity was carried out online In class, teacher would instruct the learners todiscuss the previous online assignments, and learn different kinds of questions in thedifferent listening parts The learners would have chances to take part in pair works

or group works to practice listening, discuss some topics or questions related to thelesson Teacher also gave the learners feedback as well as tips for the listening task,some of which are also provided on the course web page as power pointpresentation

The TOEIC learners enrolled in a 12 - week TOEIC course (see Appendix 5for the detailed syllabus of the listening course) and were asked to complete avariety of assignments both online and offline Since the course is a mixture of face

to face and online classes, the materials used were a combination of handouts withCDs and videos prepared by the teacher as well as various e-learning resourcesuploaded and linked through the Moodle system A number of Moodle technologyfeatures are utilized such as discussion, forums, and online assignments

Figure 1.2 The homepage of Blended TOEIC listening course

When the learners log on the TOEIC listening web page via Moodle, theblended TOEIC listening course (Figure 1.2) becomes visible A plentiful number ofonline resources are available on the course platform providing a wider arena oflistening materials for practice All assignments are submitted electronically bybeing uploaded to the course homepage The previous handouts and audios are alsouploaded on the page to the equivalent weeks in addition to other added resources.All these means helped to increase the e- learning experience of the learners

Figure 1.3 Further practice web page

The course web page also provides tools to enhance interaction betweenstudents and the teacher and includes security and administration The learners arecapable of uploading their homework and opinions; therefore, the teacher can leavecomments or feedbacks for every homework (See Figure 1.4 & 1.5)

Figure 1.4 Assigned homework

Figure 1.5 Summited homework

Besides, students have opportunities to access to a variety of exercises whendoing online homework through online web page linked to the main site prepared

by the teacher Students‟ exercises are not only checked and commented from theteacher, but the students can also do their tasks and check that they are doing right

or wrong by themselves Furthermore, they can listen to the task at any time, any place and as many times as they like (Figure 1.6 & 1.7).

Figure 1.6 Further exercises/practice

Figure 1.7 The learners check the results of excersies

1.6 Summary

In conclusion, this chapter mainly summarizes the theories, ideas, opinionsrelated to the blended learning and listening skills The chapter has so far presentedthe relevant literature, which has helped to form the theoretical and conceptualframework for the study It is firstly concerned with the overview of blendedlearning, including some definitions of blended learning and features andpossibilities as well as challenges to implementation of blended learning It alsoreviews the overview of listening comprehension, their definitions, significance,listening comprehension process and possible problems in listening comprehension.The chapter also focuses on presenting a review of TOEIC listening test and ICTtools and listening All of these serve as a basis for an action research on applying ablended learning program to enhance listening performance for the students which

is carried out and presented in the following chapter

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the details of the methodology employed to carry out the present study It includes a discussion of the participants, the data collection instruments and the procedures for data collection and analysis.

2.1 Research design

Action research was adopted as the research approach to answer the tworesearch questions and achieve the aim and objectives of the study According toFerrance (2000), action research is a suitable method for teachers who want to makeappropriate changes to student learning and measure the possible effects Ferrance(2000) demonstrates “Action research projects influence thinking skills, sense ofefficacy, willingness toshare and communicate, and attitudes toward the processofchange.” (p.14) This method is also justified to offer significant benefits for theresearcher, who is also a teacher Carr and Kemmis (2003) shares the same viewwhen mentioning that action research is simply a form of self-reflective inquiryundertaken by participants in order to improve the rationality and justice of theirown practices, their understanding of those practices and the situations in which thepractices are carried out Johnson (1995) pointed out three mains advantages ofaction research The first one is to promote personal and professional growth andthe second advantage is to improve practice to enhance student learning, and thefinal one is to advance the teacher profession

Action research was considered the best approach to do this study for threemain reasons First, the aim of action research is bringing changes and theimprovements in practice by intervening in a a deliberate way in the problematicsituation (Burns, 2009) Second, action research is a problem-solving approach for aparticular teaching or learning situation Finally, Beatty (2003) states that actionresearch is very useful for teachers and researchers trying to find out how and forthat purposes Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can be used toassist learning