Việc sử dụng youtube của sinh viên năm 2 hệ chất lượng cao khoa sư phạm tiếng anh thực trạng và đề xuất

Việc sử dụng youtube của sinh viên năm 2 hệ chất lượng cao khoa sư phạm tiếng anh thực trạng và đề xuất Việc sử dụng youtube của sinh viên năm 2 hệ chất lượng cao khoa sư phạm tiếng anh thực trạng và đề xuất luận văn tốt nghiệp thạc sĩ

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

GRADUATION PAPER

THE USE OF VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE

FOR PRACTICING LISTENING SKILLS

PERCEIVED BY FAST-TRACK SOPHOMORES IN

FELTE, ULIS, VNU

Supervisor: Ms Đặng Anh Thư (M.A) Student: Lê Mai Hoa

Course: QH2012.F1.E2

HÀ NỘI - 2016

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH

KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP

VIỆC SỬ DỤNG YOUTUBE CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM 2 HỆ CHẤT LƯỢNG CAO

KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH:

ACCEPTANCE PAGE

I hereby state that I: Lê Mai Hoa (QH.2012.F.1.E.2), being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited

in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper

Signature

Date

May 05, 2016

ACKNOWLEDMENT

First and foremost, I would like to express my very great appreciation to

my supervisor Ms Đặng Anh Thư But for her valuable assistance, advice, and guidance, my research would not have been completed

My special thanks are extended to the fast-track sophomores at FELTE, ULIS, VNU for their cooperation and willingness Without their participation in the questionnaires and interviews, the research would not have received useful data to accomplish the paper

Additionally, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my friend Ms Tran Minh Hang who spends her time collecting the data and informing me important information during the completion of the study

Last but not least, I am particularly grateful for the assistance given by my parents and sisters who always encourage and support me all the time through

my study

ABSTRACT

The development of technologies has a great influence on English language teaching as well as learning Teachers nowadays can use technological devices to improve their teaching because technology provides both teachers and students with a wide range of tools to work on, which provokes their interest, engagement in teaching and learning language, creativity and effort to produce effective and appealing work since now they have more alternatives and methods

to adapt and present knowledge Since YouTube is gradually becoming one of the most popular tools of technology in language teaching, the focus of the study

is investigating the perception of the importance of using videos on YouTube for listening practice of fast-track sophomores at Faculty of English Language Teaching, University of Language and International Studies, Vietnam National University Moreover, the research is conducted to provide them with strategies and tips for choosing appropriate and effective videos which actually help them

to improve listening skill for VSTEP – a standard language examination at the end of second semester After conducting questionnaires and interviews, the researcher would like to summarize the findings of the study Firstly, most of students mainly want to enhance their communicative skills and deepen their understanding about cultures Secondly, the availability and diversity of the content related to real-life situations, vocabulary and grammatical phenomenon evoke students to use YouTube for listening practice Nonetheless, YouTube still has weaknesses that somehow prevent students from doing so The difficulties they have faced when using YouTube to practice listening are the lack of transcripts, the diversity, the distraction of visual effects, unstandardized languages, limited access, background noise Besides, although YouTube is the most popular listening sources, there is a huge gap between the time they spend

on YouTube for language learning and entertainment

TABLE OF CONTENT

ACCEPTANCE PAGE 1

ACKNOWLEDMENT iii

ABSTRACT iv

TABLE OF CONTENT v

LIST OF FIGURES vii

LIST OF ABBREVIATION viii

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study 1

2 Aims and Objectives 2

3 Significance of the study 3

4 Scope of the study 4

5 Organization 5

Chapter 2 : LITERATURE REVIEW 7

1 Listening 7

1.1 Listening vs Hearing 7

1.2 Listening process 8

1.2 Types of listening 11

2 Listening materials used in language class 12

2.1 Recorded materials 16

2.2 Authentic materials 17

3 The use of videos in language learning 21

3.1 The benefits of using videos in language learning 21

3.2 Criteria for selection of appropriate videos in language teaching 23

4 YouTube videos in practicing listening skills 25

4.1 Definition of YouTube 25

4.2 The use of videos on YouTube for practicing listening skills 25

Chapter 3 : METHODOLOGY 27

1 Selection of participants 27

2 Research design 27

3 Method and procedure of data collection 28

3.1 Method 28

3.2 Procedure of data collection 29

4 Method and procedure of data analysis 31

4.1 Method 31

4.2 Procedure of data analysis 31

Chapter 4 : RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 33

1 Research findings 33

1.1 The perception of the usefulness of YouTube materials for practicing listening skills 33

1.2 The factors that affect choosing YouTube materials for practicing listening skills 37

2 Discussion of findings 44

2.1 The perception of the usefulness of YouTube materials for practicing listening skills 44

2.2 The factors that affect choosing YouTube materials for practicing listening skills 47

3 Conclusion 50

Chapter 5 : CONCLUSION 51

1 Summary of findings 51

2 Implications of the study 53

3 Limitations of the study 54

4 Suggestions for further research 55

REFERENCES 56

APPENDICES 60

APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE 60

APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONS FOR INTERVIEW 65

APPENDIX 3: TRANSCRIPTS OF INTERVIEWS 66

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Comparison between hearing and listening 8 Table 2: Listening process 10 Table 3: Sharpling’s realization of listening materials 13 Table 4: Definitions and comparison of “Scripted” and “Unscripted” 14 Table 5: Comparison between authentic and non-authentic materials 21 Table 6: The influence of brain waves on students 22 Table 7: Summary of the subjects 27 Table 8: Comparison between the frequencies of using YouTube for different

Table 9: Advantages of YouTube materials in practicing listening 37 Table 10: Advantages of YouTube in descending order of agreement 40 Table 11: Disadvantages of YouTube materials in practicing listening 41

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Types of listening materials 15 Figure 2: Overall classification of listening materials 16 Figure 3: Characteristics of Authenticity 19 Figure 4: Purposes of practicing listening in language learning 33 Figure 5: Popularity of different listening sources 34 Figure 6: Purposes of using YouTube 35 Figure 7: Frequency of using YouTube 35 Figure 8: Frequency of using YouTube for practicing 35 Figure 9: Students' agreement on the advantages of YouTube materials in

practicing listening 38 Figure 10: Students' agreement on the disadvantages of YouTube materials in

practicing listening 42

LIST OF ABBREVIATION

No Abbreviation Meaning

1 FELTE : Faculty of English Language Teacher Education

2 ULIS : University of Language and International Studies

3 VNU : Vietnam National University

4 SD : Standard deviation

5 VOA : Voice of America

6 BBC : British Broadcasting Corporation

7 CNN : Cable News Network

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study

When it comes to language learning, learners are expected to acquire not only one certain skill such as listening, speaking, reading or writing but also all four of them However, each of them seems not to be paid the equal attention from the learners and teachers In comparison between speaking and listening, language learners appear to concentrate more on speaking than the other In fact,

in any form of communication, speakers do not just talk all the time, but also need to listen to their partners and then reply or respond what they have heard

According to Mendelson (1994) claims that when people communicate with each other, they spend 40-50% of the time on listening, while speaking, reading, and writing account for 25-30%, 11-16% and around 9% respectively (as cited in Gilakjani, 2011) However, as said by Dr Kline (1996), listening is a skill that is commonly ignored and neglected by learners and teacher He explains that speaking and writing is the skills that learners can see and made physically or “visible” They are also “more easily assessed than listening and reading” Likewise, compared with reading, listening is more difficult to be tested In spite of that, Kline (1996) highlights the significance of listening in communication ““listening is an integral part of the total communication” Hence, listening is recognized as an important and essential element in communication

as it is “an active process of deciphering and constructing meaning from both verbal and non-verbal messages”, according to Nunan (1998) (as cited in Gilakjani, 2011) Since 1960s and 1980s, listening began to receive a great

attention from linguistics all around the world (Nunan, 2002)

Nowadays, there are many methods and materials to improve learner’s listening independently and effectively One of them is authentic materials, which are any verbal form of speech which have not been prepared in advance for language teaching (Miller, 2003) Miller (2003) suggests using the Internet for practicing listening because of the increasing demand and interest in technology Therefore, the research focuses on YouTube, one of listening sources available on the Internet, used to help learners enhance their listening skills

2 Aims and Objectives

Martin Peacock, the head of English Product Development, British Council (as cited in Motteram, 2013) emphasizes that the development of technologies has a great influence on English language teaching as well as learning Teachers nowadays can use technological devices to improve their teaching flexibly rather than sticking to “a textbook, a tape recorder and a blackboard” to deliver lessons He also mentions teachers can encourage students

to enhance and practice language skills as well as using “web-based tools that allow them to publish work and engage audiences in real context” (as cited in Motteram, 2013) Moreover, technology provides both teachers and students with

a wide range of tools to work on, which provoke their interest, engagement in teaching and learning language, creativity and effort to produce effective and appealing work since now they have more alternatives and methods to adapt and present knowledge

According to Altenhoff (2009), YouTube is an appropriate, which makes

“integrating videos” more accessible, available and suitable to classroom’s context because teachers can find short and concise clips in various areas rather than long ones In other word, YouTube can be considered as one of feasible material sources of language teaching and learning activities in classroom because of its diversity, availability and accessibility Therefore, using videos available on YouTube as sources for learners’ practicing listening skills is the main focus of this research

The research aims at investigating the perception of the importance of using videos on YouTube for listening practice of fast-track sophomores at Faculty of English Language Teaching, University of Language and International Studies, Vietnam National University Moreover, the research is conducted to provide them with strategies and tips for choosing appropriate and effective videos which actually help them to improve listening skill for VSTEP – a standard language examination at the end of second semester

In the research, the following questions are expected to be answered:

1 To what extend does fast-track sophomores at FELTE, ULIS, VNU perceive the usefulness of using videos available on YouTube for practicing their listening skills?

2 Which difficulties do fast-track sophomores at FELTE, ULIS, VNU face when they use YouTube videos for listening practice?

3 Significance of the study

According to Downs (2008), listening is “making an effort to hear

something” In real life, the words listening and hearing often used interchangeably However, hearing is the process of receiving sound waves and

then transmitting them to the brain to analyze (Downs, 2008, p 1) In contrast,

listening is defined as interpreting the meaning of what is heard (Ahuja, 2007, p

23) In other words, listening is “active cognitive process” (as cited from Barclay,

2012) It means that listeners are required to be heavily involved in retrieving and comprehend what they hear

In other words, listening in language learning is not only the ability to hear something, but also the ability to understand and perceive them Thus, choosing appropriate materials for listening is virtually essential The suitable materials not only enhance learners’ listening skill in general, but also shape their critical thinking and develop cognitive ability

Sharpling (2012) classified listening materials into authentic materials and

course book materials Authenticity is used as a term for anything produced for

non-teaching purposes; therefore, the target audience of authentic work is mainly native speakers (as cited in Kadagidze, 2006) Therefore, students who learn authentic materials have chance to expose to “many aspects of target culture” and

“real language” which students can apply in real life (Richard, 2001, p 253)

One of available sources of listening materials widely used in language classroom is YouTube Teachers mainly use YouTube videos to engage students into the lesson because they have both visual and auditory affects that catch students’ attention rather than simply listening to tape recorders Hence, the time

of students’ exposure to language is longer and to some extents, students’ listening competence will be improved spontaneously

Nonetheless, the more important feature of YouTube videos are preferred

by English teachers is authenticity As concluded from the definition of

authenticity above, YouTube videos give learners opportunities to approach to

the target culture, the real language in the real contexts in daily life rather than language produced to serve educational purposes, which is sometimes unnatural

From my experiences, using YouTube videos is the cheap and convenient way to improve my listening skills I do not have to spend a great deal of money

to buy tape recorded or DVD, CD as listening materials Now with YouTube, I can download tracks anytime and anywhere without paying too much Moreover, YouTube contains a variety of video genres which really stimulate my interest and encourage me to listen more Finally, watching English movie episodes gives

me chances to learn colloquial language that is rarely taught at school

Because of reasons mentioned above, I decide to do a research about the perception of students at my university to see whether we have same opinions about this matter

4 Scope of the study

The study focuses on the usefulness of YouTube materials in practicing listening perceived by a group of learners After the study, the difficulties they have faced and their perception of using YouTube materials for improvement need defining

The study has been carried out at FELTE, ULIS, VNU, where the participants are sophomores in fast-track division They are about to take VSTEP,

a proficiency examination occurring at the end of the second semester

The research collects data through quantitative and qualitative research methods Questionnaire is proved to be the useful and effective tools to collect general and specific information from a small to large number of participants Because the subject of the study is fast-track sophomores in three classes at Fast-trach Division of the Faculty of English Language Teaching, University of Language and International Studies, Vietnam National University, which accounts a large scale of participants, using questionnaire is likely to save more time and work effectively Moreover, questionnaire gathers data objectively

because there is no emotional and personal factors affecting the process of conducting and delivering questionnaires To gather more specific information or further explanation, interviews will be conducted after the questionnaire With the interview, the researcher is able to ask participants several problems which have not been covered in the questionnaires Moreover, Opdenakker (2006) points out many benefits of an interview in research In his study, there are four types of interview mentioned including face-to-face, telephone, MSN messenger and e-mail interview, which helps the researcher adapt to different situations, participants and period of time In conclusion, the study exploits two main data collecting methods: quantitative and qualitative

of the problems are also found

Chapter 2: Literature Review

The next chapter “Literature Review” provides the background of the problems In other words, the definition and classification of related aspects are synthesized to present an overview of the matter and build a framework for the study The chapter helps the researcher avoid misleading and confusion when carrying out the study Furthermore, the researcher can base on the content of this chapter to create the questionnaire and interview questions

Chapter 3: Methodology

The following chapter “Methodology” includes the methods of collecting and analyzing data In the chapter, data collecting and analyzing methods are described carefully, meticulously and gradually In addition, the general description of research population is included While the second chapter offers

the researcher a framework for questionnaires and interview, this chapter helps the researcher create them logically and systematically

Chapter 4: Result and discussion

The chapter “Result and discussion” presents the findings of the study It contains both information of questionnaires and interviews In the chapter, the researcher analyzes data by using mathematic calculation with the assistance of table and figures The information collected from the interview is coded, classified and analyzed as well

Chapter 5: Conclusion

The last but not least chapter “Conclusion” summarizes the major findings

of the study along with the limitation and suggestions for further research The chapter provides the future readers/researchers with an overview of the study results as well as ideas or suggestions for further studies to remove the limitations in this study or exploit the problems more profoundly

Chapter 2 : LITERATURE REVIEW

Martin Peacock, Head of English Product Development, British Council (as cited in Motteram, 2013) emphasizes that the development of technologies has a great influence on English language teaching as well as learning inside and outside classroom, especially in terms of listening Thanks to the explosive growth of the Internet, nowadays teachers and students have more opportunities than ever to expose to a wide selection of listening sources to facilitate their teaching and learning YouTube is a typical example It has become more and more popular because of its obtainability and free access to education (Armstrong, 2013) In this research, the researcher focuses on the use of YouTube videos to help students practice their listening skill

1 Listening

1.1 Listening vs Hearing

In the early 1990’s, Dr Kline (1996) distinguished between two terms: hearing and listening and indicated the common fallacy about the similarity between them In his study, explained that if a person were a good hearer, it would not means that he was a good listener because “good listeners don’t simply hear words-they focus on the meaning” He added that communication would not be called a success if a person tell something and the other misunderstands him In sum up, according to Kline (1996), “hearing is the reception of sound” and it is “passive”; whereas, “listening is the attachment of meaning to sound” and it is “active"

Sharing the same opinion with Kline, Downs (2008) defines and expands that listening is “making an effort to hear something” He also mentions that the words listening and hearing often used interchangeably in real life However, hearing is the process of receiving sound waves and then transmitting them to the brain to analyze (Downs, 2008, p 1) In contrast, listening is defined as interpreting the meaning of what is heard (Ahuja, 2007, p 23), in which hearing

is a step of listening In other definitions, listening is “active cognitive process” (as cited from Barclay, 2012) Listening required listeners to be vigorously

involved in retrieving and analyzing what they hear

Table 1: Comparison between hearing and listening

- Receiving sounds and send to

the brain to analyze

1.2 Listening process

1.2.1 Kline’s listening process

Dr John A Kline is a former executive and Academic Provost for Air University and a professor of communication at the universities of New Mexico and Missouri-Columbia He was famous for the publication of books, papers in leading professional journals and the speeches to a number of military, professional, religious organizations all around the world In 1996, he published the book “Listening Effectively” after the success of the book “Speaking Effectively”

Kline (1996) defines the listening process is the combination “receiving, attending, attending, and understanding auditory messages; that is, messages transmitted through medium of sound” and “responding and remembering” (p 15)

1 Receiving

He describes the first stage as receiving a message from a sender If there is

no interruption (such as “hearing deficiency of listener”) in transferring the message, receiving it is successfully Moreover, as mentioned in the previous part, hearing is receiving sounds and receiving is the first step of listening; therefore it can be concluded that hearing is “a necessary prerequisite for listening and an importance component of the listening process” (Kline, 1996, p 16)

2 Attending

In terms of the next step “attending”, he defines it as being willingness of reading the messages For instance, if someone receives a message without reading it, that will not be call “attending” He names three factors that influence

the stage “attending”: selectivity of attention, strength of attention, sustainment

of attention Selectivity of attention enables listeners pay attention to “certain things [that they are really interested in and familiar with] to prevent an information overload” Strength of attention is the extent to which listeners are interested in certain information and can be measured by “the length of time that the memory of something continues to influence” the listeners Sustainment of attention is the duration that listeners can listen to certain things and influenced

by the two factors above (Kline, 1996, p 18-20)

3 Understanding

Understanding is the next step in which the meaning of the message is analyzed and interpreted and then listeners can get the “the key point” of the message Likewise he points out the reasons why this step usually fails including

“the words [listeners] used and the manner in which [they] arranged them” To avoid the misunderstanding, listeners need to take notice of both verbal and nonverbal symbols Firstly, there are two elements of verbal symbols, which cause misunderstanding They are the polysemy (referring the words that have more than a meaning) and synonym (referring to that the different words have the same meaning) However, Kline (1996) concludes that “meanings are not in words, meanings are in people […] Good listeners always consider who the sender of the message is” and understanding senders removes misunderstanding between the sender and receiver of the message When it comes it nonverbal symbols, he indicates some obstacles that listeners often encounter including misapprehension of action (e.g.: facial expression, eye contact), nonaction symbols and voice (e.g : volume, pitch) (Kline, 1996, p 20-25)

4 Responding

In the Kline’s study (1996), he lists out different types of response Firstly,

direct verbal response is the direct reply to the message of the receiver in form of

writing or speaking Secondly, response that seek clarification require senders more information Thirdly, responses that paraphrase repeat the message in different way to seek for agreement Lastly, nonverbal responses are known as

nonverbal actions such as “the knowing nod of head, an understanding smile” (Kline, 1996, p.25, 26)

5 Remembering

Kline (1996) emphasizes that “memory is often a necessary and integral part of the listening process” He explains clearly the relationship between memory and listening basing on the definition of long-term and short-term memory In short-term memory, the information are used instantly and forgotten quickly; the long-term memory is the reverse (Kline, 1996, p 26, 27)

1.2.2 Listening process in other studies

Ahuja (2007) describes listening as “the process of becoming aware of, paying attention to and interpreting auditory stimuli or raw sensory data”, which indirectly demonstrates the process pattern of listening Meanwhile, Downs (2008) highlights the active role of listening and the process of listening with the five following steps: “attending, understanding, interpreting, responding, and remembering” As can be seen, the two studies actually share some thoughts about the process of listening; for example, being aware may contains attending and understanding and interpreting is mentioned in both studies It can be deduced that listening is not only a simple process of absorbing sound waves like hearing, but the combination of many stages

Table 2: Listening process

Study Listening process

Kline’s Receive Attend Understand Response Remember

Downs’ Attention Understand Interpret Response Remember

Ahuja’s Awareness Interpret

In the table above, Ahuja’s listening process does not mention the reaction and consequences after the listeners analyze the data; while in Down’s study, after interpretation, the listeners are usually expected to acknowledge and respond to the information retrieved, rather than not producing any results after going through the whole previous process Thus, the Downs’ listening structure

is much more similar with Kline’s

All in all, in comparison with hearing, listening is a complicated and multistage process of receiving, understanding, interpreting and remembering what is said since it plays an essential role in communication If the information

is not exchanged between or among speakers by listening and speaking, there is

no interaction between speakers According to Jennerich (2005), “poor listening skills are the biggest contributors to poor communication” For example, if a person misunderstands what his/her partner say, his/her response will contain false information and then if the conversation continues, communicative conflicts will occur

to “lectures or instructions from teachers – and what [listeners] learn depends on how well [they] listen He also mentions three essential elements of informative listening including vocabulary, concentration and memory In terms of the first one, the more vocabulary listeners can learn the better understanding The next is concentration which enable listen involve in the communication and prevent them from misunderstanding Memory helps listener reminisce necessary experiences and information, shape expectations and understand the message (p 30-32)

“interrupting the speaker, changing the subject, turning the conversation toward [themselves], and demonstrating a lack of concern for the other person” Empathizing is not being sorry for somebody, but “feeling and thinking with another person” (Kline, 1996, p 32-34)

3 Appreciation listening

Appreciation listening means listening to what listeners are interested in and willing to do so There are three factors including presentation, perception and previous experiences Presentation contains “the medium, the setting, the style and personality of the presenter” Likewise, perception is how listen see the world around them and what their reactions are, which previous experience partly contributes to (Kline, 1996, p 34-38)

4 Critical listening

Critical listening requires listeners to judge and measure the credibility, logic and psychology of the message It means that when a person listens to something, they need to react and reflect what they hear to their perception and experiences by asking questions to themselves (Kline, 1996, p 38-41)

5 Discrimination listening

According to Kline (1996), in discrimination listening, listeners are aware

of “the speaker’s rate, volume, force, pitch, and emphasis” However, there are some problems that hinders discrimination listening They are hearing disability, unawareness of sound structure (referring to differentiating vowels and consonant), and nonverbal signals

1.2.2 Other realizations

Besides Kline’s classification of listening, there are several types of listening According to Jennerich (2005), there are 4 types of listening:

1 Inactive listening: listening without response

2 Selective listening: listening to what listeners are fond of

3 Active listening: listening carefully and closely

4 Reflective listening: explaining what the message is and assure the understanding between listener and sender of the message

2 Listening materials used in language class

Tomlinson (1998) defines materials in language learning, which are used

to enrich learners’ knowledge and opportunities to experience the targeted language

Tomlinson’ study (2003) states the following:

Materials include anything which can be used to facilitate the learning of language They can be linguistic, visual, auditory or kinesthetic, and can

be presented in print, through live performance or display, or on cassette, CD-ROM, DVD or the internet (p 2)

As Tomlinson mentions above, materials are designed to help learners to acquire language proficiency with suitable learning styles such as linguistic, visual, kinesthetic intelligences and so on

In this research, the researcher concerns about the students’ perception of using YouTube videos for listening practice; hence, another focus of this research is materials used for listening rather than the ones for reading, speaking and writing

Sharpling (2014) classified listening materials into authentic1 materials and course book materials He describes the former as “anything 'unscripted', 'live' lectures and seminars, the English you hear on the television and radio, and English spoken outside the classroom” and the latter as “simulated lectures and seminar presentations and semi-scripted listening tasks from course books” Simultaneously, he separates these two main types into smaller units demonstrated in the table below:

Table 3: Sharpling’s realization of listening materials

Authentic materials Course book materials Listening

A unscripted conversation between three or more people (Sharpling, 2014)

This table shows both authentic and course book materials are produced in different ways

1 Authentic: this term is explained in the part 3 of the Literature Review

According to Hornby (2005) in Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary,

“scripted” refers to reading directly from a written record of a film, movie, talk, speech and so on Cambridge dictionaries online (1999) defines the word

“scripted” in the following example “a scripted speech or broadcast has been written before it is read or performed”, while Macmillan dictionary online (2009) describes it more general “something said or done that is scripted, planned before, and sometimes does not seem natural for that reason” From three definitions above, the key words should be written, planned and before; therefore, in general,

“scripted” describes something written or planned before

In contrast, the word “unscripted” is identified as “not written or prepared

in detail in advance” by Hornby (2005), “not…planned or written down” in Macmillan dictionary online (2009) and “not…written before it is made” in Cambridge dictionary online “Unscripted” is also the negative form of

“scripted” In other words, “unscripted” can be defined as “not written, prepared, planned before”

Table 4: Definitions and comparison of “Scripted” and “Unscripted”

Word Oxford

dictionary

Cambridge dictionary Macmillan dictionary Scripted:

so on

A speech or broadcast written before it is read or

performed

- Something said, done

or planned before

- Sometimes unnatural for the above reason

not…written

before it is made

not…planned or written down

In terms of the realization of listening materials, Kadagidze (2006) classifies listening materials into two types: recorded materials and live listening

According to Hornby (2005), “record” is a verb describing the act of “[making] a copy of music, a film/movie, etc by storing it on tape or a disc so that [can be watched] again” It is also defined as “[storing] sounds or moving pictures using electronic equipment so that they can be heard or seen later” (Cambridge University Press, 1999) In other words, the recorded materials can be interpreted

as something prepared and planned for later usage On the contrary, “live” is

“sent out while the event is actually happening” (Hornby, 2005), and “broadcast, recorded, or seen while it is happening” (Cambridge University Press, 1999)

In conclusion, the classification of both scholars indicates a certain status

of listening materials: Preparedness They concern about whether listening materials are prepared or unprepared

Figure 1: Types of listening materials

However, recorded materials include not only the recordings in the course book, but also the ones found on anywhere, for instance, the Internet or radio Moreover, there is a mismatch between authentic materials and live listening While authentic materials refer to the things that unprepared and written before performance, Masters of Ceremonies in live events like broadcast shows still reads out from their prepared notes to remind themselves In other words, live listening includes both semi-prepared an unprepared texts

Sharpling's

Course book materials (Scripted)

Authentic materials (Unscripted)

Kadagidze's

Recorded materials

Live listening

In conclusion, here is the framework of the classification of listening materials the research bases on

2.1 Recorded materials

Many scholars have undertaken in-depth researches into the significances

of recorded materials to indicate their advantages and disadvantages in ELT classes all around the world The following will investigate and illustrate these two features of the recorded materials in the previous studies

2.1.1 The advantages of recorded materials

According to Kadagidze (2006), recorded materials deliver a wide range

of language elements such as accents and sounds, a variety of topics as well as forms of speech such as discussion and conversation designed to serve educational purposes Because of that, student can get familiar with many accents and topics which may appear in listening tests Furthermore, their availability facilitates language learning and teaching, which means that both teachers and learners can select them as sources for listening activities and practice; they can find recorded materials easily on course and supplementary books as well Additionally, recorded materials can be replayed and repeated at any time for analysis For example, students can repeat the parts of the recording they are unclear about when practicing listening

Besides, Taylor (2012) focuses on the reliability of the recorded materials when he points out that disadvantage of using live listening He claims that the diversity of speaker voice will influence the reliability of test results as some aspects of individual’s voice such as highness and pronunciation is different over the time, which leads to the inconsistence of test administration Moreover, according to American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA),

Listening materials

Recorded materials

Authentic materials

Figure 2: Overall classification of listening materials

recorded materials will control “the intensity of the test items and ensures that the speech pattern of the recorded talker will be consistent to each client” (as cited in Taylor 2012), which means the test designer can assure that the recorded materials will help to measure what is supposed to be measure

Woodward (2001) states recorded materials “give a sense of clarity, direction and progress to a student”, as well as informs teachers “what to teach, how to teach it and with what materials”

2.1.2 The disadvantages of recorded materials

Kadagidze (2006) specifies two drawbacks including the lack of direct interaction between listener and speaker and poor quality He explains that the content of recorded material is often designed in advance, so communication elements such as speed and rhythm do sometimes not function well

Although recorded materials and course book materials contains a wide variety of topics, they are sometimes unrelated and not motivating for learners or even “very predictable and boring” (Woodward, 2001, p 146)

Moreover, according to Taylor (2012), one of criteria to design recorded materials is “familiarity”, which requires recorded materials to include vocabulary that fairly undemanding for listeners to identify This criterion helps

to assure that students will be familiar with what is intended to be tested For example, if the knowledge is limited to wildlife, the recorded materials should be about wild animal rather than human life Familiarity also prevents the listening process from the interruption of the lack of vocabulary Nonetheless, to design recorded materials for non-native English speakers to fulfill this criterion is not

an easy task He suggests the reduction in vocabulary in the materials as a solution, but it results in the lack of reliability and validity of the recorded materials

2.2 Authentic materials

Tomlinson (2003) demonstrates the importance of using authentic materials to acquire “communicative and strategic competence” as well as providing “interactive negotiation between learners”

Authentic materials are retrieved from “real life communication” (Kadagidze, 2006, p 150) They may be conversation, lecture, interview, and so

on happening in daily life

According to Heitler (2005), authentic materials are produced and used by native speakers Richard (2001) adds “authentic materials refer to the use in teaching of texts, video selection, and other teaching resources that were not specially prepared for pedagogical purposes”

2.2.1 Authenticity

Kramsch (1993) defines the term authenticity as “a reaction against the prefabricated artificial language of textbooks and instructional dialogues” In other words, authenticity “refers to the way language is used in non-pedagogic, natural communication” (Kramsch, 1993, p 179) Therefore, the main characteristics of authenticity should be natural and not for educational purposes

MisHan (2003) describes the terms authentic and authenticity with a range

of adjective such as “real, genuine, bona fide, pure” However, this definition seems to contain several uncommon words that confuse the readers because besides the meaning of being real, the word “bona fide” also means “legal” (Hornby, 2005) Linked to the research problem, how could listening materials

be legal? Furthermore, compared with the previous definition, MisHan’s definition just indicates one aspect of authenticity about reality and fail to the absence of education purposes

Likewise, Tomlinson (1998) states “authentic text are not written and spoken for language-teaching purposes” He also names a list of authentic materials such as newspaper articles, a novel and even an instruction for a game Compared with MisHan’s definition, he explains authenticity clearly with simple and easy words (language, teaching) Nonetheless, although he mentions the removal of educational purposes in his definition, the reality in authenticity as Kramsch states is missing

According to Widdowson (1979), authenticity involves “the interaction between the reader/hearer and the text which incorporates the intentions of the writer/speaker” In other word, it requires both speaker and hearer to understand

the hidden messages conveyed in the text As compared with the definitions above, this explanation seems to highlight the interaction between reader/hearer and the text that associates with writer/speaker rather than the reader/hearer’s sake, which are opposite to the purpose of designing something for the educational purposes

2.2.2 The advantages of authentic materials

Authentic materials encourage students to engage more into learning language than course book materials because of their availability (Richard, 2001,

p 253) Case (2012) states students can find many types of authentic materials such as magazine and newspaper arousing their interest, which textbook cannot Moreover, students who learn authentic materials have chance to expose to

“many aspects of target culture” and “real language” which they can apply in real life Authentic materials are also supplementary sources for teachers to design activities in classroom (Richard, 2001, p 253)

S Haines mentions the inclusion of “communicative purposes”, which are different from what is taught in classroom as the first benefit of authentic materials In addition, authentic materials are written for a group of audience who are “expected to react to the text in some way” and improve students’ listening skill S Haines also highlights that authentic materials help students

“tackle apparently “impossible” real life situations”, which are rarely included in created materials (as cited in Kadagidze, 2006)

Case (2012) compares while textbook printed in advance are usually outdated and obsolete, authentic materials are “topical” and up-to-date, which help teachers introduce topics with current news Furthermore, learners with low

Authenticity

No teaching purposes

language-Reality

Figure 3: Characteristics of Authenticity

proficiency can find the translation and other versions of authentic text to increase their understanding if the original is too challenging for them

Heitler (2005) says authentic materials provide learners with a wide range

of vocabulary related to particular areas such as economics He gives an example

“students who practice reading The Economist will become experts in reading English language business publications” Therefore, to choose authentic materials, teachers and students need to concentrate on the target listeners and participants to select the right listening materials

2.2.3 The disadvantages of authentic materials

According to Richard (2001), created materials have been designed to meet students’ needs and suit their interest as authentic materials does He also mentions that the language used in authentic materials is much more difficult and demanding for both students’ and teachers’ ability and their learning process Besides, while course book materials give teacher an overview of what should be taught, authentic materials cost them more time and attempt to arrange and organize, which he calls “a burden for teachers”

Kadagidze (2006) states authentic materials contain “background and technical noise”, which may annoy students and interrupt their learning Moreover, the length of authentic materials is longer than needed in term of

“classroom conditions”

According to Case (2012), authentic materials may mislead students and guide them to learn unnecessary knowledge because authentic text cannot cover all language elements; whereas, created materials are designed to enable them to achieve goals Simultaneously, the language in authentic materials may not suitable for the level of learners; for example, the vocabulary and grammar is scarcely used, too difficult or too easy for learners If the vocabulary cannot be looked up in dictionary, it is really hard for learners to learn and be motivated The copyright of authentic materials also limits students’ and teachers’ access to them

Table 5: Comparison between authentic and non-authentic materials

Authentic materials Non-authentic materials

Advantages

- Exposure to real language

- Diversity of topics and vocabulary

- Updatedness

- Motivation engagement

- Reactions to real situations

- Lack of interaction

- No motivation

- Difficulty in designing

3 The use of videos in language learning

3.1 The benefits of using videos in language learning

Berk (2009) highlights the enormous influence of video on mind and senses Twenty possible results of using video in classroom are listed below

Berk (2009)’s study finds the following potential learning outcomes of videos in classroom:

1 Grab students’ attention;

2 Focus students’ concentration;

3 Generate interest in class;

4 Create a sense of anticipation;

5 Energize or relax students for learning exercise;

6 Draw on students’ imagination;

7 Improve attitudes toward content and learning;

8 Build a connection with other students and instructor;

9 Increase memory of content;

10 Increase understanding;

11 Foster creativity;

12 Stimulate the flow of ideas;

13 Foster deeper learning;

14 Provide an opportunity for freedom of expression;

15 Serve as a vehicle for collaboration;

16 Inspire and motivate students;

17 Make learning fun;

18 Set an appropriate mood or tone;

19 Decrease anxiety and tension on scary topics; and

20 Create memorable visual images (p 2)

First of all, he claims that videos, in general, help students to acquire certain competences including visual/spatial, verbal/linguistic, musical/rhythmic, and emotional intelligences; therefore, using videos in classroom suits at least four types of learners Teachers can also design a variety of activities, basing on those competences Secondly, the two hemispheres of the brain play importance roles on thinking They make us think verbally and non-verbally (Gazzagina,

1992, as cited in Berk, 2009) According to Miller (1997), the left side of brain has “logical and analytical” functions related to counting numbers, logical and linguistic area It is more “structured, factual, controlled, rational, organized, planned, and objective”, while the other side is related to emotion, creativity, experience, subjectivity and so on (as cited in Berk, 2009) Videos stimulate both sides of brain with rhythm, lyrics (affecting the left) and visual images, melody (affecting the right) Thirdly, some of “brain wave frequencies” produced when students watch video

Table 6: The influence of brain waves on students

shallow sleep, deep observation, creativity

relaxed awareness

awake mind (Millbower, 2000, as cited in Berk, 2009)

In terms of the relationship between video and multimedia learning, Mayer (2001) claim that multimedia include auditory and visual types, which are

shown evidently in videos Because of that, videos are applied to course design effectively in multimedia classes (as cited in Berk, 2009)

Cunning-Wilson (2001) also claims that videos encourage and stimulate students to produce “prediction, speculation and a chance to activate background” Furthermore, cultural knowledge and body language are observed and learned by students in videos Videos provide learners with “clarity” and

“meaning of an auditory text” if the content is unambiguous In addition, the visual part of videos is required to enhance comprehension, heighten sensory acuteness, and illustrate the target language being used” Videos also help to save time, draw student’s attention immediately Specially, it can be used in a variety

of class size

3.2 Criteria for selection of appropriate videos in language teaching

When teachers want choose videos as supplementary materials for their lessons, those videos need evaluating carefully, basing on certain criteria (Burt, 1999) In his report, he displays a well-structured framework suggested by Arcario (1992), Johnston (1999), and Stempleski (1992) According to those scholars, teachers should follow components below to choose an appropriate video for pedagogical purposes:

● Inspiration/Motivation/Interest:

Teachers need to answer the question “Will the video appeal to my students? Will it make them want to learn?” (Burt, 1999) In other words, teachers need to consider whether videos help student engage in and concentrate on the lesson as well as warming up the atmosphere Moreover, Berk (2009) mentions types of videos such as comedy, drama, documentary and so on as sources of simulating students’ certain emotions and expression such as anger, relaxation and terror

● Content

Here are the questions teachers have to answer first: “Does the content match my instructional goals? Is it culturally appropriate for my learners?” (Burt, 1999) In terms of this aspect, teachers consider not only whether selected videos help them to achieve the goals and objectives of the lesson, but also whether

videos contain culturally offensive content or not Berk (2009) advices that videos with sensitive and controversial topic such as racism, gender discrimination and abuse should be avoided

● Clarity of message

According to Burt (2009), teachers should ask themselves the question “Is the instructional message clear to my students?” In other words, whenever a video is chosen to be teaching materials, it needs to convey meaningful messages

to students like what the role of the video plays in the lesson plan or what goal and objectives the video helps teacher achieve

● Pacing

While choosing videos, teachers need to consider whether the speed of the videos is too fast or too slow for their students Sometimes the pace of authentic videos is difficult for students with low levels to keep up with Hence, the full understanding of students’ description such as level, age, learning style and so on

is an essential prerequisite (Burt, 1999)

● Graphics

Here are the questions teachers need to answer: “What graphics are used

to explain a concept? Do they clarify it? Do they appear on screen long enough to

be understood by the learner?” (Burt, 1999) Furthermore, Berk (2009) suggests that teacher had better avoid the videos with violent and sexual graphics, which are inappropriate for students in general

● Length of sequence:

Because videos are embedded into teaching, their length should not be too long or too short to watch and listen to According to Stempleski (1992), a five-minute video is enough for language class if it conveys sufficient information (as cited in Burt, 1999)

● Independence of sequence

In short amount of time, videos should be understood fully regarding “the plot, setting, and character” Additionally, teachers need to equip their students with background knowledge of the videos if necessary (Burt, 1999)

● Availability and quality of related materials

Burt (1999) states that some related materials such as transcripts, text and exercises should be prepared carefully to make videos more instructional and friendly for learners

● Use of videos

It refers to how teachers employ videos in classroom (Burt, 1999) Particularly, they have to consider when, how, where and for what purposes to display the videos in order to deliver the lesson effectively

4 YouTube videos in practicing listening skills

4.2 The use of videos on YouTube for practicing listening skills

Terrantino (2011) indicates several benefits of YouTube videos in listening teaching He describes YouTube as “a fast and fun access to language”

In terms of content, both students and teachers are able to gain much knowledge and information about a variety of areas such cultural and political aspects With the diverse content, students can broaden their horizon (Terrantino,

2011 & DOTS, 2008) For instance, teacher can show a video of actual situation

in the target culture Simultaneously, according to Teaching English (2003), it is challenging for students to listen to topic they have little understanding of Because of that, it is suggest teachers should use pre-listening tasks to give students background knowledge about the topics Watching YouTube videos could be used as a pre-listening task and input

YouTube videos give students chances to learn rarely taught languages because the language used in YouTube videos is not produced to serve educational purposes The YouTube users around the world can have access to it; thus, it is common that students can learn different dialects of English

(Terrantino, 2011), which really help student be familiar with many accents occurring in the listening materials

Regrading to the format, videos are used in teaching and learning environment For example, teacher shows a video on computer, projector and television in classroom (DOTS, 2008)

Moreover, DOTS (2008) believes that YouTube videos are able to encourage students to learn because it is suitable for many styles of learners such

as “visual, auditory, learning by doing” Both teacher and students can produce and upload their materials and assignments on YouTube as well

Chapter 3 : METHODOLOGY

1 Selection of participants

The participants of the research are all of the fast-track sophomores’ at Faculty of English Language Teacher Education, in the University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University

At the end of the second year, they will attend an English proficiency examination The level of English proficiency they have to achieve is C1 in Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), which equals to the bank score from 7 to 8 in IELTS Hence, the requirements for passing the examination are quite demanding

The participants are divided into three classes Two classes take Teaching English as Foreign Language courses and the other is an interpreter program In each class, there are about 20 members; therefore the size of the population is around 60 people

Table 7: Summary of the subjects

According to Brace (2008), questionnaire is used “to provide a standardized interview across all subjects”, in which respondents will answer the suitable questions to them in “the same way” Moreover, KVALE states conducting interview is a way of collecting the information from the real life world of the participants in terms of certain areas (as cited in Opdenakker, 2006)

Milne (1999) advises to employ questionnaires in research because they are objective because the data is collected “in a standardized way” Furthermore, the research makes little efforts to gather and analyze information in a short amount

of time If the participants are abroad, the questionnaire is the most suitable choice since the researcher can send the surveys to them via e-mail and any form

of network account Last but not least, with the questionnaire, the data is collected from a large group of participants quickly (Milne, 1999)

In terms of interview – the qualitative method, Trent Focus Group (1998) mentions six types of interview in its research They are structured/standardized, semi-structured, unstructured/in-depth, face to face, telephone and focus group interviews Because there are many types of interviews, it is convenient for the researcher to conduct interview in different situation Collen (1997) and Kvale (1996) indicate many advantages of interview Unlike questionnaires, the research can receive direct responses from responses, have chance to ask further questions flexibly for further understanding, obtain new information and specially have “personal interaction with respondent” (as cited in Minter, 2003)

However, they also points out that conducting interview takes a lot of time and requires the researcher to prepare the questions for structured and semi-structured interviews and recording devices Moreover, too much flexibility makes the interviewers difficult to “control the environment” since in some cases the

answers of the respondents may not aims at the target (Collen, 1997 & Kvale, 1996)

They also add that the outcomes of an interview “depend on both interview design and on the skill of interviewer” (Trent Focus, 1998)

All in all, to gather the sufficient information, avoid bias in the research and create a general view on the problems, the researcher has applied two methods to collect and analyze the data

3 Method and procedure of data collection

3.1 Method

After considering several methods of gathering data such as interviewing, questionnaire and observation, the researcher decided to use two methods of them: interviewing and questionnaire While questionnaire provides the

researcher with an overview of students’ perception of using YouTube for practicing listening skill, interview helps gain further information which questionnaire has yet cover

The questionnaire is design based on the questionnaire of Kelsen (2009) The researcher also refers the questionnaire of Phạm (2010) to develop the research questionnaire

3.2 Procedure of data collection

Structured questionnaire

Step 1: The researcher writes down the research purposes and determine what information is needed to elicit from the respondents to attain the purposes

as well as the length of time required to complete the questionnaires

Step 2: The researcher will construct a conceptual framework to decide which research questions included in the questionnaires The researcher needs to base on literature review to cover all the relevant knowledge and eliminate the irrelevant ones

Step 3: The researcher writes the questions after developing the conceptual framework Brainstorming and coming up with preliminary ideas is preferred before detailed questions are designed

Step 4: The researcher will design the questionnaire items The questionnaire items should have clear instructions, be ordered logically and be designed with suitable format

In the questionnaire, there are 2 main parts: general information and specific information In the former one, the participants need to fill in their personal information for further investigation In the latter, the participants will answer six questions about their habits of using YouTube videos for listening practice

Step 5: The research will make contact with three monitors of the track classes to collect the emails and telephone numbers of their members and send an email to invite their participation of this survey research The process

fast-will continue until the researcher receives the confirmation and acceptance of all members in three classes to conduct survey administration in their classes

Step 6: Two days before survey administration, an email will be sent out

to each respondent to describe the purposes and significance of the research and inform the opening and closing date of the survey between 10 February and 30 February, 2016

Step 7: The researcher will conduct online survey if the number of respondents is not sufficient

Step 8: The research will send an email to remind respondents the closing

of the survey with the appreciation for participation and the apology for any inconveniences

Semi-structured interview

Step 1: The researcher writes down the research purposes and determines what information is needed to elicit from the respondents to attain the purposes

as well as the length of time of the interview

Step 2: The researcher will construct a conceptual framework to determine which research questions including in the interview The researcher needs to base

on literature review to cover all the relevant knowledge and eliminate the irrelevant ones

Step 3: The researcher writes the questions after developing the conceptual framework All the questions in the survey are expected to cover as much as needed information as possible

Step 4: The researcher should conduct a pilot interview to check the clarity, neutrality, rapport and relevance of the questions

Step 5: The researcher will contact the three monitors for class to ask for their members’ emails An email will be sent out to respondents to describe the purposes and significance of the research and inform the interview to be conducted a few days after the survey

Step 6: The researcher will send an email to each member of three classes for participation of the research interview The process will continue until the researcher has 10 members of each class accept to take part in the interview