A study on using movies in teaching listening skills to students at hanoi law university

I hereby certify that the minor thesis entitled: “A study on using movies in teaching listening skills to students at Hanoi Law University”, which is submitted in partial fulfillment of

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

HANOI - 2015

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Dr HOÀNG THỊ XUÂN HOA

HANOI - 2015

I hereby certify that the minor thesis entitled: “A study on using movies in

teaching listening skills to students at Hanoi Law University”, which is

submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts

in English Language Teaching Methodology at Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies,Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam NationalUniversity, 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 university or institution wholly and partially

Hanoi, 2015

Nguyen Thi Huong

This research paper would not have been completed without the help of people

to whom I would like to express my deep gratitude

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr Hoang ThiXuan Hoa, my supervisor, for her wholehearted support, continuous motivation andprecious guidance which were decisive factors to the completion of the thesis

I would like to extend my special thanks to all the research participants Withouttheir valuable opinions and ideas in the questionnaires, the study would not havebeen accomplished

Last but not least, I owe my parents their continuous support Their patience andlove have helped me go beyond what sometimes looks like an insurmountable task

The aim of this action research was to improve listening skills for students atHanoi Law University by using movies in teaching listening skills Morespecifically, the researcher tried to (1) examine the effects of using movies inteaching listening skills for the first- year students (2) find out the students’ attitudestowards using movies in listening lessons

The research was implemented with 30 first year students who major inEnglish in Law at Hanoi Law University during five weeks When the theoreticalbackground for the study was finalized, the researcher began designing the datacollection instruments, which included two questionnaires, a pre test and a post test

The overall result was that the listening skills of the experimented group didgreatly benefit from the intervention The students not only got motivated inlistening lessons but also made progress in their listening skills

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION I

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS II

ABSTRACT III

TABLE OF CONTENTS IV LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, TABLES AND FIGURES VI

PART A INTRODUCTION 1

1.1.Rationale 1

1.2.Aims of the Study 2

1.3Objectives of the study 2

1.4 Research questions 2

1.5 Methodology 2

1.6 Scope of the study 3

1.7 Significance of the study 3

1.8 Structure of the study 3

PART B DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER I LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 5

1.1 Listening 5

1.1.1 Definition of listening 5

1.1.2 Characteristics of listening 6

1.1.3 Teaching listening skills 7

1.1.4 Listening difficulties for foreign language learners 9

1.2 Using movies in EFL teaching 9

1.2.1 Benefits of using movies in language teaching 9

1.2.2 Challenges of using movies in EFL teaching 11

2 PREVIOUS STUDIES 18

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 20

2.1 Research questions 20

2.2 Participants 20

2.3 Research types 20

2.4 Research approach 20

2.5 Data Collection Instruments 22

2.5.1 Pre- test and Post- test 22

2.5.2 Questionnaires 22

2.6 Data collection procedure 23

2.6.1 Pre intervention 23

2.6.1.3 Collecting 24

2.6.2 While intervention 25

2.6.2.1 Listening Materials 25

2.7 Data analysis 29

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS: RESULTS, DISCUSSIONS 30

3.1 Preliminary investigation 30

3.2 Evaluation 32

3.1.1 The students’ improvement 32

3.1.2 The students’ attitudes towards learning listening with movies 33

1.Recapitulation 37

2.Implications for teachers 39

3.Limitations of the study 39

REFERENCES 41

APPENDIX I

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, TABLES AND FIGURES

List of Abbreviation

L2: Second language

EFL: English as a foreign language

HLU: Hanoi Law University

List of figures

Figure 1: Action research model 21

Figure 2: The students’ evaluation of listening materials used 30

Figure 3: Experience of using movies in studying English 31

Figure 4: Effectiveness level of the experimental teaching course 33

Figure 5: The students’ attitudes towards studying with movies at class 34

Figure 6: The students’ satisfaction with the course after the intervention 35

List of tables Table 1: Data collection procedure 23

Table 2: The Syllabus 27

Table 3: Student’s experience of using movies in studying English 31

Table 4:Statistics for the group’s performance in the pre test and post test 32

Table 5: Results of the Pair Sample T-tests 32

Table 6: The students’ preferences in movies 35

PART A INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

Listening is considered the most frequently used skill in everyday life.According to Burley-Allen (1995), more than forty percent of our dailycommunication time is spent on listening, thirty five percent on speaking, sixteenpercent on reading, and only nine percent on writing (cited in Miller, 2003) In fact,listening can help students build vocabulary, develop language proficiency, andimprove language usage, improve pronunciation and develop speaking skills(Bacon, 1998) Therefore, listening is a very essential element in successfulcommunication

Despite the acknowledged value of listening in language acquisition/learningand its complexity, the skill is still not receiving the attention it deserves in the ELTworld as compared to literacy skills (Thanajaro, 2000) In Vietnam, many studentshave difficulty understanding spoken English when communicating with nativespeakers in spite of a long time studying at schools, which leads to communicationbreakdown Moreover, some students often panic when they hear the Englishlanguage on television, radio, or in situations in which speech is fast and nothing isrepeated This results from students’ lack of exposure to such real languagelistening Thus, there is an increase in the need of using authentic materials to teachlistening According to Martinez (2002), authentic materials help learners improveEnglish communicative proficiency Authentic materials refer to teaching resourcesthat are not purposely produced for language teaching such as newspaper articles,movies advertisements, maps and comic books (Nunan, 1989) Therefore, theresearcher decided to use movies in listening lessons

According to Garcia (2011), using movies is the best way to learn English,improves the learners’ listening skills, and increases their vocabulary and Englishlanguage expressions Besides, watching movies helps the learners to improvepronunciation

As a teacher at Hanoi Law University, the researcher finds that the first-yearLaw students who major in English must encounter a lot of listening problems Theycomplained that they had had few chances to listen to English frequently in class athigh school and their listening skills had been scarcely developed, leading to thefrustration and pressure about listening examination Exposed to real Englishthrough movies, the students are believed to learn English in a natural and effectiveway as they learned their mother tongue To some extent, it makes students moreinterested in listening English when they acquired the language for the purpose ofentertainment, not merely for completing a compulsory subject.

1.2 Aims of the Study

As mentioned above, using movies in lessons may assist the student’slistening comprehension Therefore, the study aimed to improve the students’listening skills by using movies in listening lessons

1.3 Objectives of the study

There were two main objectives which were set for the study Firstly, thestudy was expected to investigate whether using movies in teaching listening couldimprove their listening ability Secondly, the researcher expected to find out theattitudes of the students towards watching movies to improve their listening skills inclass

1.4 Research questions

This survey aims at addressing the two following questions:

1 To what extent does using movies in teaching listening improve thestudents’ listening skills?

2 What are the students’ attitudes towards learning listening with movies?

1.5 Methodology

Action research was chosen as the primary research method in order to meetthe aim and objectives of the study This method is also justified to offer significantbenefits for the researcher, who is also an EFL teacher

The target population of this study was from one class K39B with 30 year students majoring in English in Law at English Department, Hanoi LawUniversity.

first-To attain the aim of the study, two data collection instruments were used:tests, questionnaires

1.6 Scope of the study

Within the frame of this study, the researcher would like to work on usingmovies to improve listening skills for the first year students who major in English inLaw at Hanoi Law University The study restricted to the first-year students fromclass K39B to whom the researcher was in charge of teaching listening Their level

of English was intermediate It meant that this research mainly focused on theintermediate students

1.7 Significance of the study

The study is expected to contribute to the development of teaching andlearning listening skills It aims at helping students improve their listening skills byusing movies The significance of this study is that it will provide teachingimplications for EFL teachers in teaching listening In other words, this issignificant for educators in providing implications for developing their listeningsyllabus, methods of teaching and assessment Besides, this research can be used as

a reference source for those who are interested in this issue and a supplement to theprevious studies on using movies to teach English

1.8 Structure of the study

The study is composed of three main parts: Introduction, Development, andConclusion

Part 1 includes Chapter 1 which states the rationale, aims, objectives,

research questions, scope and significance of the study as well as its methodology

Part 2 consists of two chapters, namely theoretical background and method.

- Chapter 1 provides the background of the study, including an overview of

listening skills, and watching movies for teaching and learning and the summary of theprevious researches on using movies for teaching

- Chapter 2 demonstrates the research methods applied in the study with

details on how and why these methods were implemented Besides, the data collectionprocedure and data analysis methods are also illustrated in this chapter

- Chapter 3 presents data analysis, the results and discussions

Part 3 summarizes the main issues covered in the paper, presents the

limitations of the study and some suggestions for further studies in the research area

Following this chapter are the References and Appendixes for the whole research

PART B DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I LITERATURE REVIEW

1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Listening

1.1.1 Definition of listening

Researchers and linguistics have presented different definitions on theconcept of listening, ranging from the simple to the complicated ones According toRankin (1952, p.874), listening is “the ability to understand spoken language”.Underwood (1989, p.17) defines that listening is a process of “paying attention toand trying to get meaning from something we hear” More expansively, listening is

a process of attending to the speech sounds and trying to understand the message.While Field (1998, p.38) sees that listening is an invisible mental process, making itdifficult to describe

The most comprehensive definition of listening is that of Purdy (1997, p.8)listening is “the active and dynamic process of attending, perceiving, interpreting,remembering, and responding to the expressed (verbal and nonverbal) needs,concerns and information offered by other human beings” This is one of thebroadest definitions as it describes listening as a complicated process that involvesthe interrelated activities of both speakers and listeners Listening is not theunilateral activity of listeners The language of speakers, verbal and nonverbal, hasgreat impacts on the listening ability of the listener

Rost (2002) also broadly relates listening to a four-stage process regardingreceptive orientation (receiving what the speaker actually says), constructiveorientation (constructing and representing meaning), collaborative orientation(negotiating meaning with the speaker and responding), and transformativeorientation (creating meaning through involvement, imagination and empathy)

As can be clearly seen, from the simple to the complex definitions, listening

is understood as an abroad term that covers listening comprehension In otherwords, listening comprehension is not a separate process but a component stage in

the multi-stage listening Throughout the thesis, listening comprehension isunderstood in the same light as listening.

To sum up, listening is not simply hearing and perceiving spoken sounds but

a multi-stage process in which listeners actively grasp the facts and feelings byattending to what the speaker says, to how the speaker says it, and to the context inwhich the message is delivered

1.1.2 Characteristics of listening

Listening is considered the most basic of the four main areas in teaching andlearning foreign languages-listening, speaking, reading and writing In the past, it wascharacterized as a passive activity (Bacon, 1989; Morley, 1990); however, according tomodern theorists, it is an “active process of constructing meaning from a stream ofsounds” (Berne, 1998; McDonough, 1999, cited in Thanajaro, 2000, p.25)

Byrnes (1984) further proposes that “listening comprehension is a complex,problem-solving skill” which covers a set of sub-skills in regards forminghypotheses, drawing inferences based on the context and the language used.Listening requires not only hearing and perception of sounds but also understanding

of the speaker’s intended message as Byrnes (1984) indicates that listening requires

“an interplay between all types of knowledge” (p.322) Listening comprehension isalso described as an “interactive, interpretive process in which listeners engage in adynamic construction of meaning” with the involvement of linguistic knowledge,background knowledge, meaning construction and responding Thanajaro (2000)emphasizes the role of background knowledge, discourse competence as well asguessing ability in facilitating effective listening Shrum and Glisan (1999) denote:

“Listening is a cognitive process in which listeners and readers draw upon fourtypes of competencies as they attempt to comprehend a message:

grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse

competence, and strategic competence” (p.124)

Vandergrift (1997) further stresses on the active character of listening by relating

it to a mental activity in which

“listener must discriminate between sounds, understanding vocabulary andgrammatical rules, interpret stress and intonation, retain what was gather inall of the above and interpret it within the immediate as well as the large

sociocultural content of the utterance” (p.398)

Furthermore, as Edwards & McDonald (1993) argue that input of the listeningprocess is spoken language which must be comprehended instantly, especially whenthe text cannot be repeated; listeners do not have time to consult a dictionary orreview the previous message, constant attention are also required to gaincomprehension Flowerdew (1994) also points out “listening text exists in timerather than space” (p.10) This unique characteristic indicates listening as a real-timeprocessing activity in which listeners must comprehend the message as it is uttered

In other words, listening involves “attention to a continuous stream of speech which

is not under the timing control of the listeners” (McDough, 1993, p.34, cited inFlowerdew, 1994) Schwartz (1998) shares the same ideas by characterizinglistening as a transaction between a sender and a receiver involving short-livedmessage and the receiver’s lack of control over what he or she hear

In total, the process of listening comprehension is highly complex It as a time process leaves listeners at a lack of timing control and, at the same time,requires them to utilize different cues, both linguistic and non-linguistic in order togain comprehension

real-1.1.3 Teaching listening skills

According to Underwood (1989, p.90), there are at least four commonmethods of teaching second or foreign language listening: grammar translation,grammar method, audio lingual method and task based method

In grammar translation method, students listen to a description of the rules ofthe second language in the first language As a result, when the second language isused, the focus of any listening is on translation of lexical items or grammarstructures

To follow grammar method, the teacher requires students to look at a writtentext while they listen to a recording This forces them to do several things: identify

words by their position in the sentence, work out the relationship between wordsand phrases, use forward and backward inference cues, and make intelligent guessesbased on textual cues.

Audio lingual method of listening emphasizes first listening to pronunciationand grammar forms and then imitating those forms by way of drills and exercises.Dialogues and drill are the basis of classroom practice with this method Studentsare encouraged to listen carefully either to the taped recording, or a teacher readingout, a dialogue, or a drill They then record their own version or respond to cuesfrom the teachers to repeat parts of the dialogue or drill Basically, the more thestudents repeat a correct phrase or sentence, the stronger of their memory of thestructure will be

Task based method places stress on activities or tasks that the learners do inclass in order to develop their communicative competence A task- based syllabusshould be constructed according to the difficulty of the tasks required the learners atdifferent stages in a course

In short, the four methods of the teaching listening are not mutually exclusiveand in reality, they may be mixed in any particular course or class However,nowadays, with the appearance of Communicative Language Teaching, teachinglistening seems to be more of meaningful to students due to the fact they havechance to develop their listening skills and other language skills as well As manystudents feel afraid of listening, teachers should be a guide to help them andencourage them

According to Gardner and Lambert (1972), the way the teacher presents thecontents must be dynamics and interesting to get students’ attention Besides,teachers should have to look for activities and employ different techniques Brown(1994) also shares his view that before the class, teacher should help students think aschema for what they will listen to Underwood (1989, p.22) states that teacherneeds to provide planned and systematic opportunities for their students to learnhow to determine what an utterance or conversation is about; establish who istalking and to whom and recondite the mood and attitude of the speakers Part of

teacher’s role is to ensure that the lesson proceeds in an orderly and productive way

so that the students feel secure and relaxed and unthreatened by the listening tasks

1.1.4 Listening difficulties for foreign language learners.

It can be seen second language learners at beginning level have to deal with agreat deal of difficulties in listening comprehension as listening is a receptive.Considering various aspects of listening comprehension, Underwood( 1989) points outthe seven listening problems as follows :(1) lack of control over speech at whichspeakers speak ; (2) not being able to get thing repeated;(3) the listeners’ limitedvocabulary ; (4) failure to recognize “ the signal” ; (5) problem of interpretation; (6)inability to concentrate; (7) established learning habits She sees these problems asbeing related to learner’s different backgrounds; such as their culture and education.She points out that students whose culture and education included a strong storytellingand oral communication tradition are generally better as listening comprehension thanthose from a reading and book- based cultural and educational background

Goh (2002) investigates listening comprehension problems in students incollege EFL studies Findings include ten listening comprehension problems inrelation to three cognitive processing phases: perceptions, parsing and utilization.First, in the perception stage, learners reveal that their most difficulties such as donot recognize words they know, neglect the next part when thinking about meaning,miss the beginning of the texts, and unable to concentrate In parsing stage, Goh(2002) finds that listeners complain of problems such as quickly forget what isheard, unable to form a mental representation from what is heard and do notunderstand subsequent part of input Third in the utilization stage, understand thewords but not the intended message and confused about the key ideas in themessage are mentioned (cited in Cheng, 2005)

1.2 Using movies in EFL teaching

1.2.1 Benefits of using movies in language teaching

Movies seem to have a magical ability to grab students’ attention, so theymotivates students to learn English According to Stempleski and Tomalin (1990),

they are quickly attracted because of two reasons Firstly, language is experienced in

a lively way Secondly, the combination of moving pictures with sound can presentlanguage more comprehensively than any other teaching media

Nunan (1999) explains that practicing with authentic materials such as video

or film clips encourages learners of a second language to experience the targetlanguage Katchen (2003) also emphasizes the authenticity of the language in films.Since the films are often made to sound natural to native speakers of the language,they thus represent authentic language Littlewood (2010) supports this idea further

by explaining that authentic materials contribute to social interaction and functionalcommunication activities, which support students to communicate immediatelyoutside the classroom Stempleski and Arcario (1992) state that film clips presentcommunicative situations and bring native speakers into the classroom In addition,film clips show students culture, so they can learn how people live, what they eat,what they wear Using videos brings a great advantage in communication tolanguage learners Video clips make students more ready to communicate in thetarget language (Stempleski and Tomalin, 1990)

Watching videos enables students to listen to different varieties of English interms of pronunciation, intonation, vocabulary, idiom and usage and also to observenon verbal gestures in relation to particular situations and cultures Imagescontextualize in videos or on its own can help to reinforce the language, providedthe learners with immediate meaning in terms of vocabulary recognition (Canning -Wilson, 2000) Learning from video clips is also a chance for students beingexposed to the non verbal communication such as facial expression, body language

as well as pronunciation, stress.( Murugavel, 2005)

According to Allan (1985), films actually get students to talk and they can bestimulus to genuine communication in the classroom by bring out different opinionswithin the group The realistic verbal communication also helps the students to pick upthe language more spontaneously Stoller (1988) points out that the use of films in acontent-based curriculum gives the students an opportunity to explore several

aspects of a given thematic unit While watching a film, they can develop theirbackground knowledge.

Sherman (2003) adds that video and movie clips contain everything needed in aclass Teacher can use them for discussion, debate, listening or writing assignment

1.2.2 Challenges of using movies in EFL teaching

1.2.2.1 Lesson preparation

Even though using movies can diversify the curriculum and motivate thelearners to study a foreign language, using movies is not always straightforward andtrouble-free According to Stoller (1988), using movies requires for instanceextensive preparation and thus some teachers may feel that using movies is toodemanding Since teachers usually are rather busy, preparing film lessons isconsidered too time-consuming and it is perhaps easier to follow a text book instead

of preparing the film and the related assignments Moreover, Champoux (1999,p.240 ) points out that using films is not only time-consuming for teachers, but it canalso take time away from other classroom activities

Champoux (1999) points out that an important factor which may hinder theuse of films is the copyright law Copyright restrictions have to be taken intoaccount when planning the film lessons Furthermore, at least in Finnish schools itcan sometimes be unclear even for the teachers whether or not they can show films

in the classrooms In these cases it useful to have a common custom at the school sothat everyone knows what is legally acceptable The teachers should find out therules and regulations or for instance the principal of the school could inform them

In addition, Stoller (1988) mentions poor equipment as a factor which maycomplicate the use of films in teaching However, nowadays the languageclassrooms are rather well equipped, and almost every classroom has either atelevision or a computer, which allows using for enable for instance gist listening orretelling the main elements of the plot

1.2.2.2 Teachers’ role

Stoller (1988) points out that the use of films and videotapes requires attentionand the teachers must play an important part in an effective film lesson in

order for the film to be more than just a time filler It is also important to remember,that the films are neither a substitute for the teachers nor for instruction, but realclassroom aids when used properly In addition, it is the teachers’ responsibility topromote active viewing and the film should also promote active participation fromthe beginning of the lesson in order for the students to be more than just passivelisteners and watchers.

1.2.2.3 Choosing the movies

Topics

Stoller (1988) emphasizes that planning the lessons well beforehand andapproaching the use of films systematically are significantly important The filmsshould be previewed and selected carefully It is also important that the studentsunderstand the instructional objectives of a film lesson, since it is probable that they

do not necessarily consider the film as a teaching tool, at least not in a similar way

as they would consider a textbook Thus, it is important to give understandable andsimple instructions to the students, in order to make them understand that the film isnot just an entertaining way to pass time but that it has certain pedagogical goals.However, Allan (1985) emphasizes that it is important to choose topics that arerelevant to the students The stories should interest and appeal in order for thestudents to stay motivated All in all, the topics should be both interesting andpedagogically rich, which can be a challenging combination

Level of the students

Additionally, one important factor that should be taken into account whenselecting appropriate movies is the proficiency level of the students and thecomprehensibility of the film The film should be sufficiently comprehensible sothat students can complete the language related tasks and that the teachers does nothave to work too hard in order to help the students to understand the language Thecomprehensibility of the film is not determined only by the degree of difficulty butalso by the specific demands made on the students by the assignments Moreover, it

is important that the students gain confidence (Stoller 1988) In addition, Allan

(1985) points out some concrete factors which should be taken into account whenchoosing a film for certain proficiency level Firstly, the density of language isimportant There should be enough pauses in the dialogue in order for the students

to be able to follow along Secondly, the film should provide the students withenough visual support This means that the visual messages support the verbalmessage and it is also possible, at least to some extent, guess what is happening inthe film On the other hand, for the more advanced learners there should be perhapsless picture support, in order for them to receive a greater comprehension challenge.Thirdly, delivery of the speech is also a factor that affects understanding If thecharacters speak too quickly or there are various different accents, it can be difficultfor the students to understand the language However, for instance different accentsare again a simulative challenge for the more advanced learners Fourthly, it isimportant that the teachers selects good pause points, bits of film that can stand ontheir own and still be comprehensible

Link to syllabus

It is also important to link the film into the syllabus in order for it to be morethan a time-filling element It can be rather challenging at times, and it may even beone reason why some teachers consider using movies too difficult and time-consuming However, Stoller (1988) states that films can be linked into syllabus invarious ways: by language items, by functions or by thematic units It is alsopossible to use content-based curriculum, in which case the subject matter of theselected film must be related In this case students can benefit from their previouslylearned information in the film-related activities or vice versa, reflecting true-to-lifedemands Allan (1985) in turn, points out, that it is important to think about linkingthe film into syllabus already during the previewing phase It is essential to knowthe goals in order to be able to plan the assignments accordingly and to be able toreason why using the film is useful for the course or class By doing this one canavoid the situation, where the film is just a time-filling element without anyparticular pedagogical goals Moreover, if the film is left for something ”extra” it is

also much easier to forget In addition, Allan (1985) points out that there are severaldifferent ways to link the film to the syllabus It can be linked through languageitems, for instance language structures or functions The film can be linked intosyllabus through a certain topic, or by activities, for instance listening skills orwriting assignments It is also possible to have a ’video slot’, where no specific link

is needed, for example a Sherlock Holmes story once a month

Stoller (1988) emphasizes that the type of film chosen should also complementone’s overall instructional and curricular objectives Academically for instancefollowing categories could be considered appropriate: documentaries, historicalnarratives, historical drama, educational films, social issue films, drama, mysteryand suspense and animated films Allan (1985) points out more detailed notions ofcertain types of material Dramas include all kinds of examples of peoplecommunicating and also segments that can stand on their own, in other words shortscenes that can be used without watching the whole film The content of dramas can

be certain kind of behaviour or simply just entertaining, good story However,especially the short clips do not necessarily always work, since often somenecessary information is stated earlier on the film or the plot has been establishedearlier Also the flow of the conversation can be too quick, and the students cannotfollow and pick up for instance some useful expressions When choosing adocumentary, it is important to consider whether the topic is the students’ interest.The visual support is also a point to consider, since sometimes the students mayconcentrate too much on the information given verbally On the other hand,visualization can be also distracting for some students Also cartoons can be used inthe EFL class They are usually short, and they have a clear storyline The humorcan also be a motivating factor for some students It makes it easier to follow thestory if the characters are familiar to the students, and it also provides the teacherwith more material The visual support is often rather good in cartoons, and it may

be possible for the students to retell the story even though they could not follow thespeech Sound effects can also help to follow the story However, cartoon can

sometimes be too colloquial and the voices may be distorted This can make the filmmore difficult to follow, at least for some students.

1.2.2.4 Activities associated with using movies in teaching English

According to Stoller (1988), the film lesson and its activities should consist

of pre-viewing, viewing and post-viewing activities This ensures that the studentsstay focused and motivated throughout the lesson, and the goals of the lesson areclear to them The nature and the length of the activities depend naturally on theselected film, the needs of the students, their age and proficiency level andinstructional objectives Allan (1985, p.36 ) in turn points out that there are differenttechniques for using films The whole film can be viewed, it can be broken intosections or only one section can be used

Stoller (1988) emphasizes that the pre-viewing activities prepare students forthe actual viewing Some examples of pre-viewing activities could be student polls,interviews, problem solving discussion of the title of the film, brainstormingactivities, information gap exercises, and dictionary or vocabulary exercises and so

on Pre-viewing is important in order for the students to be able to follow the filmand understand the storyline and characters Pre-viewing can make it easier for alsothe weaker students to benefit from the film and its many beneficial aspects

Stoller (1988) points out, that viewing activities during the film, on the otherhand, facilitate viewing of the film The activities help students to deal with specificissues and focus on characters or storyline also at crucial junctures in the film Someexamples of viewing activities are directed listening, information gathering, filminterruptions and second screening For instance, a film interruption helps theteacher to control whether the students have understood what happens in the film.Thus, viewing activities are a simple way to keep students focused on the viewingdespite the length of the film

Finally, Stoller (1988) highlights also the importance of post-viewingactivities They are meant to stimulate both written and oral use of the targetlanguage utilizing insights and information from the film Post-viewing activitiesshould extract the main ideas, concepts or issues of the film, since the small details

may have been missed, and it is essential to understand the main points of the film.Post-viewing activities can be for instance film summaries, alternative endings,discussions, comparisons, speed writing, using notes for writing practise, role plays

or debates

Allan (1985) in turn emphasizes that films can be used in various differentways during a language class A whole lesson can be built around it, or it can beused as a springboard for a set of activities which follow it Films can be used forinstance when the teacher wants the students to focus on the language, or practise it,for presenting certain topics or producing a commentary

According to Allan (1985), films can be used for elicitation, since theyencourage the students to talk An example of a task could be silent viewing andthen delivering the dialogue This could be done at the beginning of a lesson Filmscan also be used at the presentation stage to present some examples of language.Films can also work as a revision and thus reinforce the things that have alreadybeen learnt Moreover, films usually present more vivid, varied and current languagethan textbooks Films actually provide the most realistic examples of the language inuse Thus, they support the textbook and its language but also add an extradimension to language learning

Films can be used also for language practice and use of visual prompts can beuseful This can be executed for instance with video workbooks which have stillpictures of the film and some expressions which have to be combined This activity

is suitable for previewing but can also be used for recalling Also different role playsare a fun way to exploit the film Other activities are for instance video drills andcomprehension exercises (multiple choice, true/false questions, gap-filling tasks)

Films can be used also for presenting topics Suitable activities are forinstance collecting information or debating a topic Collecting information can bedone with view and check exercises or listen and draw/check/compare exercises.These assignments are very versatile and easy to vary depending on whether the

students are expected to develop for example their listening skills or oral skills.Moreover, especially the debates are a useful way to get the students to talk andexpress their opinions about a certain topic Furthermore, films are an excellent way

to encourage the students to produce a commentary The students can for instanceproduce their own scripts and find out how the films are produced Using materialswhich tell stories enable for instance gist listening or retelling the main elements ofthe plot

Eken (2003) studied the use of feature films in the English classroomconducted by students of the Bilkent University, School of Applied Language.Students deconstructed and analyzed films assigned by the teacher The resultsindicated that feature films help students improve their four English skills, obtainconfidence in speaking in front of class and improve presentation skills.

Fiorito and Torrie (2009) studied the use of subtitle foreign films in a secondlanguage classroom The instruments included lesson plans for reading fluency,lexicon, and grammar The results indicated that viewing films with subtitles helpsstudents develop reading skills, learn new vocabulary and understand sentences

Thi Lan Anh (2010) examined the use of movies and videos to teach Englishvocabulary to tenth grade students The instruments comprised questionnaires andsemi structured interviews The findings revealed that students had positive attitudestowards vocabulary learning Furthermore, students improved their pronunciationand learned new vocabulary from the movies

Duangemanee (2003) studied video techniques to enhance English listeningabilities of freshman higher certificate vocational students and examine the students’attitudes towards learning English through video The results indicated that the

students’ listening skills and attitudes towards studying English increased afterattending the experiment.

In short, using movies in teaching English has been widely studied as a method ofteaching by many researchers worldwide Movies are considered as authentic materialsused to teach all aspects of a language as well as all skills Most of the studies stated thatusing these materials had the positive influence on the students’ language skills

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

2.1 Research questions

The research is conducted to address the following two research questions:

1 To what extent does using movies in teaching listening improve the

students’ listening skills?

2. What are the students’ attitudes towards learning listening with movies?

2.2 Participants

Since the study was designed to improve the first year students’ listeningskills by using movies in teaching listening skills, the students’ role was put intogreat consideration Therefore, the participants are 30 first-year Law studentsmajoring in English at class K39B at Hanoi Law University, of which the researcherwas in charge In the students’ first year at university, they had two semestersmainly studying four English skills (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) Theirlevels of grammar and vocabulary were quite good, as they had learned a lot in highschools in order to pass the entrance exam However, their listening skills were notpracticed much at high school They have spent only 6 months learning listeningskills at university However, compared to other Law students who did not major inEnglish, these students’ listening skills were much better Their levels areintermediate The purpose of this course was to pass the listening tests at universityand after 2 years with similar courses, they need to get IELTS certificate at least 6.5

2.3 Research types

The ultimate goal of this study is to improve the students’ listening skills byusing movies in teaching listening To achieve the ultimate goal, the study used thequantitative Quantitative data were collected based on the results of thequestionnaires, pre-test and post-test

2.4 Research approach

Action research is adopted as the research approach to firstly answer thetwo research questions and finally achieve the aim and objectives of the study

in the functioning of the real world and a close examination of the effects of such anintervention” This method is also justified to offer significant benefits for theresearcher, who is also a teacher Johnson (1995) points out three main advantages

of action research namely to promote personal and professional growth, to improvepractice to enhance student learning, and to advance the teacher profession

In order to conduct an action research, Nunan (1992) suggests seven steps:

Figure 1: Action Research Model

These general steps were used in this action research

2.5 Data Collection Instruments

The data to be analyzed principally came from two main sources, namelylistening tests and questionnaires

2.5.1 Pre- test and Post- test

The pre-test and post-test of listening skills (Appendix III and Appendix IV)were taken from Cambridge Practice Test for IELTS 5 (Vanessa& Clare, 2002) Thereason the researcher chose the tests from this book because the goal of the students

in this faculty is to get IELTS certificate Moreover, the aim of the syllabus was toimprove the students’ listening skills and the tasks were designed to similar toIELTS test during the course The test consisted of only two first sections, eachwhich was based on social situations Section 1 contains 10 note/sentencecompletion questions Section 2 contains 5 multiple choice questions The studentslistened to two separate sections twice The test lasted 20 minutes Grading scalewas 10 points The pre-test and post-test were designed to have the same level ofdifficulty regarding the number of questions, question types, the length of the text,the text structure, the number of new words

in order to help them improve their listening skills